Samuel ''Sammy'' Robert Azariah (born

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

, 31 August 1949) is a Protestant Pakistani bishop in the

Church of Pakistan The Church of Pakistan is a united Protestant Church in Pakistan, which is part of the Anglican Communion and a member of the World Communion of Reformed ChurchesDatabase (9 February 2006)"Sialkot Diocese of the Church of Pakistan" Reformed Onl ...

, a

united Protestant A united church, also called a uniting church, is a church formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations. Historically, unions of Protestant churches were enforced by the state ...

denomination that holds membership in the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

World Methodist Council The World Methodist Council (WMC), founded in 1881, is a consultative body and association of churches in the Methodist tradition. It comprises 80 member denominations in 138 countries which together represent an estimated 80 million people; this ...

and

World Communion of Reformed Churches The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is the largest association of Calvinist churches in the world. It has 230 member denominations in 108 countries, together claiming an estimated 80 million people, thus being the fourth-largest Chris ...

. He is married to Khushnud and they have three daughters.

Early life

Azariah studied at St. Paul's High School Karachi and at St. Patrick's College, in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

. He completed his Honours in Sociology at the University of Karachi, in 1971.

Ecclesiastical career

In 1979, he was ordained a deacon of the

, a

denomination that holds membership in the

and

; he was ordained as a priest in 1980. He served first as curate at St. Andrew's Church, in Karachi, to serve mainly his small English language congregation. He later became Rector, which he was until 1987. He taught during this time at the Church of Pakistan Seminary, now known as St. Thomas' Seminary. He was elected the youngest Bishop of the Diocese of Raiwind in 1987. He first served as the Moderator of the Church of Pakistan, from 1997 to 2002, and served once again from 2009 to 2017. He also serves on the executive committee of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...

. In 2017, he was awarded the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation by the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

References

External links

Primates of the Anglican Communion - Moderator of the Church of Pakistan, Anglican Ink, 5 January 2016
1949 births Living people People from Karachi 21st-century Protestant religious leaders Pakistani Anglicans 20th-century Anglican bishops in Asia 21st-century Anglican bishops in Asia Anglican bishops of Raiwind {{anglican-bishop-stub