Diocese of Madras of the Church of South India

Last updated

Diocese of Madras
George'sCathedral.jpg
Location
Country India
Ecclesiastical province Church of South India
Statistics
Congregations1192
Information
Cathedral St. George's Cathedral
Secular priests 186
Current leadership
Moderator's Commissary - Bishop In-Charge Sharma Nithiyanandam
Website
csimadrasdiocese.org

The Diocese of Madras is a diocese of Church of South India in Tamil Nadu state of India.The diocese is one among the 22 dioceses of Church of South India, a United Protestant denomination.

Contents

History

The year 1640 marks the beginning of the Diocese of Madras in the Church of South India, being the year of the founding of the city of Madras, and it was only in 1647 that a Chaplain of the merchant fleet of the East India Company came ashore to celebrate Holy Communion in a temporary chapel in the Fort St. George. With the consecration of the oldest Anglican Church on the east of the Suez Canal in 1680 in the precincts of the Fort, dedicated to St Mary the Blessed virgin, under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, came established presence of the non-Roman Catholic Church in Madras.

The next 150 years saw the growth of the Christian population in Madras. It became obvious that St Mary's Church in the Fort cannot serve the growing and spread-out Christian population. So in 1815 the Church of St George was built on the arterial road linking St Thomas Mount and Fort St George. On 28 October 1835 Daniel Corrie, the Archdeacon of Calcutta, was consecrated Bishop and installed in the Church of St George; it marked both the coming into being of the Diocese of Madras and the elevation of the parish Church to St George's Cathedral. In 1842, her jurisdiction was described as "Presidency of Madras; Ceylon". [1]

About the Diocese

The Diocese of Madras consists of areas under Chennai (formerly Madras), Nellore, Chinglepet, North and South Arcot and the Tamil speaking areas of Chitoor district. It has around 80,000 members, with 120 presbyters. The diocese has 186 Pastorates and 1192 congregations.

Areas under Diocese of Madras

The Diocese of Madras is divided into four areas.

Bishops of the Diocese

Notable churches of the Diocese

The cathedral was built in 1815. St. George's occupies an important place in the history of Christianity in India. The architecture of St. George's Cathedral is renowned for its tall spire, pillars, marble statues, mural tablets and memorials inside. The Cathedral is a piece of architectural grandeur resting on a tier of steps.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of South India</span> United Protestant church in South India

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. George's Church, Penang</span> Church in Penang, Malaysia

St. George's Church is a 19th-century Anglican church within George Town in the Malaysian state of Penang. The oldest purpose-built Anglican church in Southeast Asia, it was elevated by to the status of pro-cathedral in 2023. The church lies within the jurisdiction of the Upper North Archedeaconry of the Anglican Diocese of West Malaysia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. George's Cathedral, Chennai</span> Church in Tamil Nadu, India

St. George's Cathedral is a Church of South India cathedral in Chennai, India. The cathedral was built in 1815. St. George's occupies an important place in the history of Christianity in India, as the Church of South India was inaugurated here on 27 September 1947. It marked the breaking down of ecclesiastical barriers between Protestants of various traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diocese of Medak of the Church of South India</span>

The Diocese of Medak is one of the prominent Dioceses in the Church of South India, a United Protestant 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madras and Mylapore</span> Roman Catholic archdiocese in Tamil Nadu, India

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madras and Mylapore/Madras and Myliapor is an archdiocese based in the city of Madras, in India. It took also the name of the ancient diocese of Mylapore, now a part of Chennai.

The Coimbatore Diocese is one of the 24 dioceses of the Church of South India (CSI), a United Protestant denomination.

Vedha Muthu Mukandar, , was the first Protestant Christian in the Megnanapuram Circle. He was a Hindu who converted to Christianity through the influence of missionary, the Rev. C. T. E. Rhenius. Vedha Muthu is buried at St Stephen's Church, Jebagnanapuram, Solaikudiyiruppu.

