Tiruchirapalli: The year-long bicentenary celebrations of St. John’s Church were inaugurated yesterday with a special Holy Communion service in the evening and a meeting on the Cantonment premises attended by senior clergymen and congregation members.
St. John’s is governed by the Church of South India (CSI), under the Tiruchirapalli-Thanjavur diocese, and has a membership of 300 families.
The church, built by British East India Company in 1816 and dedicated to the Apostle Saint John, was decorated in shades of white to evoke the original Easter Sunday colour scheme of the first consecration 200 years ago.
Right Reverend Dr. G. Paul Vasanthakumar, Bishop, Tiruchirapalli-Thanjavur Diocese, was the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony, accompanied by Ms. Lily Vasanthakumar, Bishop Amma and Women’s Fellowship president of the diocese.
Rev. M. Thomas Gurupatham, Presbyter of the church, gave the welcome address.
To welcome the gathering, Sunday School children sang a song written by Bishop Reginald Heber, the third Bishop of Calcutta, who gave what was to be his last sermon here on April 3, 1826, due to his sudden death later that day.
Bishop Vasanthakumar declared the celebrations open by unveiling the logo of St. John’s Church, which shows a stylised eagle and a cross, with the slogan ‘Honouring The Past, Celebrating The Future.’
St. John is symbolically represented by the eagle in Biblical lore as a tribute to his “soaring” vision of Christian theology. The Bishop later unveiled the foundation stone of the multi-purpose hall to be constructed on the church premises.
The evening saw the launch of a brochure explaining the heritage features of the church with archive and new photographs. The church had printed 2,000 prayer cards to be distributed among members of other congregations. A cake decorated with the number “200” was cut to celebrate the milestone year.
Youths performed snippets of the church’s history and life of Bishop Heber, The Hindu reported.
A video presentation on the church was also shown. Felicitation addresses were given by Rev. Dr. A. Suresh Kumar, Clerical Secretary, Dr. D. Paul Dhayabaran, principal Bishop Heber College and Lay Secretary, Lt. Col. S. S. Immanuel, Diocesan Treasurer and Rev. M. Gunajothimani, District Church Council Chairman, Tiruchi. Lt. Col. (Retd) Paul Devadasan gave a short speech on the history of the church.
A truck with a giant LED screen was installed on the premises to enable everyone to enjoy the proceedings. The culmination service is planned for Easter Sunday in 2017.