The Diocese of Vellore is one among the 24

dioceses In 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 provinces were administratively associate ...

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 (201230 June 2018) Elected from CSI Christ Church, Gandhinagar, Vellore * Sharma Nithiyanandam (as of 2019)Elected from CSI Christ Church, Gandhinagar, Vellore

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 A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

for the officers and men of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

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. St. John's Church is the oldest standing church in the Vellore Diocese.

References

External links

* http://csivellorediocese.com/index.php {{Churches in India

Vellore Vellore (English: ), also spelt as Velur (), is a city and the administrative headquarters of Vellore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Palar River in the northeastern part of Tamil Nadu and is separ ...

Christian organizations established in 1976 1976 establishments in India