The Diocese of Iran is one of the four dioceses of the Anglican Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. The diocese was established in 1912 as the Diocese of Persia and was incorporated into the Jerusalem Archbishopric in 1957. The most recent bishop was

Azad Marshall Azad Marshall is a Pakistani bishop, currently serving, since May 2021, as the Moderator Bishop of the Church of Pakistan, a United Protestant denomination that is a member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, the Anglican Communion, and ...

, until 2016. His title is Bishop in Iran, rather than the often expected Bishop ''of'' Iran.

History

The Revd. Henry Martyn visited Persia in 1811. He reached Shiraz, then he travelled to Tabriz to attempt to present the Shah with his Persian translation of the New Testament. The British ambassador to the Shah, was unable to bring about a meeting, but did deliver the manuscript to the Shah. The Church Missionary Society (CMS) was active in Persia from 1869, when the Revdd Robert Bruce established a mission station at Julfa in

Ispahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...

. The CMS mission in Persia expanded to include

Kerman Kerman ( fa, كرمان, Kermân ; also romanization of Persian, romanized as Kermun and Karmana), known in ancient times as the satrapy of Carmania, is the capital city of Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2011 census, its population was 821,394, in ...

, Yezd (1893) and Shiraz (1900), with Mary Bird, a medical missionary, establishing hospitals at Kerman and Yezd. The CMS mission operated hospitals and schools. After Bishop

Edward Stuart Edward Craig Stuart (1827 – 15 March 1911) was the second Anglican Bishop of Waiapu, whose episcopate spanned a 16-year period during the second half of the 19th century. He was born in Edinburgh, the son of Alexander Stuart and Mary McKnigh ...

resigned as the Bishop of Waiapu in New Zealand, he then served as a CMS missionary in Julfa from 1894 to 1911. The beginnings of the Anglican Diocese of Iran were in 1883 when

Valpy French Thomas Valpy French (1 January 1825 – 14 May 1891) was an English Christian Missionary in India and Persia, who became the first Bishop of Lahore, in 1877, and also founded the St. John's College, Agra, in 1853.

, an

Episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United State ...

bishop, came to Lahore and traveled through Persia. In 1912,

Charles Stileman Charles Harvey Stileman (15 February 1863 – 23 February 1925) was an Anglican clergyman, the inaugural Anglican Bishop in Persia from 1912 until 1917. Charles Harvey Stileman was educated at Repton School and Trinity College, Cambridge. Ordained ...

became the first bishop of the new diocese. James Linton was consecrated as the next bishop in 1919. On 18 October 1935, William Thompson was consecrated as Iran's third bishop in

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

, London. On 25 April 1961, he was succeeded by

Hassan Dehqani-Tafti Hassan Barnaba Dehqani-Tafti (Hassan Barnābā Dehqānī-Taftī; 14 May 1920 in Taft, Iran – 29 April 2008 in Winchester) was the Anglican Bishop of Iran from 1960 until his retirement in 1990. Dehqani-Tafti was the first ethnic Persian to ...

, the first native Persian bishop of Iran. On 11 June 1986,

Iraj Mottahedeh Iraj Kalimi Mottahedeh (Īraj Mottaḥeda; born April 30, 1932) is a retired Anglican bishop. Mottahedeh trained for the priesthood at United Theological College, Bangalore and was ordained a deacon in 1958 and a priest in 1960, while serving ...

was consecrated as the fifth bishop of Iran. When Iraj Mottahedeh retired in 2004, the Central Synod of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East invited

, a bishop of the Church of Pakistan and an associate bishop in the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf, to provide episcopal oversight to the Diocese of Iran as its bishop. He was installed on 5 August 2007 in St Paul's Church in Tehran by

Mouneer Anis Mouneer Hanna Anis (born 8 April 1950) is an Egyptian Anglican bishop. He was Bishop of Egypt from 2000 to 2021, and the first Anglican Archbishop of Alexandria from 2020 to 2021. He was the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem ...

Bishop of Egypt The Episcopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria is a province of the Anglican Communion. Its territory was formerly the Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa. On 29 June 2020 the diocese was elevated to the status of an eccles ...

and Presiding Bishop of the ECJME.

Bishops of the Diocese of Persia/Iran

*1912–1917:

*1917–1935: James Linton *1935–1960: William Thompson *1960–1990:

:*1985–1990: Iraj Mottahedeh, Assistant Bishop *1985–2002:

(interim bishop 2002–2004) *2007–2016:

(became Bishop in Raiwind) *2016–present: vacant **2017–2019: Albert Walters, Vicar-Generalhttps://www.jmeca.org.uk/christianity-middle-east/anglican-episcopal-church/iran

References

External links

Anglican Diocese of Iran
{{authority control Anglicanism in Iran Christian organizations established in 1912 Iran Anglican dioceses established in the 20th century Iran 1912 establishments in Iran

History

Bishops of the Diocese of Persia/Iran

See also

References

External links