Indian Orthodox Church launches project for elderly

(October 08, 2012) The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, also known as the Indian Orthodox Church, has launched a new project for the senior citizens across caste, creed and religion. The project by the Christian Church not in communion with the Catholic church was launched in New Delhi as 'Job Mar Philoxenos Healthcare Foundation' during the enthronement ceremony of Bishop Youhanon Mar Demetrios as the third metropolitan of the Delhi diocese. The project is named after the previous Bishop of Delhi. "There is a large number of elders who are lonely. It is the duty of our Church to care for them and this will not be exclusive to the members of the Orthodox community," said Baselios Mar Thoma Baselios II, the head of the 2,000-year-old Church. This is the latest project that the Kerala-based Church has started in its 60 years of existence in northern India. Earlier, it had set up many health-care delivery centers including those in Aya Nagar on the outskirts of Delhi, Shantigram in the Mandavar village of Haryana as well as in Kanpur. The diocese is spread over Delhi, national capital region and some parts of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. The Church dates back to 52 AD when St Thomas, one of the direct disciples of Jesus Christ, came to India. A section of what Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, entered into communion with the Roman Catholic Church in 1930, and is called the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, headed by Major Archbishop Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal.