![]() 6th century, known as the Anuradhapura cross plays a significant role in Christians in Sri Lanka. | |
![]() Christians by region (1980–2000) | |
Total population | |
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1,552,161 (2012) [1] | |
Founder | |
Thomas the Apostle | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Province | |
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Religions | |
Languages | |
Christianity by country |
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Christianity is a minority religion in Sri Lanka. It was introduced to the island in first century. [2] Traditionally, after Thomas the Apostle's visit in Kerala in AD 52, Christianity is said to have been introduced to Sri Lanka because of its close geographical and commercial ties. [3] [4]
Records suggest that St. Thomas Christians and Nestorian Christians lived in Sri Lanka, [5] and the Anuradhapura cross is one of the archaeological finds that suggest Christianity in Sri Lanka before the [6] arrival of the Portuguese. [7] [8] Nestorian Christianity is said to have thrived in Sri Lanka with the patronage of King Dathusena during the 5th century. There are mentions of involvement of Persian Christians with the Sri Lankan royal family during the Sigiriya Period. Over seventy-five ships carrying Murundi soldiers from Mangalore are said to have arrived in the Sri Lankan town of Chilaw most of whom were Christians. King Dathusena's daughter was married to his nephew Migara who is also said to have been a Nestorian Christian, and a commander of the Sinhalese army. Maga Brahmana, a christian priest of Persian origin is said to have provided advice to King Dathusena on establishing his palace on the Sigiriya Rock. [9] The Anuradhapura Cross discovered in 1912 is also considered to be an indication of a strong Nestorian Christian presence in Sri Lanka between the 3rd and 10th century in the then capital of Anuradhapura of Sri Lanka. [9] [10] [11] [12] There were also conversions by the Dutch in the 17th century.
The Christian population of Sri Lanka includes members of Burghers, Sinhalese and Tamil ethnic groups. [13]
In the pre-colonial era, Nestorian Christians and St. Thomas Christians were both present in Sri Lanka. These two groups later established a union with the Catholic Church. After Yahballaha III, the Nestorians accepted union with the Catholic Church. Father Jordanus arrived in Sri Lanka in 1329 and Giovanni de Marignolli arrived as Papal Legate in 1348/49 to assist the Christians in the country. [14] There were also Catholic travellers such as Odoric of Pordenone who visited Sri Lanka.
Catholicism was formally introduced by the Portuguese in 1505. 6.19% of the population (1,261,194 persons) is Catholic, according to the 2012 census. [15] Catholicism thus constitutes approximately 83.5% of the Christian population as of census day 2012.
Catholicism was first introduced by the Portuguese, who left a notable mark in that Portuguese surnames are still used by many Catholics. Dutch missionaries tried to spread Protestantism after the Portuguese were expelled, but most Sri Lankan Christians are now Catholics. There is an archbishop and 11 other bishops. [16] The dioceses are:
290,967 persons in Sri Lanka (1.43%) are Protestants as per the 2012 census. [17] The Ceylon Pentecostal Mission has about 16,500 church members and 70 churches (faith homes) in Sri Lanka. About 2000 people (1998) are affiliated with congregations belonging to the Baptist World Alliance. The Ceylon Evangelical Lutheran Church has about 5,000 members.
The main Protestant churches in Sri Lanka are Anglican, Methodist, Baptist and Salvation Army. The Church of Ceylon is an extra-provincial Anglican church, and the Church of South India (a united church of Anglicans, Presbyterians, and other Protestants) is a full member of the Anglican Communion and has a diocese in Jaffna. The Anglican Church has a strong effect on people in some areas. Methodist missionaries established 187 schools of which only 2 remains (Wesley College and Methodist College) because all the other schools were taken over by the government. Methodism has over 40,000 followers in Sri Lanka with 45 circuits, 200 churches and 120 pastors. Moratuwa Area and Kutunayake Negombo Areas are the regions where many Methodists live. In 2005 and 2006, the Methodist Church of Sri Lanka had a very difficult time during a period of anti-Christian violence.
St. Andrew's Church in Colombo is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. For administrative purposes, it is part of the Church of Scotland's International Presbytery.
According to the 2015 yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, around 6,671 active members are in Sri Lanka. [18]
Ceylon under the British Occupation, when the British government slashed expenditures on education on the island due to budgetary constraints, it relied heavily on Christian missionaries to carry out educational actives. A significant portion of this effort was made by the American Ceylon Mission (ACM) that was established in 1813 by Rev. Samuel Newell in Jaffna, in Tamil-dominated northern Ceylon, as part of the evangelising effort of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. [19]
The Ceylon Evangelical Lutheran Church is a confessional Lutheran church in Sri Lanka, and the only Lutheran denomination registered with the Sri Lankan government. [20] The church consists of more than a dozen congregations or mission stations, mainly concentrated in the tea plantation regions of Nuwara Eliya, Central Province. [21]
The Russian Orthodox Church organized two missionary trips to Sri Lanka in January and April 2024, marking the resumption of its mission on the island after earlier attempts had failed to take root. Liturgical services were held in the city of Kurunegala and the neighboring village of Melsiripura. Following constituent meetings of communities in Kurunegala and Colombo, members are awaiting the decision of clergy on the official establishment of the parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sri Lanka. [22]
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.
