Maramon Convention underway in Kerala

The Maramon Convention, organised by the Mar Thoma Evangelistic Association (MTEA), began on Sunday, February 13 in Kerala.

Dubbed as Asia's largest Christian gathering, the convention is held once in every year at Maramon in Pathanamthitta.

Joseph Marthoma Metropolitan, the head of the Mar Thoma Church, inaugurated the Feb 13-20 convention attended by lakhs of people from across the country.

Cutting across denominational lines, people gather to listen to the Word of God from renowned preachers from India as well as from abroad. Preaching and Bible study occupy the major part of the convention programme.

Speakers at this year's 116th edition include Archbishop Roger Herft of Australia, N Barney Pityana of South Africa, Rev Canon Peter Maiden of England, Rev Ulf G Ekman of Sweden and R Rajkumar of Delhi.

The week-long event also includes a series of prayer and devotional music sessions. Besides that, there are separate sessions to abstain from alcoholism, drugs and other addictions.

The 101-member choir of the Department of Sacred Music and Communication (DSMC) attached to Mar Thoma Church will present music sessions on all the eight days.

"Where are you? Where is your brother?" will be the theme of this year's convention.

The ecumenical meet in the past have had speakers such as Sadhu Sundar Singh and Dr. Stanley Jones. It was first held in the year 1896 for a period of eight days.

Maramon is situated on the banks of the river Pampa, about 20 km from Thiruvalla. The town is also famous as the birth place of Palakkunnathu Abraham Maplah, leader of the reformation in the Syrian Church of Malabar in the 19th century.