The Calcutta Diocese is one of the 30

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, pro ...

s of the

Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (MOSC) also known as the Indian Orthodox Church (IOC) or simply as the Malankara Church, is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church headquartered in Devalokam, near Kottayam, India. The church serve ...

History

This diocese was part of the Outside

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

(Bahyakerala) diocese till 1975 . When the holy synod decided to divide the Outside Kerala Diocese , the diocese became a part of Madras Diocese . The present diocese of

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

came into existence in 1979. The Orthodox parishes in the North and North Eastern states of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

in the Persian Gulf region are included in this diocese, viz.

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prade ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

, parts of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

, Oddisaa,

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligur ...

Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the east a ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

Nagaland Nagaland () is a landlocked state in the northeastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south and the Sagaing Region of Myanmar to the east. Its capital cit ...

Mizoram Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from "Mizo people, Mizo", the endonym, self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo ...

Meghalaya Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of As ...

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares int ...

, and

Manipur Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanm ...

. The Diocesan headquarters is in St Thomas Ashram ,

Bhilai Bhilai is a city in Durg district of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Chhattisgarh, in eastern central India. With population exceeding 1 million, it is the second-largest urban area in Chhattisgarh after Raipur. Bhil ...

. This was consecrated by the then Malankara Metropolitan

Baselios Mar Thoma Mathews I Baselios Marthoma Mathews I (27 March 1907 – 8 November 1996) was the primate of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, also known as Indian Orthodox Church. He was the 5th catholicos of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and 18th Malankara ...

, the Catholicos in 1986. The first Metropolitan , Kayalath Dr. Stephanos Mar Theodosius was buried in St Thomas Ashram, Bhilai. He led the diocese into its glories. The diocese celebrated its silver jubilee in 2004. After Mar Theodosios's death in 2007 , the diocese came directly under the control of the Malankara Metropolitan Baselios Marthoma Didymos 1. He appointed Puliyeeril Dr. Geevarghese Mar Coorilose, the Metropolitan of Bombay, as the assistant metropolitan of the diocese. In 2009, Dr. Joseph Mar Dionysius took charge as the Metropolitan of Calcutta . Metropolitans 1)Kayaleth Dr.Stephanos Mar Theodosios (1979-2007) 2)Baselios Marthoma Didymos 1 (2007-2009)(As Malankara Metropolitan ) 3)Dr. Joseph Mar Dionysios (2009-2022) 4) Alexios Mar Eusebios (2022- Present) Assistant Metropolitans 1)Puliyeeril Dr. Geevarghese Mar Coorilose (2007-2009)

Organization

The Diocesan

Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

is also the Director of St. Thomas Orthodox Church Mission, one of the pioneer missions outside Kerala. The Mission is mainly concerned with Education and Social Development. The diocese manages 25 schools, one Arts and Science Post Graduate & B.Ed. College and an Engineering College( CCET-Bhilai ). It has village mission projects in numerous villages.

of the diocese is Joseph Dionysius.

References

External links

*http://malankaraorthodoxchurch.in *http://www.orthodoxsyrianchurch.com *http://www.icon.org.in/ *https://web.archive.org/web/20071217120332/http://www.icbs.com/makodiya/ {{Dioceses of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church dioceses Christian organizations established in 1979 Oriental Orthodox organizations established in the 20th century 1979 establishments in West Bengal