In 1983, a group of dedicated families from St. Mary’s Orthodox Church decided for the spiritual growth of the faith in the Dallas area, to establish a new parish in honor of the Great Holy Father of our Church, Malankara Sabha Parishudhan, St. Gregorios of Parumala.
This new parish would become the second Malankara Orthodox Church in the Dallas, Texas area. The first Holy Qurbana was conducted on January 30th 1983 by one of the stalwart priests of the American Diocese – Late Lamented Rev. Fr. Koshy P John. A new church building was constructed in the city of Garland, Texas, on September 1990 and became the first ever newly constructed church building in the Dallas area, and one of the first in the entire American Diocese. Rev. Fr. Joseph Kalapurayil became the second vicar of the parish in 1991. Achen was instrumental in establishing the worship infrastructure and the foundation of our day to day operations, until his return to India in 1997. During the year 1996, we were able to build a beautiful auditorium next to the current church named as MGM Auditorium of Dallas which was consecrated in 1998 by then Catholicos LL H. H. Baselios Mar Thoma Mathews 11.
Rev. Fr. Raju Daniel became the vicar in 1997 and strengthened the spiritual growth of our members; he served the parish until June 1st 2012. Rev. Fr. CG Thomas was our vicar till end of 2018 and now Rev. Fr. Joshua George continues to carry the legacy set forth by his predecessors to lead our parish in all respects.
Today, St. Gregorios Orthodox Church takes great pride in being a member of the Diocese of Southwest America, America with Moran Mor Baselios Marthoma Paulose II, Catholicos of the East & Malankara Metropolitan of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and assistant Metropolitan His Grace Zacharias Mar Aprem as our assistant Diocesan Metropolitan. We currently grown as 102 members church and serve as a pioneer church in Dallas Fort Worth area faithful’s. Our parish is also one of the few in the United States that houses the Holy Relics of Parumala Thirumeni. The activities of the parish in the lives of its members, with sister churches, the ecumenical community, and the surrounding community is innumerous. The activities of the parish include a vibrant and ever-flourishing Sunday school program which was long established during the earliest days of the founding of the parish. Sunday school is conducted on Sundays before Holy Qurbana from 8:30am to 9:30am; this schedule allows maximum participation from our youth in the morning worship preceding the Holy Qurbana. Various organizations including MGOCSM, OCYM, Martha Mariam Vanitha Samajam, FOCUS and other religious activities.