Anglican Church of India
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Anglican Church of India Official Website
www.acisynod.org
Brief History
The Anglican church of India is a missionary effort of the Church of England through Church Mission Society (CMS), founded in 1799. CMS missionaries came to India in 1814 and reached Kerala in 1816. CMS missionaries worked with the Orthodox Christians in Kerala. After a few years of collaboration the missionaries insisted that the Orthodox Christians should follow the theology of the Protestant Churches. This approach led to the end of cooperation between the CMS missionaries and the Orthodox Christians. The isolation of missionaries was reported to the Anglican Archbishop of Calcutta. He directed the missionaries to start evangelisation among non-Christians of Kerala: Cheramar, Sambavar, Sidhanar and Aryans. The missionaries could not directly interact with them as they did not know the language. They sought the help of English-educated Orthodox Christians. Rev. George Mathan Kasis of Mallappally was the first to help them. Rev. Hawksworth, a CMS missionary at Thiruvalla, and Rev. George Mathan were authorised by the archbishop to undertake the efforts. As a result of their long and strenuous efforts, one Pulaya family embraced Christianity. The head of the family was Deivathan, christened Abel on Sep.6, 1854. Many followed him. The baptised were emancipated from slavery and rehabilitated. They were given cultivable land and lived in colonies. Dioceses had been formed with headquarters at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. The Churches newly formed in Travancore and Cochin area were part of the Madras diocese. In 1879 a diocese was formed for Travancore and Cochin with Kottayam as headquarters. This newly formed diocese was a conglomeration of Orthodox Syrians, Cheramars, Sambavars, Sidhanars and Hill Tribes. The diocese of Travancore and Cochin was dominated by the ex-Orthodox Christians. It was opposed by the non-Christians. It was opposed by the non-Christian converts, who formed 80 percent of the community. As India became independent in 1947, most of the foreign missionaries left India, with their departure Travancore-Cochin diocese went into the hands of former Orthodox Christians. Churches joined together to establish the Church of South India in 1947. The unified Church of South India accepted an order of uniformity in worship and practice. The non-Christian converts did not accept it. There was a provision for separation within a period of 30 years from the CSI. In 1964 the non-Christian converts decided to withdraw from the CSI. They reestablished the Anglican Church on August 24. Dr.V.J.Stephen was made bishop on May 5, 1966. Dioceses:- There are 13 Anglican dioceses in India. Amristar (Bishop Victor Somnath), Kangazha (Bishop Lukose Varghese), Maramon (Bishop John Thundukulam), South Kerala (Hon. John M Peter), High Range (Bishop Levy Jose Aikkara), Travancore-Cochin Central (Bishop Kuruvilla C.Puthett), North Tamil Nadu (Bishop Rajkumar), South Tamil Nadu (vacant), Delhi (Bishop Emmanuel Porter), Haryana (Bishop D.E Singh), Lucknow (Bishop Victor Karan) Secunderabad (Bishop Daniel Chelliah) Chandigarh (Bishop Javed Masy). All 12 bishops constitute the Synod of the Church which is the supreme body. It was established in 1990. Dr. Stephen Vattappara is the chairman of the Synod.
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