Sri Lanka is officially a Buddhist country, while Sri Lankans practice a variety of religions. As of the 2012 census, 70.2% of Sri Lankans were Buddhists, 12.6% were Hindus, 9.7% were Muslims, 7.4% were Christians. Buddhism is declared as the State religion of Sri Lanka and has been given special privileges in the Sri Lankan constitution such as the government is bound for protection and fostering of Buddhist Dharma throughout the nation. However, the constitution also provides for freedom of religion and right to equality among all its citizens. In 2008 Sri Lanka was the third most religious country in the world according to a Gallup poll, with 99% of Sri Lankans saying religion is an important part of their daily life.
The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the pope in Rome. The country comes under the province of Colombo and is made up of 12 dioceses including one archdiocese. There are approximately 1.2 million Catholics in Sri Lanka representing around 6.1% of the total population. Later estimates suggest that there are over 1.6 million in 2020.
The Diocese of Jaffna is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in northern Sri Lanka. Latin Catholicism in the diocese's territory dates to the time of Francis Xavier. The current bishop is Justin Gnanapragasam.
Protestants in India are a minority and a sub-section of Christians in India and also to a certain extent the Christians in Pakistan before the Partition of India, that adhere to some or all of the doctrines of Protestantism. Protestants in India are a small minority in a predominantly Hindu majority country, but form majorities in the north-eastern states of Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland and significant minorities in Konkan division, Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, with various communities in east coast and northern states. Protestants today trace their heritage back to the Protestant reformation of the 16th century. There are an estimated 20 million Protestants and 16 million Pentecostals in India.
According to the 2012 census, 6% of the population of Sri Lanka was Christian; of these, one in ten was Protestant, showing that there were approximately six Protestants for every 1,000 Sri Lankans. Later estimates suggest that this share has doubled in less than ten years.
The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Colombo is a Latin metropolitan archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church, whose ecclesiastical province covers all Sri Lanka plus the Maldives. It depends on the missionary Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
The American Ceylon Mission (ACM) to Jaffna, Sri Lanka started with the arrival in 1813 of missionaries sponsored by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). Although they had originally planned to work in Galle, the British colonial office in Ceylon restricted the Americans to out-of-the-way Jaffna due to the security concerns of the British who were warring with France at the time. The critical period of the impact of the missionaries was from the 1820s to early 20th century. During this time, they engaged in original translations from English to Tamil, printing, and publishing, establishing primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions and providing health care for residents of the Jaffna Peninsula. These activities resulted in many social changes amongst Sri Lankan Tamils that survive even today. They also led to the attainment of a lopsided literacy level among residents in the relatively small peninsula that is cited by scholars as one of the primary factors contributing to the recently ended civil war. Many notable educational and health institutions within the Jaffna Peninsula owe their origins to the missionary activists from America. Missionaries also courted controversy by publishing negative information about local religious practices and rituals.
The Church of Ceylon is the Anglican Church in Sri Lanka. It is an extraprovincial jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who serves as its Metropolitan. It was established in 1845 with the appointment of the first Anglican Bishop of Colombo, James Chapman and until 1950 it consisted of a single diocese; in that year a second diocese was established at Kurunegala.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Anuradhapura is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church in Sri Lanka.
Most Rev. Lakdasa Jacob De Mel (1902–1976), MA was the first Bishop of Kurunegala, Sri Lanka and the last Metropolitan Archbishop of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon.
Mannar District is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The capital of the district is Mannar, which is located on Mannar Island.
The Christian Reformed Church of Sri Lanka is the oldest Protestant church on the island.
The Church of India, Burma and Ceylon (CIBC) was the autonomous ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion, associated with the Church of England, in British India.
The Methodist Church of Sri Lanka is a Protestant Christian denomination in Sri Lanka. Its headquarters is in Colombo and was established on 29 June 1814. It is a member of the World Council of Churches, the Christian Conference of Asia, the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka and the World Methodist Council.
The Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour is located in Cinnamon Gardens a suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is the primary Anglican cathedral, affiliated to the Church of Ceylon.
The Anuradhapura cross is a form of the Christian cross symbol. It is the most ancient symbol of Christianity in Sri Lanka.
Keerthisiri Fernando is the sixth Bishop of Kurunegala, Sri Lanka.