Church of South India Synod is the highest administrative body of the Church of South India. The Synod (CSI Synod) governs the whole church and convenes the annual general meeting of CSI. The Moderator of the Synod is a Bishop who is a presiding officer of the election conducted in the Annual General Meeting. The elected board is normally to hold office for three years. Church of South India Trust Association was constituted as a legal holding body of the movable and immovable properties of the Church of South India. The CSITA was incorporated in 26 September, 1947 under Section 26 of the Indian Companies Act 1913 [1] (now Section 25 of the Indian Companies Act 1956) as a religious and charitable company which has no business character and with no profit motive. The properties of the Churches in Union have been transferred to CSITA.
The CSI synod consists of bishops of 24 dioceses, presbyters and layman (both men and women) who are elected from the respective diocesan councils to the synod. The synod members will elect the apex body consisting of a Moderator, Deputy Moderator, general secretary and Treasurer. The Moderator is the spiritual and administrative head of the Church. Only Bishops are eligible to contest for the Moderator and Deputy Moderator posts. Pastors and lay members are eligible to contest for the remaining two posts of General Secretary and Treasurer. The ordinary session of the synod is held once every three years. The last synod meeting was held in January 2023 at Hubli. The practice has been to hold the meeting during the pongal holidays in mid January and over four days. Special meetings of the synod (between ordinary sessions) could also be convened by a decision of the Synod Executive. The Synod office is situated at CSI Center, Royapettah, Chennai.
As the Church of South India synod meets only once in every three years, the power of the Synod is mostly delegated to Synod Executive which is appointed by the Synod and which meets at least twice a year. The Synod Executive is a subset of Synod which has 107 members excluding the Officers of the Synod. The Synod Executive consists of 4 members each from the 24 dioceses of Church of South India, 3 nominees of the Moderator and 4 officers of the synod (Moderator, Deputy Moderator, General Secretary and Treasurer).
The Synod Working Committee is a subset of the Synod Executive and it consists of 24 members excluding the Officers of the Synod. The working committee has a representation of one member each from the 24 dioceses of Church of South India and 4 officers of the Synod. The Synod Working Committee meetings are held based on need basis and they are held in between Synod Executive meetings. All decisions of the Synod Working Committee must be ratified at a subsequent meeting of the Synod Executive.
According to the Church of South India constitution the participants in the Synod belong to five categories:
Dioceses send representatives based on a graded scale that starts with those having 10,000 baptised members sending two pastors and four lay persons while the maximum number of representatives to the synod come from dioceses with over 150,000 baptised members that send six presbyters and 11 lay persons.
According to the report of the 2014 synod meeting, there were [2] 135 presbyters, 275 lay members and 22 bishops who participated in the synod. Other invitees to synod meetings include accredited visitors, heads of synod departments, fraternal delegates (representing various CSI affiliated bodies), special invitees, overseas guests and resource persons.
First day of the synod meeting consists of confirmation of minutes of the previous Synod, Appointment of various committees to oversee elections, Take up resolutions, moderator's address, general secretary's report and Election of the four Officers of the Synod (Moderator, Deputy Moderator, general secretary and Treasurer). The second, third and fourth days of the Synod consists of a series of presentations by the treasurer, heads of synod departments, special invitees, etc. and some limited question-answer sessions. The final act of each Synod is the formal installation of the new Officers of the Synod on the last day.
Due to the Madras High Court's ruling, which invalidated the recent elections and identified procedural discrepancies at the Synod meeting held in Hubli in January 2023. [3] [4] [5] The officers were elected for a three-year term at the Synod meeting in Hubli, January 2023. The Moderator and the Deputy Moderator position along with the position of General Secretary and Hon. Treasurer is currently vacant and awaiting election. [3] [4] [5] The church is presently under the administration of court-appointed administrators, Justice R. Balasubramanian and Justice V. Bharathidasan, pending new elections for these key leadership roles. [3] [4] [5]
For proper guidance of the life and work of the Church the CSI Synod has set up various Commissions and Committees. The following are some of the important ones:
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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.
