V. E. Christopher, AELC | |
|---|---|
| Moderator / Bishop | |
| Church | Christian |
| See | Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC) |
| In office | 2005–2009 |
| Predecessor | Ch. Victor Moses |
| Successor | B. Suneel Bhanu [1] |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1978 |
| Consecration | 1 June 2005 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 19 January 1949 |
| Previous post(s) | Vice-President of the AELC |
V. E. Christopher is President Emeritus of the Protestant Lutheran Church Society, the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church. [2]
Ernest Christopher was born into a pastoral family in Bhimavaram in Andhra Pradesh to Rev. Vardanapu Krupadas and Smt. Bhagyamma. His father, Rev. V. Krupadas was a pastor of the AELC. [3] He had his schooling in Bhimavaram and collegiate education in Rajahmundry. [3] Later, he pursued degree studies in Sri Y. N. College (an NAAC-A grade college affiliated to the Andhra University), Narsapur in West Godavari District.
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Like his father, Christopher had an inclination to pursue the ultimate profession of priesthood. His Church society (the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church) readily sponsored him for his priestly studies. The AELC was then headed by Rev. Dr. S. W. Schmitthener.
Armed with a sponsorship letter from his Church society, Christopher enrolled [3] for the graduate degree of Bachelor of Theology (B. Th.) offered by the ecumenical Andhra Christian Theological College (affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College (University)), Hyderabad. Later, the Senate of Serampore College (University) under the Registrarship of D. S. Satyaranjan awarded him with a degree.
The then principal of the college was the Cantabrigian Victor Premasagar. With disciplined faculty at ACTC, the young Christopher had a sound priestly formation. He was taught New Testament by Muriel Carder and K. David while Victor Premasagar and G. Babu Rao, taught him Old Testament, the core subjects in any seminary or theological faculty of a university. Christopher was known to be studious and disciplined.
After Christopher's ordination, his church president, the India-born Rev. Dr. S. W. Schmitthener posted [3] him to East Godavari District to minister in a rural parish. He also served in Lutheran parishes in Rajahmundry and Bhimavaram.
Christopher later enrolled for the degree of Bachelor of Divinity (B. D.) at his alma mater , the Andhra Christian Theological College, Hyderabad and upgraded himself to earn a B. D. degree.
Rev. Christopher was twice [3] elected as the synod president of the West Godavari Synod, one of the six Synods of the AELC.
In due course of time, Christopher was elected to the vice-presidency [3] of the Church Society. Later on 1 June 2005, [3] he was declared elected as the president of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church.
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.
Andhra Christian Theological College (ACTC) is a seminary in Telangana which was founded in 1964. It is affiliated with India's first university, the Senate of Serampore College (University), and has degree-granting authority under a Danish charter ratified by the government of West Bengal. ACTC is on the Hussain Sagar canal (north) in Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the Secunderabad Junction railway station.
Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC) was constituted in the year 1927 in Andhra Pradesh, India. It is the Indian successor to the United Lutheran Church in America which was started as a self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propagating church among Telugu Christians.
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.
M. Victor Paul was a biblical scholar who served as President of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church from 1993 to 1997.
William D. Coleman was the first Principal of the Andhra Christian Theological College, Hyderabad. Coleman was born in India in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh.
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.
Ryder Devapriam was systematic theologian who taught during the 1960s and the 1970s at the Andhra Christian Theological College, a Protestant Regional Theologiate in Secunderabad, affiliated to the nation's first University, the Senate of Serampore College (University) {a University under Section 2 (f) of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956}with degree-granting authority validated by a Danish Charter and ratified by the Government of West Bengal.
G. Devasahayam was the Indian President of the Protestant Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society and served during the periods 1956–1960 and again from 1963–1964. During his second stint as President of the AELC, Devasahayam participated in the opening of the newly formed Andhra Christian Theological College then located in the same campus of the Lutheran Theological College in Rajahmundry.
Ch. Victor Moses is President Emeritus of the Protestant Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society headquartered in Guntur. Victor Moses is an Old Testament Scholar and a member of the Society for Biblical Studies, India, an august body of learning having members well versed in Hebrew and Greek languages hailing from the Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox and Pentecostal traditions.
P. Solomon Raj(21 February 1921 - 28 December 2019) was a pastor of Protestant Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society headquartered in Guntur with major contribution to theological research and arts. Old Testament scholar Victor Premasagar wrote about Raj as a pastor, professor of communications, creative artist, sculptor, poet and a theological writer.
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.
S. E. Krupa Rao was a Pastor of the Protestant Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars where he held leadership positions in the Church society whose area of operation extended from Srikakulam District in the northern circars along the Bay of Bengal right through seven districts up to Guntur District.
B. V. Subbamma also known as Bathineni Venkata Subbamma was an Indian theologian and scholar. Noted for founding Christian ashrams, she was widely recognized for her analysis of Christianity from a cultural perspective. She was one of the first women in India to attain theological training and was one of the inaugural women pastors ordained by the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC) in 1999 at AELC-St. Matthews West Parish, Guntur.
The Kretzmann Commission was constituted in 1969 by the Board of Governors of the Andhra Christian Theological College, Hyderabad to:
survey and study the task of theological education in the Churches related to the College Society
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.
G. Solomon was an Old Testament Scholar and a Baptist Patriarch hailing from the Protestant Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches Society (an affiliate member of the Baptist World Alliance and the National Council of Churches in India) and led it as its President during the years 1978-1982 overseeing the spiritual affairs of the Church Society whose ecclesiastical jurisdiction comprises the three states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with 873 Churches comprising nearly a million members per present statistics.
Tantepudi George Cornelious is the current Bishop - in - Krishna Godavari Diocese of the Church of South India with the Bishop's Cathedra housed in CSI-St. Andrew's Cathedral in Machilipatnam. However, for administrative purposes, the Office of the Bishopric is located in Vijayawada with its ecclesiastical jurisdiction encompassing the civil districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, and Guntur in Andhra Pradesh.
G. D. Melanchthon (1934–1994) was a Silver Jubilee Priest hailing from Protestant Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society who taught Religions, at United Theological College, Bangalore from 1968 till the latter half of eighties until his career was brought to an abrupt end in 1988 on being stricken with paralysis. Melanchthon used to be quite active among the academic community along with Chrysostom Arangaden, Arvind P. Nirmal and others in not only delivering scholarly talks, but also in contributing research articles and reviewing new titles.
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.
