Diocese of Vellore of the Church of South India

Diocese of Vellore
Diocese of Vellore
Location
Country	India
Ecclesiastical province	Church of South India
Statistics
Congregations	536
Members	1,72,000
Current leadership
Bishop	Rt.Rev.Dr.Sharma Nithiyanandam
Website
	CSI Vellore Diocese

The Diocese of Vellore is one among the 24 dioceses of Church of South India. The motto chosen for the diocese was "In the Cross of Christ I Glory" (based on Galatians chapter 6 verse 14). Its emblem includes a banyan tree - the tree under which the Scudder brothers prayed before they decided to begin their work in the area of Vellore.

History

The diocese was created by bifurcating the western half of the Diocese of Madras and was officially formed on 26 January 1976. Vellore Diocese is predominantly rural and crosses the state boundaries of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. So Vellore Diocese can be also called a bilingual diocese.

Area Councils

Eastern Area Council - 26 Pastorates
Central Area Council - 37 Pastorates
Southern Area Council - 17 Pastorates
Northern Area Council - 24 Pastorates

Two more Councils were in proposal, (Viz: Central Urban Area Council & Western Area Council)

Bishops of the diocese

Sam J. Ponniah (1978–1987)
R. Trinity Baskeran
Mahimai Rufus
Y. William (2008–2012)
A. Rajavelu (2012 – 30 June 2018)
Sharma Nithiyanandam (as of 2019)[1]

Institutions under CSI Vellore Diocese

Church of South India Vellore Diocese has 105 elementary schools, 5 high schools, 5 higher secondary schools, 2 teachers' training institutes, 4 primary schools, 1 arts & science college, 3 Matriculation higher secondary schools, 2 nursing schools and 2 hospitals.

Hospitals

CSI Hospital, Vandavasi
Scudder Memorial Hospital, Ranipet

Nursing Schools

School of Nursing, Ranipet
School of Nursing, Vandavasi

Higher Secondary Schools

Wyckoff Higher Secondary School, Muttathur
Voorhees Higher Secondary School, Vellore
CSI Christ Matriculation School for Girls, Tirupattur
CSI SIPCOT Matriculation Higher Secondary School

Arts & Science College

Voorhees College, Vellore

St. John's Church, Vellore Fort

St. John's Church, Vellore located inside the Vellore Fort was raised in 1846 by the Government of Madras for the officers and men of the East India Company military station. The church is named after St. John the Evangelist. However, the church was never officially consecrated and hence not officially named St. John’s Church.[2] St. John's Church is the oldest standing church in the Vellore Diocese.[3]

References

Penny, Frank (1904). The Church in Madras: being the History of the Ecclesiastical and Missionary Action of the East India Company in the Presidency of Madras in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: Volume I. London: Smith, Elder & Co. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
"Church Buildings in Vellore Diocese". Diocese of Ely. The Church of England. 2015. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.

External links

http://csivellorediocese.com/index.php

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[PennyI-2] Penny, Frank (1904). The Church in Madras: being the History of the Ecclesiastical and Missionary Action of the East India Company in the Presidency of Madras in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: Volume I. London: Smith, Elder & Co. Retrieved 18 August 2015.

[Ely-3] "Church Buildings in Vellore Diocese". Diocese of Ely. The Church of England. 2015. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.