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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.
Govada Dyvasirvadam is Bishop Emeritus of Krishna-Godavari Diocese of the 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.
The CSI Tiruchirappalli Thanjavur Diocese is a diocese of Church of South India in Tamil Nadu state of India. The diocese is one among the 24 dioceses of Church of South India and was one of the first 14 dioceses to be formed at the inaugural of the Church of South India in 1947.
Thomas Kanjirappally Oommen is an Indian Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of the Madhya Kerala Diocese and Moderator of Church of South India.
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 Babbili Prabhudass(died 1996) was the first elected Bishop - in - Karimnagar Diocese of the Church of South India which was ecclesiastically bifurcated from the Diocese of Dornakal of the Church of South India in early 1978. Prabhudass led the bishopric for a period of five years from 1978 through 1982.
V. Prasada Rao was the eighth Bishop - in - Dornakal Diocese of the Church of South India who was principally consecrated on 12 June 2012 by then Moderator, G. Devakadasham and co-consecrated by then Deputy Moderator, G. Dyvasirvadam of the Church of South India Synod at the CSI-Epiphany Cathedral, Dornakal. During the Synod of 2017, Prasada Rao also served as the Deputy Moderator of the Synod for the triennium 2017–2019.
Bishop B. D. Prasada Rao(born 13.8.1952) is Bishop Emeritus - in - Rayalaseema Diocese of the Church of South India and past ex officio member of the Church of South India Synod for the period 2013-2019. He retired on attaining superannuation on 13 August 2019.
Daniel Rathnakara Sadananda is a New Testament Scholar who is re-elected as the General Secretary (Triennium 2017-2020) of the Church of South India Synod headquartered in Chennai as well as the Chairperson (triennium 2015-2018) of the Council of the United Theological College, Bangalore, the only autonomous College under the Senate of Serampore College (University). He also serves as the Vice President of National Council of Churches in India (2016-2020) as well Executive Secretary of the Communion of Churches in India comprising CNI, CSI, Marthoma Churches and now MCI.
George Stephen Jayaraj was consecrated Bishop of the Madras Diocese of the Church of South India (CSI) by G. Dyvasirvadam, Moderator, CSI on 19 March 2016 at St. George's Cathedral, Chennai. He became the thirteenth Bishop of the Madras Diocese.
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.
CSI-Garrison Wesley Church located in Trimulgherry is among the oldest churches in Secunderabad under the auspices of the Protestant Church of South India (CSI) within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Diocese of Medak. Situated in Lal Bazar civilian area of the Secunderabad Cantonment, the CSI-Garrison Wesley Church is in near vicinity of the Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering (MCEME), and the church has continued to attract not only its regular worshipers but also the new visitors from the nearby military stations of the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force through its regular Sunday Mass as well as its annual Good Friday, Easter and Christmas programmes.
Oommen George is the Bishop of the Kollam-Kottarakkara Diocese of Church of South India. He was the former clergy secretary of CSI Madhya Kerala Diocese and the vicar of Ascension Church Kanjikkuzhy when he was selected as the first bishop of Kollam - Kottarakkara Diocese. He is the son of late K C George Upadeshi, Malayil, Punnakadu an evangelist of the CSI Church and Mallappally Panavelil Rachel. Aleyamma Oommen is his wife and Diana, Lida and Leena are his daughters.
Malayil Sabu Koshy Cherian is the 13th Bishop of the Madhya Kerala Diocese of the Church of South India.
Bishop P. I. Vara Prasad(born 8.10.1962) is a silver jubilee Priest and current Bishop - in - Rayalaseema Diocese of the Church of South India. Ever since his ordination as Deacon/Presbyter in 1993 by then Bishop L. V. Azariah, he began his career as a Priest in Churches within ecclesiastical jurisdiction of CSI-Diocese of Rayalaseema that comprise parts of civil states of Andhra Pradesh and Telugu-speaking parts of Tamil Nadu. Vara Prasad is well versed in conducting Mass, following Presbyterian, Congregational and Anglican rites.
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