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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Christ Church, Lucknow
The History of the Church of India - CIPBC
All Saints, 2007
The Church of India - CIPBC (formerly the Church of England in India) is
the original Anglican Church in India. The Anglican presence in India dates back
four hundred years ago to 1600, when Queen Elizabeth I was still on the throne
of England. From that time until within living memory British chaplains and
missionaries arrived in ever-increasing numbers, and were the first to minister
to the expatriate British community, and later to bring the Gospel of Jesus
Christ to the Indian people themselves.
The Diocese of Calcutta was promulgated in 1814; its territory included
not only India but also those countries known today as Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Burma (Myanmar) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and also from 1824 to 1836, Australia as
well. With the foundation of the Diocese of Madras in 1835 and the Diocese of
Bombay in 1837 the Indian Church was formed into a Province, with the Bishop of
Calcutta being Metropolitan ex officio.
For the next ninety years, that is until 1927, the Church of India was a
Province of the Church of England, under the authority of the Crown and the
British Parliament.
On the 22nd of December 1927, The Parliament of England passed
an enactment known as the Indian Church Act of 1927. The Indian Church Act, 1927
(17&18 Geo.5, CH.40) makes the provision incidental to and consequential on
the dissolution of the legal union between the Church of England and the Church
of England in India, and the Church of England in Ceylon. By means of the Indian
Church Act 1927 the Province of The Church of India, Burma and Ceylon came under
the administration of Indian Church Act of 1927. Hence in 1927 a new,
independent Church was formed - the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon. Until
1927 the Province of India was the 3rd Province of the Church of
England with its Metropolitical establishment at Calcutta.
Arising from the enactment of the Indian Church Measure and the Indian
Church Act for the dissolution of its legal connection with the Church of
England, the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon is governed by its own
very comprehensive “Constitution, Canons, and Rules” commonly called the
Canons. The Constitution, Canons and Rules are binding on all members of the
Church of India - CIPBC, that is all the clergy and lay people as well.
The
Church of India - CIPBC continues to receive a measure of legal protection under
the terms of the Indian Church Measures of 1927, and the Indian Church Act of
1927. On the basis of the proclamation made by the English Privy Council
concerning the India Church Act of 1927, and the Independence Act 1947,
the ownership of the Indian Church properties has been examined by the competent
Indian Government authorities, and are rightly held in trust by the Indian
Church Trustees as the absolute owners of all such Church properties in
India. The Church of India - CIPBC is seeking to effect control and
administration over all its Church properties and the General Council is
regularly holding its meetings under the provisions of the CIPBC Constitution,
Canons and Rules.
The Anglican
remnant remaining in India were in trouble as the foreign missionaries were
leaving India after the British granted India independence in 1947. Opportunists
illegally occupied many of the Anglican properties in the years following.
And, the subsequent formation of the Church of South India and the Church of
North India, an amalgamation of various Protestant church groups, resulted in a
great erosion of traditional Anglican practice in India.
In the year 1978
following the Congress of St. Louis, (Affirmation
of Saint Louis) the news of the Anglican Catholic Church
reached India. The Indian Anglicans appealed for a spiritual affiliation in the
Anglican Catholic Church Original Province. As a result, in 1983, Bishop John
Asha Prakash was consecrated in California in United States. And subsequently in
the year 1984 Bishop Samuel Peter Prakash son
of John Asha Prakash along with Bishop Gideon from Calcutta and Bishop Rao from
Amritsar. The consecration took place in WMCA, New Delhi. With these four
dioceses the Province of India was restored and established as the Second
Province of the Anglican Catholic Church. In 1989 The Diocese of Bombay
consecrated Bishop Anselm Ranganadhan, and in
1996, the Diocese of Nagpur was restored and
Bishop Francis Sylvestor consecrated
there.
Sadly, following the illegal Deerfield Beach
Consecration incident, the Titular Bishop of Calcutta and Metropolitan of India,
Archbishop Louis Falk, defected to the so-called American Episcopal Church in
1991, the Bishop of Delhi and Lucknow, John Prakash, and his son, Samuel Prakash,
defected as well, together with a number of clergy and congregations associated
with Anthony Clavier, who had also been active in India. They formed the
sect known as the “Anglican Church of India”.
From 1991 until 1995 the late
Archbishop William Lewis held office as Acting Metropolitan of India succeeded
by Bishop James Bromley. Bishop Bromley appointed Fr. John Augustine as
the Archdeacon and the Metropolitan's Commissary to the Province of India.
Bishop Rommie Starks succeeded Bishop Bromley as acting
Metropolitan. In 2003 the Right Reverend John Augustine was elected
and consecrated Bishop of Lucknow. In 2005 the Calcutta Diocesan Council
and the House of Bishops elected the Right Reverend John Augustine as the Bishop
of Calcutta and Metropolitan of India. The Most Reverend John Augustine
was enthroned as Metropolitan of the Church of India -CIPBC on 24th February,
2005 at Christ Church, Lucknow.
Contact
Information
- Telephone
- 91-522-2416684
- FAX
- 91-522-2412913
- Location address
- Christ Church, Mahatma Gandhi Marg. Lucknow, (U.P.) India 226001
- Postal address
- St. Mary's School
- Para Road
- Rajajipuram
- Lucknow - 226017
- Uttar Pradesh
- India
- Electronic mail
- General Information: most_rev_augustine@yahoo.co.in
Webmaster: biverach@xocorp.com
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