A
Brief History
St.
Stephen's Orthodox Church was started on November
18, 1990 by Indian Orthodox families in Houston under the leadership
of our beloved achen Rev. Dr. Fr. C.O.Vargis. The church was incorporated
with the diocese in the year 1991. The present church building was
consecrated on October 15 &16, 1996. The church was started with
32 families and has now grown to more then 80 families.
Most of the
members of the St.Stephen's Orthodox Church are also the founding members
of the St.Thomas Orthodox Church in Houston. They left the mother
parish and established St.Stephen's. under the guidance of Rev Dr. Fr
C,O,Vargis. For a year the congregation gathered at St.-Thomas
Catholic Community Center on Staffordshire Street in Stafford. There
after until October the parish found a temporary home at the Seventh
day Adventist church on Yupon street.
In
December 1991, six acres of land on the Old Richmond Rd, was
purchased in the name of the Orthodox Christian Community Center.
The Metropolitan laid the
foundation stone for the community center and church in October
1992. H.G.Mar Barnabas Metropolitan on October 15 &16 of 1994
did the consecration of the facility.
The philosophy of this congregation is to cater to every need of the
members of the society around this institution, Mostly training the
youngsters to face life confidently and upright. With this in mind,
Malayalam classes, counseling services, SAT classes, athletic
facilities etc are provided.
We initiated the Fund Raising for the new Diocesan Center. We
published an audio tape of the Holy Qurbana in English. A prayer
book and the English-Malayalam Service Book of Holy Qurbana is also
published by the parish. We have all the liturgical service books in
Malayalam written in English alphabet.
