The Mar. Gregorios Orthodox Christian Student Movement (MGOCSM) of India was founded in 1907 in Madras by a group of students and senior leaders. Initially, known as the Syrian Student Conference, it was renamed to it’s current title in 1960. Being the student’s wing of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, MGOCSM aims to bring together Orthodox students of various colleges and high schools with a view to deepening their spiritual life and creating in them a sense of fellowship.
The motto of MOGCSM is :Worship-Study-Service, which is quoted as :
- To deepen the spiritual life of the students.
- To lead them to be loyal and responsible members of the church
- To influence them to devote themselves for the work of extending the kingdom of God through service to humanity.
The MGOCSM of St. Gregorios Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Tampa, Florida is part of the Southeast Region of the MGOCSM – American Diocese.
About the Tampa MGOCSM
The St. Gregorios Malankara Orthodox Church has always had active youth involvement. Since the Church’s inception in 1989, and especially after the consecration of the Church building in 1997, the youth of this Church have participated in Church programs, inter-denominational youth meetings, and Malayalee cultural programs amongst other things. Also, the youth who have grown with this Church have been exceptional students and active community role models throughout high schooling and college. Therefore, when the Mar Gregorios Orthodox Christian Student Movement was inaugurated in July 2002, we were not introducing a foreign or new concept of youth involvement and spirituality. Rather, we were establishing for ourselves a new direction for our active participation in the Orthodox Church and the diocese to which we belong.
The Mar Gregorios Orthodox Christian Student Movement, or MGOCSM, is founded on the three pillars of worship, study, and service. As a young fledgling organization within the state of Florida, we are guided in all our groups’ actions by these three principles. We are obliged to be devoutly spiritual, and dedicated to the true Orthodox faith of our fathers and mothers in Christ. We, who live in a non-Orthodox society, must be in constant and tireless pursuit of knowledge about our faith. Having grounded ourselves in this faith, we must express the Christian love, or agape, by being loyal servants to our community. Through doing all of these things, we hope to grow in our Faith, and to be able to pass this Faith on to our children with the care that it has been handed down to us.
The youth of this Church, from high school through college and beyond, have been described by our Fr. George Paulose, as having a lot of “spirit and enthusiasm†for participation in the life of the Church. Though we are a small group, compared to our counterparts elsewhere in the diocese, we feel that our small size gives us each the opportunity to be one leader among many. We hope to be able to establish the MGOCSM in Tampa on solid grounding, so successive generations will be able to enjoy the benefits of such a youth fellowship. The road ahead of us will not be without bumps or detours, but we will always try to move forward toward the fullness of God. I, myself, see abundant potential in our ranks, and I ask for your prayers always, so that we may do all things to the best of our ability.