STATEN ISLAND, NY-- A local church recently marked its golden anniversary with a two-day celebration featuring traditional masses and a community procession.

Mar Gregorios Orthodox Syrian Church of India, located at 175 Brielle Ave. in Sea View, has a past worthy of a long celebration.

According to the written history, the story began in 1968 when Syrian Christian families from Kerala, India settled on Staten Island and faced the challenge of establishing a place to worship. By 1974, 13 people gathered in an apartment and decided to begin services in a chapel of a Roman Catholic Church in Tompkinsville.

The group held its first worship service on Aug. 11, 1974, naming itself St. Thomas Orthodox Syrian Congregation. The following February, the congregation incorporated under the title of

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