The Malankara Syrian Catholic Church THE EPHREMITE Bulletin of the Eparchy of St Ephrem, Khadki - Pune VOL VII | NO. 4| August 2021 Eparchy of St. Ephrem 51 Bhau Patil Road Bopodi - 411 020 Pune, Maharashtra THE MALANKARA SYRIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH BULLETIN OF THE EPARCHY OF ST. EPHREM KHADKI - PUNE VOL VII | NO. 4| August 2021 PATRON CONTENTS H.E. Thomas Mar Anthonios OIC Eparchial Bishop 1. Voice of the Bishop EDITOR Fr. Melwin Mathew OIC 2. Circular: Sunday School The Chancellor Day CIRCULATION Local Parish Priests 3. Seminary News DESIGN LAYOUT 4. MCYM News Anita Printers 5. MCA News PROOF Mrs Julie Phillip, Borivili & 6. Institutional News Ms Bincy Daniel, Vikhroli & Mr Binu Daniel, Vikhroli 7. Bishop's Diary DISTRIBUTION Shibin Mathew, 8. Notification from the Bishop’s House Office Finance office CORRESPONDENTS Tom, Angel, Sojisha, Binu, Sijo, Cibi, Jinu, 9. Birthdays & Feast Day Nithin, Aksa Rajan, Jerome, Jerin James, Lijo, Libin, Bincy, Shibu, Beena, Jacob, C E 10. Important Dates to Note Joy, Anish, John, Jeffi, Abraham, Preethy, Teeja, Joicy, Thomas, Shiju Thomas, Benson & Sabu PRINTING Anita Printers, Wadgaonsheri, Pune PUBLISHED BY The Chancellor Eparchy of St. Ephrem, 51 Bhau Patil Road, Bopodi, Pune Maharashtra, India ©Copyright With Eparchy of St. Ephrem For private circulation only VOICE OF THE BISHOP Dear All, Greetings, love and blessings to you all as we enter the liturgical season of Transfiguration of Our Lord on 6 August! Hope all of us shared the blessings of the Holy Spirit during the Season of Pentecost. The month of July was a time of lot of blessings as we commemorated the Dukhrona of St Thomas the Apostle, our father in faith and the Dukhrona of the Servant of God Mar Ivanios, our second father in faith in Malankara. I was fortunate to participate in the Feast of Commemoration of Mar Ivanios Pithavu held at Pattom Cathedral, Trivandrum and to venerate his tomb once again. I did pray for all of you at the tomb of our Pithavu and entrusted our Eparchy to his heavenly intercession. May the intercession of Mar Ivanios be our stronghold! Feast of Transfiguration of our Lord On 6 August, we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord and thus enter a new liturgical season. The Feast of Transfiguration invites us to encounter Christ and be at his service. The ascent to the Mountain of Tabor and later the spiritual encounter invites us to be men of prayer having an intimate divine experience. The descent later is a call to serve the Lord. As Christians this theosis-experience must be deep-rooted helping us to live a life of selfless service or of diakonia. The maxim of Mar Ivanios Pithav, “the possession of God is nobler than service of God” is a reflection of this truth. True god experience alone can help us to be His missionaries. Let us strive to have this intimate God experience during this new liturgical season. Feast of the Assumption of Mary, the Mother of God As a Church we are entering in to the 15-days lent in preparation for the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, the Theotokos, the Mother of God. This feast tells us that we too share in the destiny of Mary, and like her, we too are called to be fervent disciples of Jesus. The 3 THE EPHREMITE 15-days lent is connected with our desire to have a 'good death.' Good death is a death in the state of grace as we pray in the prayer Hail Mary; “pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.” Pope Francis rightly reminds us that “Mary, a human creature, one of us, reaches eternity in body and soul. She is therefore the Gate of Heaven and that in paradise along with Christ, the New Adam, there is also Mary, the new Eve, giving us comfort in our pilgrimage here on earth.” (Pope Francis, Homily during the Angelus on the Solemnity of Assumption, 2019) This feast is a call to look upward and see the heaven and thus fill our lives with optimism and hope that goes far beyond what this world can offer. Heaven is no longer distant because at its threshold is Mary, the Mother of God, waiting for us. Let us receive the blessings of this feast by a meaningful observance of the 15-days lent. I invite you to SWARGAROPITHA II MARIAN REFLECTION from 1 to 15 August 2021 in our EPHREMITE YouTube Channel, organized by the Mathrusangham of our Eparchy in association with our Eparchial Commissions for Liturgy and Communication Media. These reflections will enkindle our devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary who assumed into heaven body and soul and spur our longing to be united with Jesus our Lord and His Mother in heaven! Covid Situation The covid situation remains the same as I shared with you last time. The second wave of Covid seems to be declining in its severity and transmission. The lockdown norms have gradually paved the way for cautious unlocking. As a society we need to be additionally responsible that we adhere strictly to the Covid safety protocols. While the unlocking gives us a hope that soon things could be almost normal, the threat of the third wave urges us to be on our guards. Let us continue to persevere in our faith. 