The spring of 1909, under the spiritual guidance of Fr. Hanna Koorie, the Assyrian Ladies Aid Society was formed in order to raise financial means for the first church building. Through the hard work of the Assyrian Ladies Aid Society, a church was purchased in West Hoboken (now Union City), New Jersey. As years went by the number of the faithful increased, and by 1915 the population of the community reached a point where a new, larger church building was needed. After an appropriate location was found and all the legal and other necessary steps were taken, the first Syrian Orthodox church in America was built by the Syriac faithful from the area of West New York, New Jersey. The church was consecrated in April of 1927 by Archbishop Mor Severius Ephrem Barsoum (later Patriarch Ephrem I Barsoum).The parish eventually relocated to Paramus, New Jersey, as the community built a magnificent new church whose cornerstone was laid on Sunday, September 17, 1967, with a colorful ceremony celebrated by Archbishop Yeshue Samuel, assisted by the new priest, Rev. Fr. John Khoury (now chorepiscopus), the current pastor of the Assyrian Church of the Virgin Mary.

Message from the Priest “The Fourth Sunday of the Lent”The Canaanite Woman‘Then she (the Canaanite woman) came and worshipped Him saying, “Lord help me.”  Matt.15:25   Jesus was very much disappointed in His own people who showed Him nothing but disloyalty and disrespect.  They disrupted His speeches and antagonized His followers; they hindered His mission­ary work and that of His disciples. Jesus was sent as a compassionate father to remedy the ills of His children but they rejected and persecuted Him.  The prodigal sons protested that He cured their leprosy and paralysis on a Sabbath.   As a result, Jesus had to go to the neighboring towns and cities where people were more eager to listen to His divine words and very interested to be cured, outside of his own flock. Jesus cured the sick, cast out demons and devils from the possessed.       Read More

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