Our Church
History
In the land of the ever-rising sun, Tampa, Florida, a group of believers of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (India) formed a congregation on November 4th, 1989 named after the Holy Saint of the Church, St. Gregorios of Parumala under the leadership of Rev. Fr. Samuel K Mathew. On November 09, 1990, Rev. Fr. George Paulose, Valanadyil, Onakkoor, was appointed as the Vicar of this congregation by H.G. Dr. Thomas Mar Makarios of blessed memory and the Holy Qurbana was conducted regularly at the parish hall of the Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church, Temple Terrace.
As the size of the congregation began to grow, two acres land with a building was purchased on May 1994 and the worship continued in this building. A small Church was built in this property, and it was consecrated by H.G. Mathews Mar Barnabas of blessed memory and H.G. Dr. Thomas Mar Makarios of blessed memory on August 16th, 1997. Under the leadership of Fr. George Paulose, the parish continued to flourish in the upcoming years.
St. Gregorios Orthodox Church members grew spiritually and in numbers, on April 2004, the church was able to purchase five acres of land located on Jefferson Road near Interstate 75 and the foundation stone was laid on October 5th, 2010 by the former Metropolitan of the American Diocese H.G. Mathews Mar Barnabas of blessed memory and the ground breaking ceremony for the new church was conducted on February 27th, 2011. It took more than a year to complete this new church building project finally the new church towers like a lighthouse, surrounded by a scenic background. The icon of our Risen Christ on the east wall of the alter and the icons on the dome in the middle of the church resemble a real Orthodox Faith, teaching, and worship.
The consecration ceremony of the new church was solemnized on Friday, Oct 25th , & Saturday, Oct 26th , 2012, by H. G. Alexios Mar Eusebius; Metropolitan of the South-West American Diocese, H. G. Zachariah Mar Nicholovos; Metropolitan of Northeast American Diocese, and H. G. Dr. Gabriel Mar Gregorios; Metropolitan of Trivandrum Diocese of India. Gregorian members dream was to have a parish hall near the church to cater the social needs of both young and old, this dream came into reality on October 31st, 2014. The new parish hall was named after the undeclared Saint of the church and the former Metropolitan of the American Diocese H. G. Mathews Mar Barnabas Metropolitan of blessed memory, was consecrated by the former Diocesan Metropolitan H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebius.
Our church monumental open-air Cross is built with granite stone which was imported from India with the generous support of our church members. The Cross monument is erected at the front courtyard of the church. The pedestals of the Cross monument are decorated with octagonal layers one above the other with images of 8 holy saints engraved on all the eight sides of the uppermost pedestal base. Consecration ceremony of The Cross was held on Nov 2023, by H.G. Dr. Thomas Mar Ivanios; Metropolitan of the South-West American Diocese. The charm and the solemnity of this new Church and Cross monument are not often seen in many other Malankara Orthodox Churches.
On March 14, 2020 Vicar, Fr. George Paulose was elevated to the position of Cor Episcopos in Tampa by H.G. Yuhanon Mar Meletius of Thrissur Diocese, Kerala, India. Achen’s dedication and encouragement has helped our parish to organize spiritual organizations like Sunday School, MGOCSM, Marth Mariam Samajam, and home prayer meetings. The Church has also played an integral role in producing several young leaders enabling their potential to serve American Dioceses at different roles. The Church has also been engaged actively in a lot of charity projects in different parts of the world such as offering financial assistance to meet wedding expenses for poor women in Kerala, building houses for the poor and needy ,offering educational assistance for the poor children, financial support to different institutions that caters the needs of developmentally disabled children. Also, the church has started Gregorian Care which is another charity program to solemnly assist the financially and physically challenged members of the St Gregorios Church, Tampa. The Church actively participates in the Ecumenical activities locally every year. By the Almighty God’s Grace, the Church continues to stand as a beacon of spiritual inspiration and social aspiration for the orthodox community in the Tampa Bay area under the leadership of Very Rev. George Paulose Cor Episcopos and with the support and prayers of dedicated faithful members.
