Oriental Orthodox Churches Celebrated
Eucharist Jointly In Atlanta On Oct. 29
IOH News Service
Atlanta Nov 2 2005:
The Oriental Orthodox Churches in Atlanta recently celebrated a
common Oriental Orthodox liturgy here in Atlanta. The priests,
deacons, and laity of the Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrean,
Antiochene, and Indian Orthodox Churches came together at St.
Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church on October 29, 2005, and
celebrated the Eucharist jointly.
The vision for this event was to bring out the fulfillments of
the prayer made by Our Lord “Holy father, keep them in thy name,
which Thou has given me that they may be one, even as we are
one” (St. John 17:11). Fr. Dr. Mathew Koshy reiterated on this
in his sermon during the liturgy.
This is the first time
that the Oriental Orthodox Churches in communion with each other
are having a common event in the Southeastern Region. All of the
above Orthodox churches are existing in Atlanta under their
respective dioceses. The clergy and lay leaders of these
churches have been meeting every other month for the last two
years. Bishop Vicken Aykazian of the Armenian Orthodox Church
and Metropolitan Geevarghese Mar Coorilos of Bombay have also
attended these meetings in the past.
Fr. Dr. Mathew Koshy of St. Thomas Indian Orthodox Church was
the founding President, and Rev. Fr. Luke Wassiff of St. Mary's
Coptic Orthodox Church is the current President of this
fellowship. Armen and Greg Avesessian of the Armenian Orthodox
Church, Fr. Ephrem Kabede, Fr. Asmeron Hagos, Fr. Michael
Yuhannes, Fr. Mark Deress, Fr. Sabapthi, Fr.Mathew Puthukunnathu,
and Arch-Deacon Haileyesus from the different churches are
working as a core group for its functioning. Thomas David is
working as the current secretary, Michael Nawar is the
youth-coordinator, and Sunil Varkey as the Public Relations
Officer.
It was an unusual experience to have fellowship with the
brethren of the same family and to have a common liturgy- said
Thomas David the secretary of the fellowship to Indian Orthodox
Herald.
( Indian Orthodox Herald News Release,
November 02, 2005 )
