Nandyal Diocese is a diocese of

Church of 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. With a membership of over 4.5 million, it ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

state of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The diocese is one among the 22 dioceses of

, a

United Protestant A united church, also called a uniting church, is a denomination formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations, a number of which come from separate and distinct denomination ...

denomination.

History

The first

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...

who came to

Nandyal Nandyal, commonly called as Nandyala, is a city and the district headquarters of Nandyal district of the Indian state of the Andhra Pradesh. It is a Municipal corporation and the headquarters of Nandyal mandal in Nandyal revenue division. Dem ...

were Arthur Inman and Alfred Briton in the year 1881. These two missionaries were responsible to establish the SPG High School in 1884 and to build the Holy Cross Church in 1905 in Nandyal. These two missionaries who resided in Nandyal lived in tents and went about preaching the gospel in and around Nandyal in various villages and building churches. Their mode of travel in those days were bullock carts on most primitive roads or cart tracks. They learned the local language

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

and traveled extensively beyond Nandyal to place like

Kurnool Kurnool is a city in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It formerly served as the capital of Andhra State (1953–1956). The city is often referred to as "The Gateway of Rayalaseema". Kurnool is also famous for Diamond hunting as diamonds ca ...

Giddalur Giddaluru is a census town, town in the Prakasam district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is the mandal headquarters of the Giddaluru mandal in Markapur revenue division. It was part of kurnool district till 1969. Later, it was merged ...

, Kalasapad, Atmakur and

Nandikotkur Nandikotkur, natively known as Nandikotkuru, is a municipality and capital of Nandikotkur mandal in Nandyal district of Andhra Pradesh, India. Geography Nandikotkur is located at . It has an average elevation of 292 meters (961 feet). The near ...

and planted churches in the villages. In this church first SPG Telugu Graduate Priest Rev. David Gnanamuthu served from 1912 to 1923, he came from Medras Christian Theological College, Madras (1880 to 1885)and he worked in Jammalamadugu area, Koilakuntla, Muhyalapadu, Kurnool and also his son Rev.John Yesudas Gnanamuthu served in this diocese as Deanery Chairman and Archdeacon. When Dornakal diocese (of which it was then a part) joined the united Church of South India in 1947, Nandyal instead chose to remain in the Indian Anglican Church, under the Diocese of Calcutta. Nandyal

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 ...

was formed on 29 April 1963, initially as part of the Church of India (CIPBC); with that church, it united into the

Church of North India The Church of North India (CNI) is the dominant united and uniting churches, united Protestant church in northern India. It was established on 29 November 1970 by bringing together most of the Protestant churches working in northern India. It i ...

in 1970, and the Nandyal diocese eventually joined the

on 6 July 1975. The cathedral church of the diocese is CSI Holy Cross Cathedral in

Bishops

In 1950, Arthur Partridge was consecrated Bishop in Nandyal, an

assistant bishop An assistant bishop in the Anglican Communion is a bishop appointed to assist a diocesan bishop. Church of England In the established Church of England, assistant bishops are usually retired (diocesan or suffragan bishop, suffragan) bishops – in ...

in the Diocese of Calcutta; he served until Nandyal diocese was erected and returned to the UK. * 1963–1967, Clement Venkataramiah * 1967–1974, Ernest John * 1977–1985, Pabbathi John * 1985–1992, Ryder Devapriam * 1994–2005, Rt.Rev. Dr. Gondi Theodore Abraham * 2006–2012,

P. J. Lawrence Bishop Emeritus P. J. Lawrence (born 1947) was Bishop - in - Nandyal from 2006 to 2012. Ministerial formation Lawrence underwent ministerial formation at the United Theological College, Bangalore, affiliated to the nation's first University, ...

* 2013 onwards, E. Pushpa Lalitha

Notable ecclesiastical personalities

Bunyan Joseph Bishop Bunyan Joseph (20 August 1894 – 25 October 1986) was the first and only electedChurch of South India, ''Order of Service for the Consecration of the First New Bishops of The Church of South India'', Printed at London Mission Press, N ...

, Bishop of erstwhile Anantapur-Kurnool Diocese (integrated into Rayalaseema Diocese), * B. E. Devaraj, translator of the Bible into

Lambadi Lambadi, Lambani, Lamani or Banjari is a Western Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Banjara people across India. The language does not have a native script. Regional dialects are divided between the Banjara of Maharashtra (written in Devanaga ...

language, * Pabbathi John, First Bishop of Nandyal Diocese Nandyal Diocese, *

Emani Sambayya Canon Emani Sambayya (1905–1972) was an Anglican Priest, who was born in Bodipalem in Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh.Cecil Hargreaves, ''Three Assignments in the Church'', Indo-British Review, Indo-British Historical Society, Chennai, 1988. ...

, non-episcopal commissary to Nandyal,Constance M. Millington, ''An Ecumenical Venture: The History of Nandyal Diocese in Andhra Pradesh, 1947–1990'', Bangalore: Asian Trading Corporation, 1993
p. 96.
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Educational institutions in the diocese

The SPG High School, Nandyal, was established in the year 1882.

References

External links

{{Churches in India