Thrikkunnathu Seminary

[2] Mar Athanasius both gave away and sold at a very low price much of his inherited land so that Syrian Christians settling in the area could live near the church.

[3] On 25 and 26 January each year thousands of pilgrims gather at the seminary to take part in the celebrations commemorating the feast (Dhukrono- Death Anniversary) of the metropolitans .

In the spring of 1931 Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Elias III began a long journey of mediation throughout India by staying at the new seminary, after first calling on British officials Lord Irwin in Delhi and George Stanley at Madras.

From its opening in 1931 until the 1970s Thrikkunnathu Seminary was a notable teaching facility for clergy in the northern dioceses of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.

[3] Since the early 1980s the Patriarch faction started to worship in a rented building called Mass Hall not far from St Mary's Church.

A government lawyer's automobile was set on fire, priests and others were reportedly hurt and there were claims of police brutality.