Sunday morning service at St. Thomas Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East was out-of-the-ordinary as church members hosted a very special guest.
His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV, patriarch, traveled here last Wednesday from church headquarters in Chicago to visit the parish and will be departing Monday.
?He tries to come yearly, but it?s been two years since he last visited,? said Jonathan Oushan, a New Britain resident and one of the church?s younger members.
Joining the Patriarch in the city this week was Bishop Mar Paulus Benjamin and Quasha Antwan Latchin.
St. Thomas is the only Assyrian church in the state, with the next closest parish in Yonkers, N.Y.
There are about a dozen Assyrian parishes in the Eastern United States Diocese and about 15 more in California, which has a separate diocese. Church members hail from Iraq and Iran, with most of the families at St. Thomas originally from Iran.
read more: http://www.newbritainherald.com/articles/2013/08/25/news/doc521ab72253e5b868252576.txt
ASHOOR
His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV, patriarch, traveled here last Wednesday from church headquarters in Chicago to visit the parish and will be departing Monday.
?He tries to come yearly, but it?s been two years since he last visited,? said Jonathan Oushan, a New Britain resident and one of the church?s younger members.
Joining the Patriarch in the city this week was Bishop Mar Paulus Benjamin and Quasha Antwan Latchin.
St. Thomas is the only Assyrian church in the state, with the next closest parish in Yonkers, N.Y.
There are about a dozen Assyrian parishes in the Eastern United States Diocese and about 15 more in California, which has a separate diocese. Church members hail from Iraq and Iran, with most of the families at St. Thomas originally from Iran.
read more: http://www.newbritainherald.com/articles/2013/08/25/news/doc521ab72253e5b868252576.txt
ASHOOR