Lighted to Lighten · Every Sunday
The Holy Qurbana follows the West Syriac tradition — ancient and Reformed, rich with Syriac-Malayalam chant, Scripture, confession, intercession, and the Lord’s Supper.
The Central Act of Worship
“Qurbana” is the Syriac word for the Eucharist — the supreme act of Christian worship. Rooted in the apostolic church of Kerala (AD 52) and refined through the nineteenth-century Reform, the Qurbana is simultaneously ancient and Reformed.
Every Sunday morning our congregation gathers to do what Christians have done for two thousand years: to hear the Word, confess sin, receive grace, and share the body and blood of Christ.
"Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker."
Psalm 95:6The Shape of the Service
Scripture readings from the Old Testament, the Epistles and the Gospels, followed by the sermon — the proclamation of the Word of God to the gathered congregation.
A corporate act of repentance and the declaration of absolution — reflecting the Reformed emphasis on grace, forgiveness and the sufficiency of Christ.
The ancient Eucharistic prayer, chanted in Malayalam and Syriac, through which the congregation enters the mystery of Christ’s sacrifice.
All baptised and confirmed Mar Thoma members receive the body and blood of Christ at the Lord’s table.
Two Thousand Years of Prayer
St. Thomas the Apostle arrives on the Malabar Coast. The Christian community he founds worships in a Syriac idiom that still shapes our liturgy today.
The St. Thomas Christians maintain communion with the East, receiving the West Syriac liturgical rite — the Anaphora, the canonical hours, and the chant tradition.
Under Abraham Malpan the liturgy is revised in the vernacular: Scripture restored to central place, prayers to the departed removed, and the Qurbana celebrated in Malayalam so the people could understand and participate.
In Randolph the Qurbana is celebrated in Malayalam and English, welcoming every generation into a form of worship two millennia old.