Professional Fellowship

Is a fellowship for Orthodox Christians working in or staying nearby IT cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore. Holy Qurbana is conducted at places where people working in the IT industry can attend church in the evenings and on-off days. The immediate goal of the fellowship is to find maximum Orthodox Christians working in IT hubs and cater to their spiritual needs.

ST THOMAS ORTHODOX FELLOWSHIP
HITEC CITY, HYDERABAD
Holy Eucharist is celebrated on two Sundays every month. The Eucharist is conducted in a rented hall in Kondapur. The Holy Eucharist is led by Fr. Shijo Shibu, who travels from Ramagundam every alternate Sunday. Ajith Joshua Joy, Jewel Varughese, Albin Babu, Robin Johnson, Subodh Philip and Kiran Raj, who are members of the fellowship, assist him at the Altar. Around forty faithful, who include people working in various companies in the Hitec City,
nurses and nursing students from the nearby hostels, attend the Holy Eucharist.Our main feast is celebrated on a Sunday coming closest to June 30, the Feast Day of the Apostles, which also happens to be our foundation day and July 3, St Thomas Day. This year’s personal celebrations were led by Fr Lijo Joseph, the vicar of St Andrews Orthodox Valiyapally, Secunderabad. Holy Eucharist was followed by pradakshanam and nercha vilambu. Like our ancestors, this time the unniappam for nercha was prepared by the members of the fellowship in one of our homes, rather than getting it from outside. The fellowship also celebrates the feast days of St Gregorios and St Dionysius in the Sundays coming closest to their feast days. For the first time in the six-year history of the fellowship, we conducted an Onam Celebration.The celebration included the pookalam, melodies suiting the occasion,thiruvathirakali, musical and dance performances and a variety of games. We had a sumptuous traditional Onam Sadyaafter all these. This was made possible by untiring effort and coordination between all the members.
The door to door Christmas carols in the houses of our well-wishers has been conducted every year since the inception of the fellowship. It is one occasion when the young people in the fellowship join together and work enthusiastically to give a memorable message of the Birth of our Lord to the house that they visit. Last year, the carols were held on December 11, 2016, led by Fr Shijo Shibu and made successful by the participation of close to 40 members.
A single page yearly calendar was brought out by the fellowship for the year 2017. It included a list of the important days in the Church calendar for the year 2017. The calendar was distributed among the member of the fellowship as well as in the four parishes of Hyderabad region.Around 50 members of the fellowship visited St Gregorios Balagram, Yacharam on Garbo Sunday for their Annual Day celebration. This gave us an opportunity to understand and learn more about one of the most iconic mission projects of our Church in Yacharam. As a humble offering from our side, we brought along with us provisions required for the inmates of the Balagram.