This Easter weekend holds special significance for Reverend Raj Elias Varghese. It marks the 40-year-old Vicar’s inaugural Good Friday service with the Singapore Parish of the Mar Thoma Syrian Christian Church at 29 Jalan Keli.
As part of the Mar Thoma Church’s tradition of rotating clergy every three years, Rev Raj relocated from Kerala, India, to Singapore in May 2025. He came to Singapore with his wife, Ms Tenu Ann Raju, 36, a speech therapist, and their two sons, aged six and 10.
He had a conventional childhood. Rev Raj’s father was a businessman, and his mother was a housewife who taught at the Sunday School that he attended as a child. He also has a younger brother who currently works for an airline, and is based in Dubai.
On the contrary, his path to the priesthood was a little less straightforward.
His active involvement in the church-related youth fellowship led many to naturally assume that Rev Raj would eventually enter the ministry.
“But actually, I wasn’t too sure about my calling or vocation,” he explained. “Without clarity, I’m not able to go for my theological studies. I kept praying and praying, but got no reply from the ‘other side’.”
Rev Raj had spent his formative years in the Mar Thoma public school system. The two subjects that captured his attention the most were Botany (the study of plants) and English. His affinity for the former is almost hereditary.
“One of my maternal uncles worked in the Kerala Forest Research Institute as a scientist, while another worked in the Palode Botanical Garden.”
Pursuing further studies in Botany, however, entailed studying Zoology as one of the core components, which included animal dissection.
“I was a bit hesitant to go for that, so I took English literature as my main subject because I’m also very interested in languages.” Rev Raj is fluent in Malayalam, English, and Hindi. He also taught himself basic Tamil, which he picked up from his grandfather.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Baselius College in Kottayam, Kerala, in 2005. With a love for the classics, the reverend counts Shakespeare’s Macbeth and the novels of Charles Dickens among his favourite literary texts.
After university, Rev Raj was still “confused in mind” about his sacred calling.
He decided to pursue a master’s degree in Syriac, where most of his coursemates were ordained priests who encouraged him to pursue theological studies.
The admissions process was stringent, requiring potential candidates to sit for three written tests on the Bible, General Knowledge, and English, in addition to a medical review.
Rev Raj was ultimately accepted and posted to the Gurukkal Lutheran Theological College in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
According to the church officials, he was deliberately assigned to a college farther from home to help inculcate discipline. A seminary is structured so that a person stays there for four years, Rev Raj explained.
“You’re given leisure time of about two hours each day. If you live nearby, you can go home and come back, which will affect the discipline,” he added.
It was on the road between Kottayam and the Church’s headquarters in Thiruvalla where Rev Raj met with a near-fatal accident on Nov 5, 2008. He was en route to deliver his college application documents by motorcycle when he collided with a truck.
He suffered multiple fractures. Both his hands and right leg were broken. To complicate matters, Rev Raj developed fat embolism, a life-threatening condition, in which fat globules from his bone marrow were released into his bloodstream.
“It went up to my lungs, and I was breathless.” His condition only worsened through the night. Rev Raj was then placed on life support and fell into an unconscious state for about 10 days thereafter.
By “God’s will”, he woke up and miraculously made a full recovery over the next six months, in time to commence his theological degree programme in June 2009. Had his medical condition persisted or turned into a disability, he would not have been allowed to continue his studies, Rev Raj noted.
“The crucifixion (and resurrection) of Jesus shows us that pain is momentary. Good Friday is a reminder that while there’s suffering, there is hope too.”
