Mar Aprem Sunday School

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Mar Aprem Sunday School is hosting a retreat for Class 10 students and teachers on 25th August 2024 at Mar Yonan Church Auditorium, Thiroor. This seminar promises insightful discussions and a day of fellowship. Don't miss this opportunity to learn and grow together

Mar Aprem Sunday School

The Sunday School is the church’s way of reaching out to our youngest members to help mould them into good human beings who live with Christian values. It plays a major role shaping their character and enabling them to grow into responsible members of the society.

Mar Aprem Sunday School teaches studentss from Grade 1 through Grade 10. Examinations are conducted twice a year to test the students, and the annual cultural fest (Kuruvilachan Trophy) is held to bring out and nourish their talents that help the ministry.

The history of Mat Aprem Sunday School can be traced back to the year 1905, when Rev. Fr. Padavupurakkal Thomas alias Kuruvilachan initiated the Gospel Children Shining Light Sunday School to instil in children the faith of the Apostolic Church faith. In 1914, the school was renamed to Bethany Sunday School , and it was rechristened to its present name – MAR APREM SUNDAY SCHOOL in 1920.

News & Updates

Retreat 2024

2023-2024 Annual Exam

Kuruvilachan Kalamela

Two Days Camp – Teachers’ Training Course

Teachers Training Course

Academic Year 2023-2024

Kuruvilayachan

The Sunday school movement of the Chaldean Syriac Church was started by a “Kuruvilayachan” named Thoma Arkadh Yakon of Padavapurakal. Kuruvilayachan was born in a village called Cherumkuzhi in Kuttanadan area of Alappuzha district.

The title of Arkadh Yakon was given to Padavupurakal Kathanar named Kuruvilayachan by His Holiness Mar Oudisho Thirumeni who was the Metropolitan of the Chaldean Syriac Church in India from 1882 to 1900. In 1900, when His Holiness Mar Oudhisho passed away, there was a period in which there was no leader in the Church in India. In view of this, they encouraged the desperate efforts of the Portuguese to Romanize the faith of the West over the religious practices of the Church.

Attempts were made to find a place for the icons of the Roman faith in the altar of the great church of the Chaldean Syriac Church in Thrissur. Kuruvilayachan was a brave warrior who raised his voice against this.
Thomas Arkad Yakon. Kuruvilayachan, who vowed not to offer the Holy Mass at the altar of the big church where the idols had entered, built a small church near the big church according to the faith of the Eastern Church and offered the Holy Mass in that church, he gave a strong warning against Romanization and its proponents.

Kuruvilayachan, who was a good wagmi, worked hard to keep the people firmly in the faith of the East with his speech philosophy. He started the Sunday school movement in the church in 1905 with the aim that the beginning of firm faith should not start with the middle age but with the children who have young minds. The name of the Sunday School started by Kuruvilayachan was ‘Gospel Children Shining Light Sunday School’. In 1908, when Mar Abimalech Timotheus arrived in Thrissur as the head of the Metropolitan Indian Church and handed over everything that belonged to the Church, including the Sunday school, to the Metropolitan by Kuruvilayachan. In 1909, he passed away in Thrissur. His body was buried in the Kuruvilayachan Church which was built by him, near Marth Mariyam Big Church, Thrissur.

Now this church has become the burial place of former leaders of the Indian Church.

The Sunday school movement in the church today is 117 years old. Meanwhile, Kuruvilayachan changed the name given to the Sunday School twice. In 1914 it was named ‘Bethany Sunday School’ and in 1926 it was named after Mar Aprem, a famous Syrian scholar and great poet of Iraq. Today this great tree of Sunday school stands as a guide to the true faith of the children of the Eastern Chaldean Syriac church.