Epiphany church stands as pride of Dornakal town

Warangal: Dornakal, one of the sleepy towns in the district, is known for two things. One is the railway junction which connects South India; the other is the Epiphany cathedral of the Dornakal diocese.

Locals here, majority of them tribals, along with Christians, Hindus and Muslims revere this church alike as the one place which brings historical significance to the area. The church is famous worldwide, as the only church which is constructed with indo-saracenic architecture where religious structures of various religions can be seen. And also because of its architect Bishop Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah who is also the first Indian bishop in the churches of the Anglican Communion. He is considered as a pioneer of Christian ecumenism in India.

Christmas is celebrated on a grand note here. People from across the globe visit the church and take part in the prayers this time of the year.

The diocese mainly covers the pastorates in Warangal, Nalgonda, and East Godavari and Khammam districts and also has churches in Odisha state constituting to about 1,000 churches. The diocese also runs missionary schools and colleges under it.

“The Diocese of Dornakal began its life on December 29, 1912, when the Reverend V. S. Azariah was consecrated as its first Bishop in St. Paul’s Cathedral, Calcutta. After coming here, he strongly believed in forming a communion of our own instead of the Anglican Communion and strived for it. But unfortunately he died in an accident in 1945. This church was included in the Church of South India communion in 1947,” said Dornakal diocese education secretary J.Vijay Bhushan.

The present bishop of the church, Rt. Rev. Dr Vadapalli Prasada Rao, said the church is run completely with Indian funds since its construction and to this day does not receive any foreign funds to keep Bishop Azariah’ idea of running churches in India independent of the Anglican Communion. With Christmas just few days away, the bishop, in his Christmas message hoped for peace in the nation and explained that God created Jesus to restore divinity to his creation.