Church of India, Burma and Ceylon

Church of India, Burma and Ceylon (CIBC)
Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon (CIPBC)
St. Paul's Cathedral in Calcutta (c. 1865)
ClassificationProtestant
OrientationAnglican
PolityEpiscopal
AssociationsAnglican Communion, World Council of Churches
RegionIndian Empire (1813-1947)
North India & Pakistan (1947-1970)
Origin1813
SeparationsChurch of South India (1947)[1]
Merged intoChurch of North India (1970),[1] Church of Pakistan (1970)[1]
In 1930, the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon (CIBC) had fourteen dioceses across the Indian Empire.[2]

The Church of India, Burma and Ceylon (CIBC) was the autonomous ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion, associated with the Church of England, in British India.[3]

The first Anglican diocese in India was established in 1813, the Diocese of Calcutta, which became the metropolitan see of the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon.[4] The Church of India, Burma and Ceylon spread as missionaries from the Church Mission Society travelled throughout the Indian Empire.[3] By 1930, the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon (CIBC) had fourteen dioceses across the Indian Empire.[2] Bishops from India were present at the first Lambeth Conference.[4]

After partition of India in 1947, the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon became known as the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon (CIPBC).[3] It published its own version of the Book of Common Prayer, which served as its authorised liturgical text.[1]

Later in 1947, four southern dioceses left the CIPBC and merged with South Indian Methodists and South Indian Presbyterians & Congregationalists to form the Church of South India.[1] In 1970, ecumenical dialogue led to the merger of the parts of the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon in India and Pakistan with other Protestant Christian denominations (including the Scottish Presbyterians, United Methodists and Lutherans), thus creating the Church of North India and Church of Pakistan, and to the creation of separate provinces of Sri Lanka and Burma.[4][3]

  1. ^ a b c d e Buchanan, Colin (4 August 2009). The A to Z of Anglicanism. Scarecrow Press. p. 234. ISBN 9780810870086. On 27 September 1947, after conversations and negotiations lasting 28 years, and in the teeth of Anglo-Catholic opposition throughout the Anglican Communion, the four southern dioceses of CIPBC left the Anglican church and joined with South Indian Methodists and the South India United Church (itself the result of an earlier union of Presbyterians and Congregationalists) to become the Church of South India. The CIPBC synod authorized its own Book of Common Prayer (fairly closely related to the 1662 Book) in 1960. Negotiations continued towards united churches, and they came to fruition with the formation of the Church of Pakistan on 1 November 1970 and the Church of North India on 29 November 1970.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference BCC1940 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c d Dalal, Roshen (18 April 2014). The Religions of India: A Concise Guide to Nine Major Faiths. Penguin Books Limited. p. 177. ISBN 9788184753967.
  4. ^ a b c Tovey, Phillip (30 August 2017). Anglican Baptismal Liturgies. Canterbury Press. p. 234. ISBN 9781786220202. The formation of united churches, particularly that of North India in 1970, led to the end of the Province.