The Diocese of Pretoria is a diocese of the

Anglican Church of Southern Africa The Anglican Church of Southern Africa, known until 2006 as the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, is the province of the Anglican Communion in the southern part of Africa. The church has twenty-five dioceses, of which twenty-one are loc ...

. It is divided into seven archdeaconries and has 61 parishes.

History

The diocese originally covered the whole of the

South African Republic The South African Republic ( nl, Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, abbreviated ZAR; af, Suid-Afrikaanse Republiek), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer Republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it ...

, which later became the Transvaal province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. In 1922 the Diocese of Johannesburg, covering the Southern Transvaal, was formed. In the 1980s and 1990s several new dioceses were formed. The northernmost part of the diocese covered what is today the Limpopo Province. Suffragan Bishops were often based at Christ Church, Polokwane (then,

Pietersburg Polokwane (, meaning "Sanctuary" in Northern SothoPolokwane - The Heart of the Limpopo Provinc ...

) to oversee the mission work of the church. In 1957 Bishop

Robert Selby Taylor Robert Selby Taylor (1 March 1909 – 23 April 1995) was an Anglican bishop in the 20th century. Selby Taylor was educated at Harrow and St Catharine's College, Cambridge. Ordained in 1933, his first post was a curacy at St Olave's Church, ...

decided to make Pietersburg the centre of the Archdeaconry of the North. In the 1980s a suffragan bishop, John Ruston, was sent to oversee the region. Under his leadership a new diocese was formed. The

Anglican Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist The Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist is a diocese in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, in the geographical area of the Limpopo province in the north of South Africa. History The area now known as the Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist ...

was inaugurated in 1987.

List of the Bishops of Pretoria

* Henry Bousfield 1878–1902 * William Carter 1902–1909 * Michael Furse 1909–1920 * Neville Talbot 1920–1933 * Wilfrid Parker 1933–1950 ** in 1938, Norman Lang, Assistant Bishop of Peterborough, England, was also an assistant bishop in Pretoria *

1951–1959 * Edward Knapp-Fisher 1960–1974 * Michael Nuttall 1975–1982 * Richard Kraft 1982–1998 ** John Ruston, Suffragan Bishop bef.1983–1990 (for St Mark's area until 1987) * Johannes Seoka 1998–2016 * Allan John Kannemeyer 2016–present

Coat of arms

The diocese assumed arms around the time of its inception : ''Per fess Gules and Azure, a fess Argent between in chief a lion passant Or supporting a staff proper flying therefrom the banner of St George, and in base an anchor erect Or''. By 1889, the diocese had added a green border to the arms, possibly to reflect the colours of the South African Republic's national flag. It removed the border after the republic had become a British colony again in 1902, and changed the upper half of the shield to blue. In this form, the arms were granted by the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the British Sovere ...

in 1954, and registered at the

Bureau of Heraldry Bureau ( ) may refer to: Agencies and organizations *Government agency *Public administration * News bureau, an office for gathering or distributing news, generally for a given geographical location * Bureau (European Parliament), the administrat ...

in 1964.

References

External links

Diocese of Pretoria on the Anglican Church of Southern Africa's official website
Christianity in Pretoria 1878 establishments in the South African Republic Anglican Church of Southern Africa dioceses {{Anglican-diocese-stub