4 THE EPHREMITE Independence Day We celebrate our 74th Independence Day of our country on 15 August. Let us pledge ourselves to be committed citizens of this great nation. As a Church we are committed for the wellbeing of our fellow citizens. Our SEVA, the Social Service Wing, has been effectively carrying out the social cause of our Eparchy. Let us continue our efforts to help better our society especially those in the peripheries. God bless our nation! Feast of St John Maria Vianney On 4 August the Church celebrates the feast of St John Maria Vianney, the patron of all priests, especially the Diocesan Priests. Let us all pray for our priests. I wish them a HAPPY FEAST! It is your prayer for us that strengthens us during these tiring times of the pandemic. God bless all our priests. Bethany Ashram’s Foundation Day Bethany Ashram celebrates her foundation day on 15 August. Bethany has now a new leadership in General and Provincial levels. I entrust all Bethanians to the blessings of the almighty. Our Eparchy is blessed to have a permanent house constructed for Bethany Ashram at Titwala. I am invited to bless this Ashram on 06 August 2021. God bless Bethany Ashram! Remembering Fr Sam Puthuvelil and Pastor Vijay On 20 and 21 August 2020 our Eparchy lost two active and committed missionaries namely Fr Sam Philip Puthuvelil and Pastor Vijay respectively in two separate road accidents. It is one year now and still we are grappling with the loss of these two beloved sons of our Eparchy. I join with you all in praying for the repose of the souls of these two missionaries and once again entrust their families to the consoling power of the Holy Spirit. In pray for God's blessings on the bereaved families. 5 THE EPHREMITE Thanks for the Good Samaritan Drive I thank all our Rev Fathers, Rev Sisters and our beloved Lay Faithful for joining our hands to support the Eparchy of St John Chrysostom, Gurgaon. Despite the pandemic and the resultant financial constraints that we all face, our Eparchy has collected almost Rupees 18 lakhs. The details of the contributors are published in this issue of THE EPHREMITE. I thank you all for your generous and selfless contribution. May our prayers coupled with this contribution help the Eparchy of Gurgaon to carry forward the missionary work in the Northern part of our country. Thanks to our Outgoing Parish Priests All our Bethany Fathers serving our Eparchy as Parish Priests, Rev. Fathers Rev Fr George Ayyaneth OIC, Rev. Fr Shiju K Levy OIC, Rev. Fr Thomas Bijily OIC, Rev. Fr Varghese Manoj OIC, Rev. Fr Saiju Kurian OIC, Rev. Fr Francis Varghese Thekkepookalam OIC, Rev. Fr Gevarghese Panickeruveetill OIC and Rev. Fr Melwin Mathew Anthalil OIC are transferred to other Ashrams. They are to leave to their new destination by 15 August 2021. I thank them wholeheartedly for their service in our Eparchy. Their service also in other offices as Secretaries of Eparchial Commissions, Directors of Associations etc will be long remembered. I wish them all success in their next assignments. Thank you dear Fathers! Space is not sufficient enough to thank them individually. I will do that personally. The parishes will be according them a fitting farewell. God bless you dear Fathers! A Big Thanks to Fr Melwin OIC In addition to his office as Parish Priest of Warje Malwadi, Rev. Fr Melwin was the Chancellor of our Eparchy, the Editor of the bulletin THE EPHREMITE, the Secretary of the Eparchial Commission for Family and the secretary of various other forums. We owe immense thanks to him for his three years of dedicated commitment to the life and progress of our Eparchy. He is an 6 THE EPHREMITE efficient academician and organizer. Thank you Fr Melwin! Transfer of Parish Priests and Appointments to Various Offices With the transfer of the Bethany Fathers we have to have transfers and appointments in the offices of our Parish Priests of various parishes and our departments and Eparchial Commissions and other offices. This will be effected as early as possible with sufficient consultations and ingenuity. I solicit the understanding and cooperation of all. Let us be united in prayer and prompt to take up new assignments! Sunday School Day On Sunday, 1 August, we celebrate Sunday school Day.