Location | |
---|---|
Country | India |
Ecclesiastical province | Church of South India |
Statistics | |
Congregations | 718 in 2014 |
Members | 1.34,277 in 2014 |
Information | |
Established | 1859 |
Cathedral | Holy Trinity Cathedral, Palayamkottai |
Language | Tamil, English, Malayalam |
Current leadership | |
Bishop | A.R.G.S.T. Barnabas |
Website | |
www.csitirunelveli.org |
The Diocese of Tirunelveli is one among the 24 dioceses of the Church of South India (CSI). It is based at Tirunelveli, in the state of Tamil Nadu, southern India.
In 2014, the diocese had 718 churches, 99 pastors, and a membership of 1,34,277; [1] it also ran 342 schools and fifteen colleges and hospitals. Holy Trinity Cathedral, at Palayamkottai is the Cathedral of Tirunelveli Diocese. The churches were established by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) missionaries and the Society for Propagating the Gospel (SPG) missionaries. In the year of 1919 Tinnevely Diocese Trust Association (TDTA) was formed by uniting both mission and also with Baptists and Presbyterians churches in the neighbourhood.
In October 1896, Tinnevelly (the British name for Tirunelveli [2] ) was separated from the Diocese of Madras and Rev. Samuel Morley was ordained as the first Bishop of the newly formed diocese. [3] [4]
V. S. Azariah, the first Indian bishop, came from Tirunelveli Diocese.
In November 2015, the Tirunelveli diocese increased the annual membership amount (in Tamil: Kanikkai) from Rs 100 to Rs 500. The retirement age of the pastors also increased by the CSI synod from 65 to 67, and a correction was made in the rule to permit pastors to remove someone from the diocese. Against all these decisions, members raised their voices. They requested to take a vote to implement these changes, but the Bishop ignored them and said that these changes are acceptable without proper voting. The members have thrown chairs to display their opposition. Due to the decision to increase the retirement age, J J Christdoss's retirement age also increased. [5] [6] [7] [8]
In 2014, one school teacher committed suicide as she was transferred. The diocese management was blamed for this. [9]
In 2008, the then administration led by a bus company owner rigged the election and but were eventually defeated in the election. [10]
Robert Caldwell was a British missionary and linguist.
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.
Nazareth is a town in the Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
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.
The Bishop of Tinnevelly was the Ordinary of the Anglican Church in Tinnevelly, Tamil Nadu, India, from its inception in 1896 until the foundation of the Church in India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon in 1927; and after that head of one of its Dioceses.
The Coimbatore Diocese is one of the 24 dioceses of the Anglican Church of South India (CSI).
Charles Theophilus Ewald Rhenius was a German-born missionary of the Church Mission Society (CMS). He was the first CMS missionary to arrive at India. For his missionary work in the Tirunelveli district he came to be known as the "Apostle of Tirunelveli". He was involved in the attempt to revise the Fabricius version of the Tamil Bible and also published a Tamil grammar book. Rhenius’ split from the Anglican Church in 1830 and started his own congregation. Rhenius' work was recognized in 1980 by the Reverend Daniel Abraham, the then Church of South India (CSI) bishop of Tirunelveli diocese. Rhenius's work was given official recognition by the Anglican Communion during the Tirunelveli diocese bicentenary celebration in 1980, in which, all the bishops, including Anglican bishop Stephen Neill and all the presbyters took an oath in front of the tomb of Rev Rhenius to follow the path of the resting soul, regard to evangelism.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Kanyakumari Diocese is one of the 24 dioceses under the Church of South India. The diocese was constituted on 2 June 1959. The South Travancore Diocese was bifurcated into the Kanyakumari Diocese and the South Kerala Diocese in 1959. and the I.R.H. Gnanadason was the first Bishop of the Kanyakumari Diocese.
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 in India.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 Diocese of Vellore is one among the 24 dioceses of Church of South India. The motto chosen for the diocese was "In the Cross of Christ I Glory". Its emblem includes a banyan tree - the tree under which the Scudder brothers prayed before they decided to begin their work in the area of Vellore.
Benjamin Henry Arthur Margoschis was a Protestant Christian missionary in India. He served the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) as an overseas missionary in India. The inhabitants of Nazareth, a small town in Tamil Nadu, called him the "Father of Nazareth" and Margoschis Aiyar. Aiyar means clergyman in the native language. Reverend Margoschis was responsible for the development of the small town of Nazareth, which is situated at the southern part of Tamil Nadu, India.
Samuel Ebenezer Clement Devasahayam is the second Bishop of Thoothukudi - Nazareth Diocese of the Church of South India.
Christianity in Kanyakumari district is its second largest religion. The Catholic Church has about 500,000 followers, while the Protestant groups have about 400,000 members.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)