The term Diaspora comes from an ancient Greek word meaning "to scatter about." And that's exactly what the people of a Diaspora do - they scatter from their homeland to places across the globe, spreading their culture as they go. The Bible refers to the Diaspora of Jews exiled from Israel by the Babylonians. The visible Church today is unable to realize it in all its fullness because of many difficulties and obstacles faced by our members born outside Kerala. In the light of this vision, the Indian Orthodox Diaspora is creating a platform to our upcoming generation to include them in the main stream of our church activities.
Thirumeni was a revolutionary in many aspects and this was evident from several decisions he took during his tenure. Thirumeni looked to the future and to include the future generations of Orthodox members he started a new spiritual organization called the Indian Orthodox Diaspora Secretariat (IODS), conducted conferences and meetings with an eye toward inclusiveness and ecumenism. His vision to cater to the needs of the outside Kerala youngsters and families led him to give shape to the Indian Orthodox Diaspora Movement, which later emerged as a full-fledged spiritual organization, besides the Sunday School, MGOCSM, Martha Mariam Samajam, AMOSS and Orthodox Christian Youth Movement.
St. Thomas Orthodox Cathedral took the first step by conducting a three-day conference on theme "Generations thriving in faith" led by Very Rev. Philip Thomas CorEpiscopa. Achen is the first among Malaysian citizens to enter the order of glorious Orthodox priesthood from Malaysia. He has already dedicated to the spiritual needs of 'three generations of faithful', living outside India and has been an immensely fruitful instrument in the hands of God, in nurturing them in the faith of the Holy Orthodox Church. The conference started by Achen sharing the importance of Diaspora community for the future of Orthodox Church. The second day the focus was on 'Parenting challenges in the modern generation'. The last day, started with Holy Qurbana and series of discussions and events looking challenges faced by the Diaspora community and building a roadmap for the community to actively participate in building the future of St. Thomas Orthodox Cathedral.
