The Tiruppattur Ashram
A. J. APPASAMY
some marked gifts—love of worship, habit of painstaking study, fluency as a writer and the ability to make friends with men of al] types.
Father Lazarus has now published a new translation of the Book of Psalms, based on the Septuagint version used in the Orthodox Churches.
He concludes his long introduction appropriately with a stirring panegyric on the Psalms by St Chrysostom, one of the early Orthodox Church Fathers.
If we keep vigil in church, David comes first, last and central.
If early in the morning we want songs and hymns, first, last and central is David again.
If we are occupied with the funeral solemnities of those who have fallen asleep, or if virgins sit at home and spin, David is first, last and central.
O amazing wonder!
All other men at night are overcome by sleep.
David alone is active, and gathering the servants of God into seraphic bands, he turns earth into heaven, and converts men into angels.
THE TIRUPPATTUR ASHRAM
My first visit to the Tiruppattur Ashram was in 1925.
Since then I have visited it several times, often spending a week and taking a Bible class daily for the doctors and the volunteers.
After I became Bishop the Ashram brothers warmly invited me to live in the Ashram whenever I went to visit the churches in that area though there was no official connection between the Ashram and the Coimbatore Diocese.
It has been a great experience to visit the Ashram during the different stages of its growth, to see the new buildings going up, and to meet from time to time the workers in the Ashram.
The Tiruppattur Ashram was founded by Dr S. Jesudason and Dr E. F. Paton in 1921.
It is the oldest Christian Ashram in India.
It is also large and active.
At present there are four permanent members in the Ashram, Dr E. Forrester Paton, Dr Raja Savarirayan, Mr Jaya David and Mr R. S. Victor,.
The first two are highly qualified doctors..
Dr Jesudason died in 1969
THE TIRUPPATTUR -ASHRAM
after long and faithful service.
Dr Paton who is 78 is no longer doing medical work. He is devoting himself to prayer, Bible study, personal counselling and evangelistic work among nominal Christians and non-Christians.
Dr Raja Savarirayan is in charge of the Ashram Hospital.
Mr Victor looks after the buildings and lands.
Mr Jaya David is the Headmaster of the Elementary School.
Volunteers come for one or more years and help in the hospital and in the school.
There is a well-equipped hospital with seventy beds, a House of Prayer, a Library, buildings for members of the Ashram to live in, and a large Guest House which is often used for Retreats and Conferences.
Much of the food which is required for the Ashram is raised on its own Farm.
Until 1955 the Ashram stood definitely for four things:
Devotion to Christ.
The members of the Ashram sought to follow Christ without identifying themselves with any one church or denomination, They committed their lives to Christ and were anxious to serve Him as faithfully as they could.
Community Life.
They lived as a community. They did not receive any monthly salary but only their food and clothes and their immediate requirements such as soap, razor'blades, postage stamps and so on.
They were celibates.
The members put into a common fund whatever private property they had.
Service to the Sick and Poor.
The Ashram was built at Tirupattur because it was a rural area and there were thousands of people in the villages nearby who needed medical and economic help.
Indian Ways of Christian Worship.
The Ashram has built a place of prayer modelled on the temples of South India with their towers.
The worship takes place in the central hall with a flat roof of stone resting on beautifully carved stone pillars and open on three sides. The garden with its roses and crotons all round the House of Prayer is very lovely. Two cisterns in front provide water for those who would like to wash their feet before entering the place of worship.
A massive stone wall, encloses the hall and the garden and gives seclusion to the worshippers. Many lyrics have been composed by Dr S. Jesudason and they are sung beautifully to the accompaniment of Indian musical instruments.
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A. J. APPASAMY
Every day the members of the Ashram meet outside the chapel -on a circular platform at the time of sunset and spend an hour in silent worship, praise and intercession.
This is in accordance with the Indian practice of Sandhya, a prayer offered to God twice daily by Brahmans at the time of sunrise and sunset asking for spiritual light to illumine the soul.
In 1955 Dr E. F. Forrester Paton attended a Billy Graham Campaign in Glasgow.
He worked as an adviser in the Counselling Room.
All the people in the Prayer Room went on praying until Dr Graham began his address, which was relayed to them.
When the address was over and the enquirers came into the Counselling Room, they gave them spiritual counsel.
Dr Paton came to develop certain new convictions at that time.
There were millions of nominal Christians in the older Churches of the West.
What about the Indian Church?
In India also there are millions of nominal Christians.
India can be won for Christ only when every nominal Christian is converted and becomes an evangelist.
A vast country like India cannot be led to Christ unless this takes place. a In his sixty-third year Dr Paton left the Ashram for some time and began working in close association with the Laymen's
Evangelical Fellowship in Madras; Mr N. Daniel is its leader.
The continuous life of prayer which the members of the team led, their faithful study of the Bible, their ceaseless work for the spiritual awakening of the Indian Church—all these greatly attracted Dr Paton.
He felt that he could learn much from them.
So he lived with them for two and a half years, helped them in the various revival meetings which they held in the Tamil and Telugu countries and profited much from his close contact with them.
While there has always been much prayer in the Hospital, now difficult cases are treated with special prayer.
Every Wednesday some of the Me who need such help are brought to the Consulting Room and earnest prayer is offered to God for their healing.
Very often people want to become Christians from unworthy motives.
They desire education for their children.
They need
THE TIRUPPATTUR ASHRAM
economic help. So the Ashram did not encourage baptism without a long period of testing.
The brothers in the Ashram were held in very great respect and affection by the local people who knew that they were doing incessant and selfless work as Sannyasis among the poor.
Many Hindus and some Muslims attended regularly Christian worship in the Ashram chapel. The members of the Ashram have now come to the conclusion that it is not enough if people hear the Gospel and even come to Christian worship.
They must commit themselves definitely to Him, join His Church whatever its weaknesses and be helped by its Christian fellowship to grow in the spiritual life.
So today baptisms are given by the Presbyters of the Coimbatore Diocese who work in close association with the lay brothers in the Ashram.
In recent years special efforts have been made by the Presbyters of the National Missionary Society and the Ashram brothers to carry the Gospel to some of the seventy unevangelised villages on the Jawadi Hills.
'Three new evangelists have also been appointed by the N.M.S.
Lectures for educated Hindus were being arranged at Tiruppattur from time to time.
Interested Hindus who would not be reached by open air preaching attended these lectures.
Some of the friends at Tiruppattur asked me to give a lecture on 'Sundar Singh as a Christian Mystic'.
This subject is dear to my heart.
I spoke about his deeper experiences in prayer and his visions of Christ and showed how his ecstasies led to active evangelistic work even at the peril of persecution and imprisonment.
God. has His wonderful plans for His Church.
Today the Holy Spirit is working in many lands to bring men and women closer to God and Christ.
It is very significant that the Tirupattur Ashram, which has done excellent work in the 'past, is now being
' summoned by God to carry new burdens and to enter into new fields of service.