The Church of Ceylon () is the

Anglican Church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. It is an extraprovincial jurisdiction of the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

, 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 Kurunegala (, ; , ) is a major city in Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of the North Western Province, Sri Lanka, North Western Province and the Kurunegala District. Kurunegala was an ancient royal capital for 50 years, from the end of the 13th ...

Dioceses of Colombo and Kurunegala

The first services were held on the island in 1796 and missionaries were sent to Ceylon to begin work in 1818. The Church now has two dioceses, one in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

(covering the Western, Southern, Eastern, Northern and Uva provinces and Ratnapura, Nuwara Eliya and Puttalam districts) and the other in

(covering Kurunegala, Kandy, Matale and Kegalla, Anuradapura, Polonnaruwa, districts). The Diocese of Colombo was founded in 1845 and the Diocese of Kurunegala in 1950. The Bishop of Calcutta was the

Metropolitan Bishop In Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), is held by the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a Metropolis (reli ...

of India and Ceylon from 10 October 1835. In 1930 Ceylon was included in the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon (from 1948 the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma, and Ceylon) until 1970. In 1970, the Church of the Province of Myanmar, the Church of Ceylon, and the

Church of Pakistan The Church of Pakistan is a united Protestant church in Pakistan founded in 1970; it holds membership in the Anglican Communion, the World Communion of Reformed Churches,Database (9 February 2006)"Sialkot Diocese of the Church of Pakistan". R ...

were separated from the CIBC (and the province of Calcutta). There has been a movement for the amalgamation of traditional Protestant Churches (including Church of Ceylon,

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

, Lanka

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Sangamaya,

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism, Protestant tradition named for its form of ecclesiastical polity, church government by representative assemblies of Presbyterian polity#Elder, elders, known as ...

of Sri Lanka and the Christian Reformed Church of Sri Lanka (formerly the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, , abbreviated NHK ) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the traditional denomination of the Dutch royal famil ...

) and the Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India into one body, namely the Church of Sri Lanka. The Anglican Bishop of Colombo,

Dushantha Lakshman Rodrigo Dushantha Lakshman Rodrigo (born 5 October 1968) is the 16th and current Anglican Bishop of Colombo. Early life Dushantha Lakshman Rodrigo was born in Trincomalee on 5 October 1968, the son of Arthur William Rodrigo and Ruth Adlene De Alwis, h ...

has four archdeaconries, namely,

Galle Galle (, ; , ) (formerly ) is a major city on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, south of Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern Province, Sri Lanka and is the capital of Galle District. Galle was known as ''Gi ...

Jaffna Jaffna (, ; , ) is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka, Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a Jaffna Peninsula, peninsula of the same name. With a population o ...

and Upcountry and East. Keerthisiri Fernando the 6th Bishop of Kurunegala has one archdeaconry. The Church of Ceylon with around 50,000 members, is the second largest group of Christians in Sri Lanka, after the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

with 1,600,000 members.

Church and education

The missionaries of the Church Missionary Society established many schools in all parts of the island. The missionaries who arrived in

started to establish schools in order to uplift the education of the natives and to spread the Christian religion. Robert Mayor who arrived on 29 June 1818 was the 1st missionary to establish a school in the "Church Hill", Baddegama under the name of "Christ Church" adjoining the Baddegama seminary. During the early years, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG), the ‘high church’ missionary society, assisted the early bishops of the Diocese of Colombo (Anglican) to set up schools. The SPG helped Bishop James Chapman establish the College of Saint Thomas the Apostle in Mutwal, which opened on 3 February 1851. Later the college was shifted to Mt. Lavinia. The SPG continued to support the college until they withdrew from

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

in 1930. By the year 1910 the

Anglican church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

had 403 schools with a student population of 32, 783. A teacher training college was established in 1914 in Peradeniya by Alexander G. Fraser, principal of Trinity College, Kandy. The

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

schools in

provide education in English, Sinhala and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

languages giving prominence to the English Language. The schools are independently and privately managed by the CMS governing body headed by the bishops of the church, while some schools like Trinity College Kandy have adopted a board of governors under the patronage of the Bishop of Kurunegala. From the past Anglican schools have produced many notable personalities. Prime ministers D. S. Senanayake,

Dudley Senanayake Dudley Shelton Senanayake (Sinhala language, Sinhala: ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක: ; 19 June 1911 – 13 April 1973), was a Sri Lankan wikt:statesman, statesman who thrice served as Prime Minister of C ...

, Wijayananda Dahanayake and S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike were past pupils of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia as well as Leslie Goonewardene and N. M. Perera, founders of Ceylon's first political party. Leading Anglican schools in Sri Lanka # S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia # Trinity College, Kandy # Hillwood College # Ladies' College, Colombo # Bishop's College, Colombo # CMS Mowbray College, Kandy # S. Thomas' Preparatory School # S. Thomas' College, Gurutalawa # S. Thomas' College, Bandarawela # St. John's College, Jaffna # Chundikuli Girls' College # St. Paul's Girls School, Milagiriya # St. Thomas' College, Matara # Christ Church College, Matale # All Saints College, Galle # St. John's College, Nugegoda # St. John's College, Panadura # Christ Church Boys' College, Baddegama # Christ Church Girls' College, Baddegama # Bishop Lakdasa De Mel College, Kurunegala # St Andrew's Girls College, Nawalapitiya # Holy Trinity College, Nuwara Eliya

Hymn for Ceylon

In the early 20th century an Anglican missionary, W. S. Senior popularly known as the Bard of Lanka arrived in Ceylon to work with the Church Missionary Society. He was Vice-Principal of Trinity College,

Kandy Kandy (, ; , ) is a major city located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the Sinhalese monarchy from 1469 to 1818, under the Kingdom of Kandy. The city is situated in the midst of ...

for many years and spent three decades in the country. W. S. Senior wrote the 'Hymn for Ceylon,' sung to this day in churches on the island. The music for parts of this hymn was composed in 1950 by the leading Sri Lankan folk musician Deva Suriya Sena.

References

External links

Church of CeylonDiocese of ColomboThe Church of Ceylon (Anglican Communion)Anglican Church of Ceylon News
* ttp://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/church-of-ceylon The Church of Ceylon – World Council of Churches websitebr>A photo selection of Parishes of the Church of Ceylon
;Hymn
A Sinhalese Hymn filmed at Holy Emmanuel Church, Moratuwa – Anglican Church of Ceylon on YouTubeThe Hymn for Ceylon – Trilingual (Anglican Communion)
;Publications
One hundred years in Ceylon, or, The centenary volume of the Church Missionary Society in Ceylon, 1818–1918 (1922) Author: Balding, John William
Madras: Printed at the Diocesan Press.
The Church of Ceylon – her faith and mission
Published in 1945, Printed at the Daily News Press by Bernard de Silva for the Church of Ceylon.
The Church of Ceylon: A history, 1945–1995
Editor: Medis, Frederick Published for the Diocese of Colombo. {{British Ceylon period topics Religious organizations established in 1845 Christian denominations established in the 19th century 1845 establishments in Ceylon Extra-provincial Anglican churches

Dioceses of Colombo and Kurunegala

Church and education

Hymn for Ceylon

See also

References

External links