Centum Glorious: 100 yrs of MGOCSM

MGOCSM stands for Mar Gregorios Orthodox Christian Student Movement

MGOCSM is the students wing of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, It was formed to bring together Orthodox students at colleges and high schools levels and to create in them fellowship among them. Initially the movement was started in 1907 by a group of Students and Senior leaders in Madras under the name 'Syrian Student Conference' and its first Annual meeting was held at Thiruvalla on January 1, 1908.The "Syrian Student Conference" assumed its present name "MGOCSM" with the motto "Worship, Study, Service" in the year 1960. It is the oldest Christian Organization in India.

So this year being the 100th yr since its inception MGOCSM had their annual conference in Chennai wich was held from the 12-15th of Jan. at the Transworld Radio’s Dhyana Nilayam East Coast Road, Near Mahabalipuram, Chennai with the theme
"Celebrating and Rediscovering Christ through Orthodoxy in our Worship, Study and Service"

One month has passed by and I stil am not able to get out of the hold tht it captured me into…maybe cos it was the first conference I attended, I knew many ppl there…but whatever I know it was excellent…cos it was organized by the best minds in our church, in our diocese…selfless ppl who spent so much of their precious time jus to make this a success…the MGOCSM of the Chennai diocese-past and present.

The turnout was amazing which shows the amt of publicity given to it…a record 850 registrations (maximum in any MGOCSM conference history), the crowd from Bombay, Delhi, all the way from Malaysia and the gulf, it was a treat to hear different languages in each part of the campus.

I want to put a few words abt how the conference was but im not able to start..want to say abt everything, so many things…wer and how…? I think I’ll start wid the place…

Transworld Dhyana Nilayam: On the ECR even further from Mahabalipuram is this centre built for the sole purpose of wich its name signifies...retreat, dhyanam...and wat a place...When the buses entered the place on 12th morn the first sight was a shamiana beside the reception hall put up to serve for registraions..this place had dorms(4 in all) the biggest i had ever seen wid bunker beds(pillows bedsheets and towels provided)...there wer spl cottages for guests each a petite one room comfortable for the short stay, away from the crowd and still not distant....there was a mansion type for the thirumenis..sadly i dint get to see it full...there was a cafeteria wich cud fit the entire lot of us and in-house cooks to serve breakfast, lunch n dinner..the food was real good all 4 days esp wen u see the crowd they had tp provide for..and of course the conference hall..tht was at the end of the site and beyond it was the beach...the Bay of Bengal in all its beauty...and all this was not crammed up...so much of free area jus for us to run around and enjoy...never making us feel claustrophobic....the place was the first push tht made us move further inside and feel at home so much away from the same....
More abt those 4 days in later posts....till then hav fun and take care...
Celebrate and Rediscover Christianity in every act u do....