Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia is the

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

of the

Episcopal Church in the United States of America The Episcopal Church (TEC), also known as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (PECUSA), is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, based in the United States. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is ...

located in the southeast area of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. It is in Province III (for the

Middle Atlantic The Mid-Atlantic is a region of the United States located in the overlap between the nation's Northeastern and Southeastern states. Traditional definitions include seven U.S. states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virg ...

region). The diocese includes the

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near whe ...

area,

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

south of the

James River The James River is a river in Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows from the confluence of the Cowpasture and Jackson Rivers in Botetourt County U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowli ...

, most of the region known as Southside Virginia, and both Northampton and Accomack Counties of the

Eastern Shore of Virginia The Eastern Shore of Virginia is the easternmost region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It consists of two counties (Accomack County, Virginia, Accomack and Northampton County, Virginia, Northam ...

. The Diocese of Southern Virginia was created as a split from the Diocese of Virginia in 1892. The Diocese of Southwestern Virginia split off from the Diocese of Southern Virginia in 1919. The diocesan offices are in Newport News. Susan Bunton Haynes was consecrated the Eleventh Bishop of Southern Virginia in a ceremony held in

Williamsburg, Virginia Williamsburg is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It had a population of 15,425 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern par ...

on February 1, 2020. Chanco on the James is an outdoor ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia. It is a retreat center for youth and adults, as well as one of the longest running summer camp programs in Virginia. It is situated on 125 acres of woods surrounded by natural wildlife along the

in Surry.

Historical significance

When English colonists established

Jamestown, Virginia The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent British colonization of the Americas, English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James River, about southwest of present-day Willia ...

on May 14, 1607, those settlers built one of the first churches in the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

, in what would eventually become the Diocese of Southern Virginia. The Jamestown church also became the meeting place of the first New World legislative assembly on July 30, 1619, but was ultimately burned down (with most of the city) in

Bacon's Rebellion Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion by Virginia settlers that took place from 1676 to 1677. It was led by Nathaniel Bacon against Colonial Governor William Berkeley, after Berkeley refused Bacon's request to drive Native American India ...

. On Sunday June 24, 2007, Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of ECUSA led the 400th anniversary celebration of the first Anglican service of

Holy Communion The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an ordinance in others. Christians believe that the rite was instituted by J ...

in the New World at Jamestown. After the statehouse burned in 1698, the capital of the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...

moved to the City of Williamsburg, which is also now located in the Diocese of Southern Virginia and most famous after restoration as

Colonial Williamsburg Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting a part of the historic district in Williamsburg, Virginia. Its historic area includes several hundred restored or recreated buildings from the 18th century, wh ...

. Williamsburg's historic church, Bruton Parish, located on

Duke of Gloucester Duke of Gloucester ( ) is a British royal title (after Gloucester), often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the curre ...

Street, remains active today. As the colonial era ended, when the

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses () was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States in the Colony of Virginia in what was then British America. From 1642 to 1776, the Hou ...

gathered for sessions in Williamsburg, American patriots

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

, and

Patrick Henry Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736 ld Style and New Style dates, O.S. May 18, 1736une 6, 1799) was an American politician, planter and orator who declared to the Virginia Conventions, Second Virginia Convention (1775): "Give me liberty or give m ...

, among others, worshipped at Bruton Parish. The Diocese also includes St. John's Episcopal Church, Elizabeth City Parish, in

Hampton, Virginia Hampton is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 137,148 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, seve ...

. Established in 1610, St. John's is the oldest English-speaking

Parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

in continuous existence in the United States. The parish occasionally uses Communion silver (a chalice and two patens) crafted in 1618. This communion silver has the longest history of continuous use in the United States of any English church silver.

Bishops

The Diocese of Southern Virginia has had eleven diocesan bishops: # Alfred M. Randolph (1892–1918)
Beverley D. Tucker Coadjutor (1906–1918) # Beverly D. Tucker (1918–1930)
Arthur C. Thomson Suffragan (1917–1919); Coadjutor (1919–1930) # Arthur C. Thomson (1930–1937) # William A. Brown (1938–1950)
George P. Gunn Coadjutor (1948–1950) # George P. Gunn (1950–1971)
David S. Rose Suffragan (1958–1964); Coadjutor (1964–1971) # David S. Rose (1971–1978)
C. Charles Vache Coadjutor (1976–1978) # C. Charles Vache (1978–1991)
Frank Vest Coadjutor (1989–1991) # Frank Vest (1991–1998)
O'Kelley Whitaker Assisting Bishop (1992–1997)
David Conner Bane Jr. Coadjutor (1997–1998) # David Conner Bane Jr. (1998–2006)
Donald Purple Hart Assisting Bishop (1998–2001)
Carol Joy W.T. Gallagher Suffragan (2002–2005)
Robert Hodges Johnson Assisting Bishop (2006)
John Clark Buchanan Assisting Bishop (2006–2009) # Herman Hollerith IV (2009–2018) # Susan Bunton Haynes (2020–present)

References

External links

The Episcopal Diocese of Southern VirginiaDiocesan Profile
*
Journal of the Annual Council, Diocese of Southern Virginia
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Southern Virginia

Southern Virginia Southern Virginia is a region in the U.S. state of Virginia located along the border with North Carolina. The region includes the counties of Brunswick, Charlotte, Greensville, Halifax, Henry, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, and Pittsylvania, and the ...

Diocese of Southern Virginia Christian organizations established in 1892 1892 establishments in Virginia Anglican dioceses established in the 19th century Province 3 of the Episcopal Church (United States)