This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: "Diocese of Dornakal of the Church of South India" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (August 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Diocese of Dornakal
Epiphany Cathedral, Dornakal
Location
CountryIndia
Ecclesiastical provinceChurch of South India
Information
CathedralEpiphany Cathedral, Dornakal
Current leadership
BishopThe. Rt. Rev. Kodirekka Padma Rao

Dornakal Diocese is a diocese of the Church of South India in Telangana state of India. The diocese mainly covers the pastorates in Warangal, Nalgonda, East Godavari and Khammam districts and also has churches in Odissha state.

History

The Diocese of Dornakal[1] was formed in December 1912. Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah was consecrated as its first bishop in St. Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta. Azariah was the first Indian to be consecrated a bishop in the Anglican Communion[2] and was a leader in the Christian evangelistic movement in South Asia during the early twentieth century.[3]

When the diocese was first formed, it was a small district in the southeast corner of the Nizam's dominions. A few years later, it was enlarged by the addition of the Dummugudem district, in which the Church Missionary Society (CMS) was working.

In 1920, a resolution of the Episcopal Synod placed all of the districts of both the CMS and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) in the Telugu country under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Dornakal.

The Cathedral of the Epiphany in Dornakal was consecrated on 6 January 1939.[4]

In 1940, the Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregational and Anglican churches of the region came together to form the Church of South India.

Geography

The present Diocese of Dornakal includes a large portion of the Krishna district, part of the Godavari districts, parts of the Kurnool and Kadapa districts to the south served by the SPG, the areas in the Hyderabad State served by the Indian Missionary Society of Tinnevelly (IMST), the Singareni Mission, the Khammamett Mission, and the recently formed Dornakal Diocesan Mission, which started in the Mulag Taluq.

The main towns in the diocese are Khammam and Kothagudem, and they host the largest congregations. The diocese has approximately 900 congregations.[5]

The diocese is partnered with the Diocese of Gloucester in England.[6][7]

Funding

The former president bishop of the church Rt. Rev. Dr Vadapalli Prasada Rao stated that the church is run entirely on Indian funds, which he says helps ensure the churches continued independence from the "Anglican Communion".[8]

Bishops

Group church councils and chairman

Churches

Educational institutions

Further reading

External links

References

  1. ^ K. J. G. Sundaram (1931): A Deccan Village in India, Journal of Geography, 30:2, 49-57
  2. ^ Chatterton, Eyre. The Diocese of Dornakal, 1912. A Diocese of Mass Movements. IN,: Project Canterbury: A History of the Church of England in India since the early days of the East India Company, London, SPCK, 1924
  3. ^ Harper, S. B., In the Shadow of the Mahatma: Bishop V. S. Azariah and the Travails of Christianity in British India. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2000.
  4. ^ Diocese of Gloucester website
  5. ^ Diocese of Gloucester website
  6. ^ Diocese of Gloucester website
  7. ^ The King’s School website
  8. ^ Anudeep Ceremilla (21 December 2015). "Epiphany church stands as pride of Dornakal town". Deccan Chronicle.


Categories