The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, otherwise known as the Indian Orthodox Church, traces its roots to Saint Thomas, the Disciple of Jesus Christ. Saint Thomas preached the Gospel in the southeast Asian subcontinent of India, specifically in a state presently known as Kerala. It is there that the Apostle Thomas established the Christian Church, which grew from hundreds of souls to more than 3.5 million faithful. 

The Malankara Orthodox Church belongs to the family of Oriental Orthodox Churches, which include the Syriac, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches. The Church enjoys being a leader in the ecumenical world, as being a co-founder of the World Council of Churches, and a member of the National Council of Churches in the United States, and Canadian Council of Churches.

The Bangalore Diocese came into existence on 1st April 2009. All the Orthodox churches in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, two churches and a congregation from the Gulf region were constituent churches in the new diocese(32 churches and a congregation). The Diocese was under the direct administration of the Catholicose and Malankara Metropolitan. His Holiness was assisted by H.G. Abraham Mar Epiphanios, the Metropolitan of Sultan Battery Diocese as the assistant Metropolitan of Bangalore Diocese. H.G. Abraham Mar Epiphanios was in charge of the Bangalore Diocese till the newly appointed Metropolitan H.G. Dr. Abraham Mar Seraphim assumed charge of the Diocese on 15th August 2010. Dr. Abraham Mar Seraphim, the youngest of the newly elected 7 Bishops of the Malankara Orthodox Church, assumed the office with full independent charge of the Diocese. Later in 2010 itself the church authority reorganized the churches of Bangalore, Malabar and Sultan Battery Dioceses and formed the new Brahmavar Diocese.Ten parishes of Bangalore Diocese from Brahmavar – Mangalore region were included in the new diocese. Bangalore Diocese now has 21 parishes and a congregation spread across the states of Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh and 3 cities in the UAE, namely; Fujairah, Dibba and Ras–al-Khaima (RAK) in the UAE and has about 4000 families as its members. 23 priests, including 6 Cor-Episcopoi are serving in the Diocese. 2 Deacons and 3 brothers are pursuing their studies in the two Seminaries of our Church, representing Bangalore Diocese. The Diocese has two Mission Projects one at Eluru of Andhra Pradesh and the other at Bilikere in Mysore. These are homes for mentally challenged and physically handicapped children who need complete help and support for their daily activities.

Bangalore Diocese though in its early stages has ambitious overall development plans, to establish and reinforce The Orthodox Church’s glorious identity in and around Bangalore taking advantage of the geographical location in this Silicon Valley of India. It needs to create a lot of infrastructure of its own, besides funding for its development. The Diocesan General Body has formed a Diocesan Development Committee under the chairmanship of the Diocesan Metropolitan. The Committee under his able leadership has carved robust plans for the overall development of the Diocese. The Diocesan Metropolitan has earnestly requested each member of our Diocese to contribute one month’s family income with the objective to create a corpus. H.H. Baselios Marthoma Paulose II, the Catholicose the East and Malankara Metropolitan inaugurated the fund raising drive on 27th March 2011.

St Marys Orthodox Syrian Church in Hyderabad was first blessed by Late His Grace Zachariah Mar Dionysius(Madras Diocese) on 20th,October 1986. From then on the church has seen many miracles that happened to the believers of Mary,the blessed woman. As 25 yrs passed the church is not in that good shape. So the members of the church has decided to build a new one. At present the church has been reconstructed and was blessed on 10th, June 2011 by ‘HH Baselious Marthoma Poulose II’ . Now church belongs to Bangalore diocese , lead by ‘HG Dr.Abraham Mar Seraphim Metroplitan’.