Michael Augustine Owen Lewis (born 8 June 1953) is an Anglican bishop, born in England, who served in the Middle East. He was until 8 June 2023 the Anglican Bishop in Cyprus and the Gulf in the

Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East The Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East is a province of the Anglican Communion. The primate of the church is called President Bishop and represents the Church at the international Anglican Communion Primates' Meetings. The Centra ...

. Within his former diocese lie Cyprus, Iraq, and the whole of the Arabian Peninsula including the

Arab states of the Persian Gulf The Arab states of the Persian Gulf refers to a group of Arab states which border the Persian Gulf. There are seven member states of the Arab League in the region: Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. ...

. He was also President Bishop and Primate of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East with the title of Archbishop from 17 November 2019 to 12 May 2023.

Early life and education

Lewis was born on 8 June 1953.‘CYPRUS AND THE GULF, Bishop in’, Who's Who 2012, A & C Black, 2012; online edition, Oxford University Press, December 201

accessed 4 July 2012 He was educated at

King Edward VI School, Southampton King Edward VI School (also known as King Edward's, or KES) is a selective co-educational independent school founded in Southampton, United Kingdom, in 1553. The school was founded at the request of William Capon, who bequeathed money in his ...

and

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...

, where he read

Oriental Studies Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern studi ...

(Hebrew, Aramaic, and Syriac) taking a BA in 1974 and MA in 1979. He was formed for the priesthood at

Cuddesdon Theological College Ripon College Cuddesdon is a Church of England theological college in Cuddesdon, a village outside Oxford, England. The College trains men and women for ministry in the Church of England: stipendiary, non-stipendiary, local ordained and lay min ...

, taking his second Oxford degree in the Final Honour School of Theology in 1977.

Ordained ministry

Lewis was ordained deacon in 1978 and priest in 1979. After a

curacy A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

at Christ the King, Salfords, Surrey, in the

Diocese of Southwark The Diocese of Southwark is one of the 42 dioceses of the Church of England, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The diocese forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. It was created on 1 May 1905 from part of the ancient Dio ...

he became

Chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

Thames Polytechnic The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

in 1980. He was

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

of St Mary the Virgin, Welling, Southwark from 1984 to 1991 when he became Team Rector of Worcester South East and later

Rural Dean In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as well as some Lutheran denominations, a rural dean is a member of clergy who presides over a "rural deanery" (often referred to as a deanery); "ruridecanal" is the corresponding adjective. ...

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

and Canon of

Worcester Cathedral Worcester Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Worcester, in Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified ...

. Consecration to the

episcopate A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

followed in 1999 when he was appointed to the suffragan bishopric of Middleton. In 2007 he was

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

to Cyprus and the Gulf On 5 June 2011, he ordained the first

female priest The ordination of women to Minister of religion, ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain Christian traditions and most denominat ...

in the Middle East in Saint Christopher's Cathedral,

Manama Manama ( ar, المنامة ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 200,000 people as of 2020. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is h ...

. He is a member and currently co-chair of the International Commission for Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue. He is a former member of the Anglican Consultative Council and a former consultant to the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith, and Order. For many years he has been Bishop-Visitor of the

Community of the Sisters of the Love of God The Community of the Sisters of the Love of God (SLG) is an Anglican religious order of contemplative nuns founded in 1906 within the Church of England. The community has always drawn upon Carmelite spirituality. The community is at the Conven ...

, Convent of the Incarnation, Fairacres, Oxford. Since 2021 he has been a Honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. He took office as President Bishop of the

on 17 November 2019, in a ceremony held at St. Andrew Church, in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

. His term as President Bishop ended on 12 May 2023, when he was succeeded by

Hosam Naoum Hosam Naoum (born 1973) is a Palestinian Anglican bishop in Palestine. He was educated at Rhodes University and the Virginia Theological Seminary. He served at parishes in Nablus, Zababdeh and Jerusalem. He was Canon Pastor at St. George's Ca ...

). He retired as diocesan bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf on 8 June 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Michael 1952 births Living people People educated at King Edward VI School, Southampton Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Bishops of Middleton Anglican bishops in Cyprus and the Gulf 21st-century Church of England bishops 21st-century Anglican bishops in the Middle East Fellows of Merton College, Oxford