Maramon Convention
| Maramon Convention | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Christian conferences |
| Dates | Second week of February |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Location(s) | Maramon, Pathanamthitta, Kerala, India |
| Founded | 1895 |
| Organised by | Mar Thoma Syrian Church - through Mar Thoma Evangelistic Association (MTEA) |
| Website | |
| http://mtconvention.com/ | |
The Maramon Convention, one of the largest Christian convention in Asia, is held at Maramon, Pathanamthitta, Kerala, India annually during the month of February on the vast sand-bed of the Pampa River next to the Kozhencherry Bridge. It is organised by Mar Thoma Evangelistic Association, the missionary wing of the Mar Thoma Church.
The origin and growth of this annual get-together for one week at a stretch can be traced to the great revival movement which gathered momentum during the reformation period in the Syrian Church's of Kerala under the pioneering leadership of Abraham Malpan in the latter part of 19th century. This brought about the transformation in resurgence of the ancient apostolic Church's in Kerala founded by St. Thomas the Apostle approximately in AD 52.
Saint Thomas in the Syriac-speaking culture of upper Mesopotamia and Syria the apostle was called Judas Thomas. Thomas (Tau'ma) means twin in Syriac.
Jawaharlal Nehru in his Glimpses of World History, 1934 wrote about Christianity in India:
"You may be surprised to learn that Christianity came to India long before it went to England or Western Europe, and when even in Rome it was a despised and proscribed sect. Within 100 years or so of the death of Jesus, Christian Missionaries came to South India by sea. They were received courteously and permitted to preach their new faith. They converted a large number of people, and their descendants have lived there, with varying fortune, to this day. Most of them belong to old Christian sects which have ceased to exist in Europe".
St. Ephraem, a christian deacon and scholar in A.D. 363 has composed a poem that honors St. Thomas in that era's understanding:
"Blessed art thou, like a solar ray, India’s darkness doth dispel. Thou the great lamp, one among the Twelve, with oil from the cross replenished India’s night flooded with light. Oh Blessed Apostle, valiant Mar Thoma whom violent threats did not affright, Blessed apostle be thou praised, whom the Great King has sent that India to his one begotten thou shouldest espouse."
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Wikipedia