The Church of South India's CSI Tiruchirappalli Thanjavur Diocese is in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The diocese was one of the first 14 to be established at the Church of South India's founding in 1947. It is one of the 24 dioceses of the Church of South India, a United Protestant denomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity in Tamil Nadu</span>

Christianity in the state of Tamil Nadu, India is the second largest religion in the state. According to tradition, St. Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, landed in Malabar Coast in AD 52. In the colonial age many Portuguese, Dutch, British and Italian Christians came to Tamil Nadu. Priests accompanied them not only to minister the colonisers but also to spread the Christian faith among the non-Christians in Tamil Nadu. Currently, Christians are a minority community comprising 6% of the total population. Christians are mainly concentrated in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu - Kanyakumari, Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli.

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 2001 Census of India, there are over a million Christians in Andhra Pradesh, constituting around 1.51% of the state's population. This is a decrease from the 1971 census figure which put the percentage of Christians in state as 2%, and this decrease is mainly a result of low birth rates and emigration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Corrie</span> English Anglican priest and bishop

Daniel Corrie was an English Anglican priest and bishop, the inaugural Bishop of Madras.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah</span> Indian evangelist and Anglican bishop

Bishop Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah was an Indian evangelist and the first Indian bishop in the churches of the Anglican Communion, serving as the first bishop of the diocese of Dornakal. A pioneer of Christian ecumenism in India, Azariah had a complex relationship with Mahatma Gandhi, who at least once called him postcolonial Indians' "Enemy Number One."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CSI Immanuel Church, Ernakulam</span> Place in Kerala, India

The CSI Immanuel Cathedral, Ernakulam, under the Diocese of Cochin of the Church of south India, was dedicated more than 103 years ago. The present leader of the church is Reverend Baker Ninan Fen, bishop of the Diocese of Cochin, Church of South India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thoothukudi - Nazareth Diocese of the Church of South India</span>

The Thoothukudi - Nazareth Diocese is a diocese of Church of South India in Tamil Nadu state of India.The diocese is one among the 22 dioceses of Church of South India, a United Protestant denomination.The cathedral of the diocese is St. John's Cathedral at Nazareth, Tamil Nadu.

The Karnataka Central Diocese is one of the twenty-two dioceses of the Church of South India covering the central part of Karnataka. The Church of South India is a United Protestant denomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diocese of Dornakal of the Church of South India</span> Church Diocese

Dornakal Diocese is a diocese of the Church of South India in Telangana state of India. The diocese mainly covers the pastorates in Warangal, Nalgonda, East Godavari and Khammam districts and also has churches in Odissha state. The Church of South India is a United Protestant denomination.

St. Paul's Church is located in the corner of Old Poor House Road, and Bowring Hospital Road, next to the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital, Bangalore Cantonment, India. St. Paul's has the distinction of being the very first Tamil Anglican Church in the erstwhile Mysore State. St. Paul's celebrated its 175th anniversary in May 2014. Like most old churches of Bangalore, the congregation of St. Paul's is spread all across Bangalore.

Bishop Yeddu Muthyalu(Yeddy Muthyalu) was the first Bishop - in - Krishna-Godavari Diocese of the Church of South India who was consecrated in 1947 at the St. George's Cathedral, Chennai along with thirteen other Bishops.

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.

Bishop Bunyan Joseph was the first and only elected Bishop - in - Anantapur-Kurnool Diocese who was consecrated on 27 September 1947 and was among the 15 inaugural Bishops when the Church of South India was inaugurated at the CSI-St. George's Cathedral, Chennai. He was presented for consecration by The Venerable F. F. Gladstone and Canon T. Sithers. to the Presiding Bishop Cherakarottu Korula Jacob, who as the first Moderator, consecrated Bunyan Joseph.

References

  1. The Colonial Church Atlas, Arranged in Dioceses: with Geographical and Statistical Tables (second ed.). London: SPG. May 1842. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  2. "Overseas Appointments" . Church Times . No. 6664. 2 November 1990. p. 5. ISSN   0009-658X . Retrieved 22 July 2019 via UK Press Online archives.
  3. Azariah, Masilamani (2000). A Pastor's Search for Dalit Theology. ISBN   9788172145811.