A sneak peek into the only home of unmarried Indian Christian priests

In this world, where money matters over everything for most of the people, some people are different. They believe serving the society is paramount. They live far away from their abodes and live a very Spartan life. Welcome to the world of only unmarried Christian priests home in India, which is in north Delhi’s Civil Lines area.

An eerie silence greets you when reach at your destination- The Brother’s House built in 1925. The sound of silence there amidst old trees and manicured lawns looks so enchanting. The chirping of birds breaks the silence of the Brother’s House.

As Good Friday and Easter is couple of days away, those who live at the Brother’s House are praying more than doing anything else. Brother’s House is the only abode in India of unmarried Christian priests. There is no place for married priests with families here. Prior to here, it was at near Delhi Junction, but that was long ago.

Originally hailing from Tamil Nadu, Brother George Solomon, who has been living here since 1989, says, “Currently, only six unmarried priests live here at the Brother’s House. The number is dwindling fast. There was a time when we had around ten or even one dozen priests staying here.”

“The Brotherhood of the Ascended Christ society, which is also known as Delhi Brotherhood Society (DBS) was started in 1877 based upon the vision of Bishop Westcott, initially under the title of the Cambridge Mission. Westcott's vision was for an Anglican community of celibate brothers from Cambridge University to set down roots in India,” adds Solomon.

The venerable St Stephen's College that has produced Indian President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad and Pakistan President Zia-ul-Haq respectively was also established by the DBS. Even St Stephen’s hospital was established by it. Both have been doing yeoman service.

More often than not, all the brothers at DBS sit together during breakfasts and discuss everything. Apart from serving as priests in different churches, they are associated with various DBS institutions.

Today, DBS operates 19 projects for the betterment of society, and is involved in women's empowerment, community development, education, abuse prevention, vocational training, scholarly work, interfaith dialogue, night shelters.

Ian Weathrall was the last British national associated with DBS. Aged 91, he died of cancer couple of years ago. He was an outstanding example of an Anglican missionary, much loved and admired by the small community of Britons living permanently in Delhi and by the Indian Christian community. With today's emphasis on religious pluralism, missionaries are out of fashion, but Ian's life demonstrates the contribution they make when they are integrated in the country in which they work. In 1951, he joined a community of celibate priests in Delhi and spent the rest of his life in India.

George Solomon is also a peace activist and permanent face of all religion prayer for the last two decades on Gandhi Jayanti on 2 October, and on Martyrs’ Day on 30 January, at the Rajghat and later Tees January Marg respectively. He recites verses from Bible during all religion prayer.

“Very honestly, it gives great joy and happiness when you take part in all faith prayers. It gives a strong message that we all have to live together to make India as a truly a secular country. Gandhiji came to know about Christian religion while he was in South Africa. There he met Christian missionary Joseph Doke, who wrote his first biography, and CF Andrews, a teacher in Delhi’s St Stephen’s college,” informs George Solomon.

A veteran of Brother’s House, Monodeep Daniel is a priest, theologian, educationalist and author of numerous books. When not lecturing, writing, or studying Biblical Greek, he can be found at the Brotherhood House or some school run by the Delhi Brotherhood Society.

“I hail from Lucknow and I have been part of DBS for the last over 30 years. We all live peacefully here and Brother’s house is our world. We remain in touch with our families. We have given our lives to the cause of the Delhi Brotherhood Society. This is our chosen path,” says Daniel.

Those associated with DBS are called as Brother as they are part of DBS. The unmarried priests of Brother’s House get lunch and dinner apart from breakfast. They get some remuneration too for their day to day activities. With smile on his face, George Soloman says that they too enjoy Cricket and football matches together.

“We have a TV in our Brother’s house. There we watch big sport events together. And we celebrate Indian Cricket teams’ victories in our own way.” Meanwhile, St Stephen's College is moving towards Haryana after making a huge contribution in the field of education and nation building since 1881 in Delhi. The DBS is opening a school, to be known as St Stephen’s School - in Sonepat in Haryana from the next academic session i.e. 2023-24 and currently all the members of DBS are concentrating on this ambitious project.

“The construction work for the St Stephan’s School is going on at a very rapid pace. We hope that the school building would be ready before the start of next academic session. It would be a state-of-the-art building with wonderful library and science laboratories. Our school would have a big play ground,” said Brother George Solomon.

(The author is Delhi-based senior journalist and writer. He is author of Gandhi's Delhi which has brought to the forth many hidden facts about Mahatma Gandhi)