Kurisumala ( The Cross on the Mount)

Ashramam

In a land untouched by developments, where the people still remain the way they where years ago, lies a monastery (Ashramam), which consist of a low stone building comprising church, community quarters with cells for monks, and a well stocked library with books on the Bible, fathers of the church, monastic spirituality, theology, comparative religion etc. There is a  guest house with a spacious satsang hall, besides some hermitages scattered among rocks. There is a bread making unit, and beyond it the farm buildings housing the heard of cattle. There are vegetable gardens and small fields carved out of the rocky land. Otherwise grass for fodder covers the whole land

Syrian churches are always oriented. The church in the ashramam is divided into the traditional four parts: the narthex, the nave, the catastromo or the large step for the liturgy of the word and the sanctuary. the narthex, which is often used as a porch, is separated from the other parts by a wall divided into three wide doors, these are opened on Sundays and solemnities and thus enlarge the size of the church. The nave is the place where congregation stands; firs the guest and before them the community, the southern wall of the nave is the place of the icons. then comes the large step with the bible lectern, where the celebrants gather for the liturgy of the word. Recess in the eastern wall  of the holy of holies, the sanctuary , where the blessed sacrament is preserved together with the cross, the oil lamp, and two mouthed silver fans on which is embossed the  picture of the seraphim of Isaiah's vision, recalling the presence of the angels in the churches worship. The eastern most part is separated from he others by a screen, consisting of a wooden arch and a large curtain which is drawn aside during the celebrations.