The Church of South India (CSI) is a united Protestant Church in India. It is the result of union of a number of Protestant denominations in South India that occurred after the independence of India.
Victor Premasagar (1927–2005) was the fourth successor of Frank Whittaker as Bishop in Medak. He was an Indian churchman and Old Testament scholar who made major contributions to research on the Old Testament and to the field of theology. Premasagar's articles appeared in the Expository Times (1966), the Vetus Testamentum (1966), the International Review of Mission (1972), and the Indian Journal of Theology (1974) and cited in major works relating to the theme of Promise in the Bible and critical works on Psalms LXXX and the Hebrew word HOQ in the Tanakh.
Medak Cathedral at Medak in Telangana, India, is one of the largest churches in India and has been the cathedral church of the Diocese of Medak of the Church of South India since 1947. Originally built by Charles Walker Posnett British Wesleyan Methodists, it was consecrated on 25 December 1924.
B. P. Sugandhar was the fifth successor of Frank Whittaker as Bishop - in - Medak of the Church of South India whose bishopric lasted for more than a decade and half from 1993 through 2009 coinciding with the archbishoprics of Samineni Arulappa and Marampudi Joji of the Archdiocese of Hyderabad.
The Diocese of Medak is one of the prominent Dioceses in the Church of South India, a Protestant Uniting Church with its headquarters in Medak comprising nearly 200 Presbyters ministering to Telugu, Lambadi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindustani, English and other linguistic groups numbering nearly 1/3rds of a million spread over 105 pastorates and administered through 3 District Church Councils (DCC), namely, the Town DCC, the Medak DCC and the Godavari DCC geographically located in the erstwhile civil districts of Adilabad, Nizamabad, Medak, Rangareddy, Hyderabad and Mahboobnagar in Telangana.
Archbishop Samineni Arulappa, also known as S Arulappa, was an Indian Catholic clergyman who served as the Archbishop of Hyderabad from December 1971 through January 2000. The youngest priest to be consecrated to such a high office, he was also the longest-serving Catholic archbishop in India. He was also the first archbishop who had the honour of being consecrated by Pope Paul VI in Rome.
Bishop Emeritus P. Surya Prakash was the fifth Bishop-in-Karimnagar Diocese of the Church of South India. from 2007 through 2014 and occupied the Cathedra in Karimnagar's Wesley Cathedral. He retired on account of superannuation in 2014 following which the Church of South India Synod headquartered in Chennai appointed a successor to him in 2015.
The Diocese of Karimnagar is a diocese of Church of South India in Telangana state of India.The diocese is one among the 22 dioceses of Church of South India.
Bishop T. B. D. Prakasa Rao was the fourth CSI-Bishop - in - Krishna-Godavari of the Protestant Church of South India who occupied the Cathedra placed at CSI-St. Paul's Cathedral, Vijayawada. The Bishopric of Prakasa Rao lasted for two decades from 1981 through 2001, one of the longest in the history of the Church of South India Society. Prakasa Rao led the bishopric of Krishna-Godavari that comprised the Christian missions established by the London Missionary Society (LMS) and the Church Missionary Society (CMS) which merged its South India Christian missions in India into the Church of South India Society which was inaugurated in 1947 at the CSI-St. George's Cathedral, Madras.
Telugu Christians or Telugu Kraistava are a religious community who form the third-largest religious minority in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. According to the Census of India, there are over a million Christians in Andhra Pradesh, constituting 1.51% of the state's population, although a decrease from the 1971 census figure which was 2%, as a result of low birth rates and emigration. Most Telugu Christians are Protestant, belonging to major Indian Protestant denominations such as the predominant Anglican Church of South India, Pentecostals such as Assemblies of God in India, India Pentecostal Church of God, The Pentecostal Mission, the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches, the Salvation Army and several others. There also is a significant number of Roman Catholics and Evangelicals. Although the Franciscans of the Roman Catholic Church brought Christianity to the Deccan area in 1535, it was only after 1759 AD, when the Northern Circars came under the rule of the East India Company, that the region opened up to greater Christian influence. The first Protestant missionaries in Andhra Pradesh were Rev. Cran and Rev. Des Granges who were sent out by the London Missionary Society. They set up their station at Visakhapatnam in 1805 AD. Regions with significant populations of Telugu Christians include the erstwhile Northern Circars, the coastal belt and the cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Telugu Christians have one of the highest literacy and work participation figures and most even male-to-female ratio figures among the various religious communities in the state.
CSI-Holy Trinity Church is a church under the auspices of the Protestant Church of South India, a uniting Church. It is located in the Bolarum locality of Secunderabad Cantonment.
CSI-All Saints Church is a church under the auspices of the Church of South India. It is located in the Trimulgherry locality of Secunderabad. It was originally a Garrison Church, presided by Army Chaplains but was subsequently bequeathed to the Church of South India, a uniting Church in 1947. The church currently serves the Tamil speaking congregation of Secunderabad and offers services in English every week and in Tamil every week.
The Karnataka Central Diocese is one of the twenty-two dioceses of the Church of South India covering the central part of Karnataka.
The Right Reverend K. Reuben Mark is the present Bishop in Karimnagar and the sixth in succession and occupies the Cathedra of the Bishop placed in Karimnagar's CSI-Wesley Cathedral. Reuben Mark is currently a Council Member for the period 2015–2018 at the fully-ecumenical United Theological College, Bangalore. During the XXXVIth session of Church of South India Synod, Reuben Mark has been elected as Deputy Moderator for the triennium 2020-2023 succeeding V. Prasada Rao.
Bishop G. B. Devasahayam(born 23 August 1925; died 20 August 1996) was the second elected CSI-Bishop - in - Karimnagar Diocese of the Church of South India who occupied the Cathedra from 1982 through 1987 placed in the CSI-Wesley Cathedral in Karimnagar Town in Telangana, India
CSI-Christ Church (Hyderabad) is one of the earliest Churches in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The church is situated in Ramkote locality of the twin cities Hyderabad and Secunderabad and 24 km away from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport Shamshabad. For Church administrative purposes, it falls under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Diocese of Medak and caters to a diverse Tamil-speaking congregation of about 500 members. The church was consecrated and dedicated in 1869, and is the oldest Tamil Church in Hyderabad.
A. C. Solomon Raj is the seventh successor of Frank Whittaker and eighth Bishop in Medak of the Protestant Church of South India Society and shepherds the Diocese from the Cathedra of the Bishop housed in the CSI-Medak Cathedral in Medak Town, Telangana, India. On 12 October 2016, the Church of South India Synod headquartered in Chennai, appointed Solomon Raj to assume the ecclesiastical Office of the Bishopric of Medak and was consecrated the next day on 13 October 2016 at the CSI-St. George's Cathedral, Chennai, ending four years of sede vacante in the Diocese of Medak which was without a bishop during the intervening period of 2012–2016.
Regunta Yesurathnam was a priest hailing from the Diocese of Medak of the Church of South India, headquartered in Medak, notable as a systematic theologian who served as a faculty member from 1974 through 2001 of the Andhra Christian Theological College, affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College (University), in Secunderabad, Telangana, India,.
Nalla Thomas was an Asian Christian and a spiritual personality, who served the Church in Assam and undivided Andhra Pradesh for nearly four decades comprising the seventies through the New millennium. He used to compose hymns for enhancing spiritual direction. Thomas was an Ecclesiastical administrator of Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches Society.
