The Diocese of Tirunelveli is one among the 24 dioceses of the

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 ...

(CSI), 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. It is based at Tirunelveli, in the state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, southern India. In 2014, the diocese had 718 churches, 99 pastors, and a membership of 1,34,277; 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.

History

In October 1896, Tinnevelly (the British name for Tirunelveli) was separated from the Diocese of Madras and Rev. Samuel Morley was ordained as the first Bishop of the newly formed diocese. V. S. Azariah, the first Indian bishop, came from

Tirunelveli Tirunelveli (), also known as Nellai and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirunelveli District. It is the fourth-largest munici ...

Diocese.

Issues in 2015

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.

Issues in 2014

In 2014, one school teacher committed suicide as she was transferred. The diocese management was blamed for this.

2008 Issues

In 2008, the then administration led by a bus company owner rigged the election and but were eventually defeated in the election.

Bishops of the Diocese

# Samuel Morley (1896–1903) # Arthur Williams (1905–1914) # Edward Waller (1915–1923) # Norman Tubbs (1923–1928) # Frederick Western (1923–1928) #

Stephen Neill Stephen Charles Neill (1900–1984)Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, p. 488. was a British Anglican bishop, missionary and scholar. He was proficient in a number of languages, including Ancient Greek, Latin and Tamil language, Tamil. ...

(1939–1944) # George Selwyn (1945–1952) # Augustine Jebaraj (1953–1970) #

Thomas Garrett Thomas Garrett (August 21, 1789 – January 25, 1871) was an American abolitionist and assisted in the Underground Railroad movement before the American Civil War. He helped more than 2,500 African Americans escape slavery. For his effort ...

(1971–1974) # Daniel Abraham (1975–1984) # Jason Dharmaraj (1985–1999) # Jeyapaul David (1999–2009) # JJ Christdoss (2009-2020) # A.R.G.S.T. Barnabas (2021 onwards)

Educational Institutions under the Diocese

*Primary and Middle Schools -323 *Higher Secondary Schools-13 *Colleges -6 *Teacher Training Institutes -3

References

External links

CSI Tirunelveli Diocese
{{Churches in India

Christianity in Tamil Nadu

Tirunelveli district