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This parish was indeed blessed to be initially organized under the holy guidance of the present Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, H.H. Ignatius Zakka I Iwas. If one looks back to the history of this parish, the very start of it was in 1986. In August 1986, the first Syrian Jacobite Holy Qurbana in Vienna was celebrated by V. Rev. Ramban Joseph Verghese. Consequent upon that His Holiness the Patriarch was approached by Messrs. Kuraikose Thadathil and Yacob Padickakudy on 12.11.1986 to make available a priest from Kerala to cater the traditional spiritual needs of the Syrian Jacobites from Kerala, possibly with a scholarship for higher studies in theology. His Holiness responded positively on 22.11.86 (Bull No.E260/86) to the above request and assured to make the necessary arrangements. This promise of His Holiness was a splendid boost to the believers and Mr. Kuriakose was again empowered to make further follow-up with the Patriarchate and especially with Rev. Fr. K.V. Kuraikose, (present H.G. Kuriakose Mor Julius Metropolitan), the then the Patriarchal Secretary. Accordingly, the possibility of arrival of some priests like Fr. Jose Pallathatta (currently H.G. Joseph Mor Gregoriose) was in the way but did not materialise until 1989 for one reason or the other.
In the meantime the faithful came together once again on 15.03.87 for the Holy Qurabana celebrated by V. Rev. Ramban Joseph Varghese and met as a general body. The general body decided to go ahead with the determination to organize a congregation for the Kerala Jacobite Syrian believers and request His Holiness to name this congregation as Mar Ignatius Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Congregation ad interim. The following members were also elected as the first office-bearers of the congregation: Kuraikose Thadathil (Vice- President), Yacob Padickakudy (Secretary), and Raju Ittanthottil (Trustee). Later, the present Catholicose of the East, H. B. Aboon Mor Baselius Thomas I (the then Metropolitan of the Angamali diocese with the name H. G. Thomas Mor Dionysus) and Rev. Dr. Adai Jacob visited Vienna in July 1989, and celebrated Holy Qurbana. It was with much pleasure and gratitude for the divine providence that the faithful in Vienna received the letter of the patriarchal secretary on 05.09.89 informing that H.H the Patriarch has arranged scholarship for Rev. Fr. Joseph Zachariah and authorized him to organize the parish. Rev. Fr. Joseph Zachariah arrived in Vienna in November 1989 to do doctorate. With the grace of God, Fr. Joseph said the Holy Qurbana on 26 November 1989, at the Armenian Church in Kolonitzgasse 11, in the 3rd district of Vienna. After the subsequent Holy Qurbana on 10th December, a general body was convened and it elected Rev. Fr. Joseph Zachariah as the President and Vicar, Mr Yakob Padickakudy (Vice-President), Mr Thomas Mathew (Secretary) and Mr. George Padickakudy (Treasurer). The general body also planned future activities and decided to rename the parish as St. Mary's Syrian Orthodox Congregation due to the fact that the first Holy Qurbana of the parish was said on the Feast of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary.
Afterwards regular holy masses were celebrated on the first and third or second and fourth Sundays of every month at the Armenian Church. The special feasts of the church as well as the memorial feasts of the saints were also conducted. From the passion week of 1990 onwards we were blessed to have most of our services at the St. Ephrem's Syrian Orthodox Church at Lainzerstr.154A in the 13th district of Vienna. This church was kindly allotted by the Archdiocese of Vienna, to be shared with our Syrian brothers. Regular prayer meetings were also held once a month in the houses of the parish members. Every year, after the X'mas services on 25 December, annual general bodies were held and new office bearers were elected.
As a sign of the social witness of this parish, a Charity Fund was opened on February 10, 1991 to help the poor and the needy in India. It is indeed praiseworthy that this small congregation is still helping a number of poor people through that fund. In order to strengthen the solidarity and to provide an opportunity for the get-together of the members of the congregation, since 1993 onwards, an annual picnic/tour to different domestic and international destinations and a barbecue party at the banks of Danube became a part of our yearly programme. The year 1994 was a particularly blessed year for the congregation, because the Sunday School was begun that Year. Mr. Eldhose Palpathu, who still leads the Sunday School was part of the founding team as well. Even though the congregation could not organize anymore Holy Qurbanas in some months of the years 1996-97, because Fr. Dr. Joseph Zechariah finished his doctorate and went back to India, it continued its activities mainly through the prayer meetings in the houses organized under the leadership of Rev. Dn. Saji K. V., who was doing doctorate at the University of Regensburg, Germany.
The Christmas day of 1997, God fulfilled the prayers of the parish to have its own priest. According to the request of the congregation, Rev. Fr. Biji Chirathilattu -the present Vicar of the Church-who came to the University of Marburg, Germany to do doctorate in the subject of "Prayers and Fasts according to Bar Ebroyo", kindly agreed to come to Vienna to celebrate the Holy Qurbana once in a month. Of course it was a great revitalization to the Congregation. As Rev. Fr. Biji successfully completed his Doctoral Thesis and got settled down in Vienna in March 2002, the congregation was blessed to have its regular services again on the second and fourth Sundays of every month. On 30 Dec. 2000 we could celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of the congregation with all its pomp. Our joy was doubled when Rev. Fr. Dr. Joseph Zechariah also came all the way from India to join us on that blessed occasion. By the strenuous efforts and editorship of Mr. Baby Thadathil a souvenir was also published to eternalise that occasion and of course, it remains the congregations' milestone.
It was an extraordinary blessing for us that we could get a special audience by our Patriarch H. H. Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas on His Holiness' visit to Vienna in June 1999. The prominent visitors to our parish are many. H. G. Thomas Mor Thimotheos, the Bishop of The Kottayam and Greater India Diocese, has visited us many times. The visit of the Bishop of our recently formed European Diocese, H. G. Joseph Mor Gregoriose and his declaration of our congregation as the central parish of the European Diocese, was an occasion of immense joy for us. The Honourable Minister for Culture and Education in the Austrian Government Mrs. Elizabeth Gehrer, and The honourable minister for Agriculture and Irrigation of Kerala, Mr. T. M. Jacob as well as many academicians were also our guests. We could also make remarkable contributions to the ecumenical scenario in Vienna. The creative participation at the ecumenical X'mas carol service organized by the Indian Catholic Community and the second prize won by our choir under the leadership of Mr. Jolly Thuruthummel is just an example.
Now as we launch this congregation's website, it is entering the Cyber Age. The Congregation is thankful to Mr. Johnson Vazhalanickal for agreeing to design this website, which is another landmark in our development. At this juncture, we prostrate before the providence and mercy of our Lord who has led us all the way through. May God lead us to witness well in this Cyber Age too. And we thank all who have helped, guided, and led us in the past, especially our former Vicar Rev. Fr. Dr. Joseph Zachariah, the present Vicar Rev. Fr. Dr. Biji Chirathilattu and the vicar of the St. Ephrem's Syrian Orthodox Congregation V. Rev. Dr. Immanuel Aydin. May God bless us.
