Head of Indian Orthodox church leads a service in Spokane, the first visit of any apostolic patriarch in history

The imposing wood doors that shroud the altar at St. Gregorios Malankara Orthodox Church swung open to reveal the man everyone was there to see.

Brass bells rung by clergymen harmonized with the swelling voices of the parish, belting a hymn in excitement at just the sight of their patriarch's back. It was standing room only in the small church.

On Wednesday, the leader of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church led a service in Spokane, traveling from Kerala, India, where the branch of Christian Orthodoxy was born. It's the first time the main figurehead of any apostolic religion has visited Spokane.

His full title is, "His Holiness Moran Mor Baselios Mor Thoma Mathews III Catholicos of the East and Head of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church." Churchgoers call him "His Holiness," "Catholicos" or "Baba."

The Rev. Michael Hatcher, vicar at St. Gregorios, said as the patriarch, the Catholicos is the equivalent of the pope in Roman Catholicism.

"This was kind of a dream Father George and I always had, that we would have the Catholicos patriarch come to Spokane, to visit our community," Hatcher said, referring to his son and fellow priest, George Hatcher. "I just didn't think that could happen, because Spokane is so small and out of the way, relatively speaking. We are just very delighted."

The Catholicos led a two-hour-long service for a crowd of around 150. Pews were full of worshippers of many faiths drawn to the marvel of His Holiness. Local leaders from Catholic and Jesuit groups filled the front rows.

The affair was a near constant exchange of song between clergy and parish as the priest led worshippers through the Holy Qurbono, otherwise known as the Divine Liturgy, where worshippers took communion, fed directly from His Holiness.

The patriarch fed parishioners blessed bits of bread, which more than represent the body of Christ. In Syrian Orthodoxy, worshippers believe they are literally consuming his blood and body in the act.

That's why clergy take care with the bread, holding a cloth under the mouths of those taking communion to catch any crumbs. When one falls to the church's carpet, George Hatcher doesn't hesitate to kneel and eat it with his teeth, "like a dog," he said, because that's how he feels under the presence of God.

After communion, the patriarch told the parish his "heart is full of gratitude and love" seeing such a thriving and diverse group worshipping with fervor.

"As we celebrate together, I felt very much at home when celebrating Holy Qurbono," he said.

Only those baptized in the church can receive communion, but everyone in attendance lined up to receive his blessing and kiss the large gilded cross he carries.

What struck parishioner Annie Almeida most through the service was this personal exchange with the patriarch. Though he was tired from extensive travels across the continent, a required period of fasting and leading a long service, he offered a "beautiful smile" to each person lined up for a blessing while delicately touching their forehead.

"There was a real serene smile on his face," she said.

Near the end of the service, groups of parishioners rose to serenade His Holiness with hymns in three different languages: Malayalam, spoken in Kerala; Coptic, descendant from ancient Egyptian; and Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. It's just a sample of the diversity present any Sunday at St. Gregorios, Michael Hatcher said; there are about eight different native languages spoken within the parish.

"It really is a pretty international community," Michael Hatcher said. "It's kind of, I suppose, a symbol of how much Spokane is changing over time."

The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, also known as the Indian Orthodox Church, has a little over 2 million worshippers across the globe. Most of them reside in southwestern India, where the religion began in the year 52. It's one of the smaller branches of Christian Orthodoxy in general, which has an estimated 260 million practitioners total.

St. Gregorios, 1725 E. Bridgeport Ave., opened in 1987, intended to be a mission parish attracting worshippers of all faiths. Many parishioners are converts to the religion, some are practitioners of another branch of Oriental Orthodoxy, like the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Some regular attendees aren't orthodox at all, but know people in the church and found community there.

"We were set up to serve people with whatever background, and there were not very many Orthodox churches when this parish was established," Michael Hatcher said. "We just ended up taking in a whole bunch of people."

St. Gregorios is unique in the world of Orthodox churches for this reason, Michael Hatcher said. While most Orthodox Syrian churches tend to serve mostly Indian parishioners with ties to Kerala, that's not the case in Spokane. Around 20-30 of the 150-person parish is Indian, like Almeida and the vicar's wife Gita George-Hatcher.

Almeida has been attending services at St. Gregorios since she moved to Spokane from Arizona 13 years ago. She was raised Catholic, but married a man in the Orthodox church. The presence of God she feels during Orthodox service and fellowship she found with parishioners has kept her coming back in addition to attending Mass.

"I love the diversity and the love of worship and the faith, that's the reason I enjoy it," she said.

Each parishioner beamed knowing their religious figurehead had made apostolic history in their humble church. His presence was momentous, said George Hatcher, because of the man he is and who he represents.

"Some people, they ask for proof that Jesus was real, and we don't just point to documents and philosophical arguments, we point to our bishops who came from the bishops who came from the bishops who came from the apostles who came from Jesus Christ," he said. "We can look at the church and go, 'There, Jesus was real.' "

Elena Perry's work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 7:13 PM.