OUR CHURCH

St. Peter’s Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church Perth is a congregation of Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Christians from India, under the Holy See of Patriarch of Antioch & All the East, HH Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II and the Catholicos of the East, HB Aboon Mor Baselious Thomas I. 

St Peter’s Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church belongs to the Universal Syrian Orthodox Church,  which oversees the spiritual affairs of several dioceses in different parts of the world. The  membership of St Peter’s Church is largely Malankara Jacobite Syrian Christians migrated from  India. Most of us are Australian citizens with successful careers who have established ourselves  and our families in Perth. The church was established during 2006 with less than 10 families and now it increased to nearly 100 families. 

We are celebrating Holy Mass (Malayalam Qurbana) on all the Sundays in our Church located at 831 Welshpool Road East, Wattle Grove. 

Very Rev Fr Boutros Touma Issa Cor Episcopa at St Francis of Assisi Church in East Cannington celebrated our first Holy mass in June 2006. Very Rev Issa celebrated the Holy mass once a month for the community until he handed over the reigns to Fr Jomon Thomas in February 2011. From 2011, we held our Church services at St Thomas More College Chapel in Nedlands, which we leased from the Catholic Diocese of Perth until 2015. From 2015, we held our church services at John Leckie Pavillion Nedlands until we completed the construction of church building on June 2018. 

Our first Malayalam Holy Mass was celebrated by Rev Fr Ullas Varkey Vettikunnel (currently HE Paulose Mor Irenious, Metropolitan of Kozhikode Diocese). His Eminence was the Patriarchal Vicar of Australia and NZ from August 2008 until August 2014. HE was succeeded by HE Geevarghese Mor Athanasious (Metropolitan of Mor Ignatius Dayaro) from August 2014 until August 2017. His Eminence was later succeeded by HE Yuhanon Mor Militious of Thumpamon Diocese from August 2017 until September 2020. Archdiocese of Australia is in the process of electing a Permanent Patriarchal Vicar now. 

The congregation was incorporated as an association in 2009. With the congregation expanding in the early 2013, the management committee obtained the agreement of members to identify and purchase a suitable block of land upon which to build new church premises of our own.

On Sept 9th 2013, St Peter’s Jacobite Church Perth proudly bought 2.5 acres (10,000sqm) of land in Wattle Grove, Perth. This place is roughly 18 km from Perth CBD. We also secured a tax deduction advantage for any donation to the Sunday school building from April 2013 as per the ATO ruling. In June 2015, it was gazetted that the land could be used for place of worship. In Nov 2016, Shire of Kalamunda gave the development approval to commence the building process. 

HE Paulose Mor Irenious, HE Isaac Mor Osthathios and HE Malatius Mor Malki laid the foundation stone in April 2015. The building commenced on the 29th of June 2017 with blessings from His Eminence Geevarghese Mor Athanasius, the then Patriarchal Vicar of Australia and New Zealand. We have managed to build it with the help of Baptist Financial Services who gave us the loan. George Milankov of Milankov designs and project management did the drawings of the church. 

The unconditional support, hard work and contributions of each and every church members and non-members have helped us to acquire the land and build a beautiful church for the generations to come. We have a lot more things to achieve, such as a parish hall and eventually parsonage. This church will go down in the history books as one built by people without compelling any one, with very few house visits and using email as the prime means of communication. 

This church, which was consecrated by 123rd St, Peter himself, on the St.Peter’s day and named after St Peter. The consecration of the church was done on 29th and 30th June 2018 with the blessed hands of His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem 2nd and His Beatitude Aboon Mor Baselious Thomas 1st assisted by six Metropolitans and various monks and priests from all around the world and sister churches. 

His Excellency Governor of Western Australia Kim Beazley inaugurated the church on 30th June and dedicated to the community. 

We are a well-established association with a management committee comprising dedicated and well-educated professionals from a variety of backgrounds. In Western Australia we have the motivation, capacity and commitment to ensure the viability and ongoing success of our Church as it moves to the next stage of its development.

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