St. Andrew's Church

Abu Dhabi

P.O. Box 262

Abu Dhabi

United Arab Emirates

e-Mail: standrew@emirates.net.ae

Compound User:

The Mar Thoma Church

 (‘Mar Thoma” Means St Thomas)

Service Times:

In 52 A.D, Saint Thomas, the disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ, came to the southern part of India and founded the first church in India there. His followers were called the Mar Thoma (St Thomas) Christians. The Early Church had contact with the Syrian Church, Rome and later the Roman Catholic Church, the Jacobite Church of Antioch and much later in 1806, with the Anglican Church. The spiritual contributions of all these churches later resulted in a call for reformation within the Mar Thoma Church by the Reformation Father Abraham Malpan.
The present Mar Thoma Syrian Church is a reformed wing of the ancient Church. It is Eastern in tradition, liturgical, yet Evangelical in outreach. The valuable contribution of the Anglican Church and the support to other missionary movements made possible the internal reformation of 1845. The Church is Episcopal, self-supporting, self-governing, self-propagating, and runs many charitable institutions. Among these are orphanages, homes for the destitute and the elderly, homes for boys and girls, schools for the mentally retarded, training and rehabilitation schools for the handicapped, and village hospitals in rural areas.
Today the Church has parishes world wide, not only in India but also in the U.K, the U.S.A, Singapore, Africa, and Gulf countries. The present head of the Church is the Mar Thoma Metropolitan, the Most Reverend Dr. Philipose Mar Chrysostom. Total membership is over 800,000 and the Church Motto is: “LIGHTED TO LIGHTEN”.