Diocese of Agder og Telemark
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The Diocese of Agder og Telemark consists of the counties Telemark, Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder in Norway.
The diocese of Agder og Telemark has a rather special history. In 1125 Stavanger became a diocese, after being a part of the diocese of Bjørgvin. This new diocese stretched from the coast of Haugesund in the west to Gjernestangen between Risør and Kragerø, later the border stretched to Eidanger in the east. Stavanger was the cathedral city.
In 1682 the King of Norway issued an order that the bishop and the stiftamtmann was to be moved to the old cathedral city of Kristiansand, a 40 year old residence that the King meant would be a perfect residence for the future. The citizens of Stavanger protested and the stiftamtmann and the bishop refused to move and ignored the order. It took two years before the new cathedral city became Kristiansand. The new name of the diocese became "Christiansands stift", that later became the diocese of Agder og Telemark.
The diocese of Agder consisting the three counties Telemark, Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder, was created in 1925, when Stavanger and Rogaland became their own diocese. From January 1st. 2005 the name of the diocese was changed to the diocese of Agder and Telemark.
Today the diocese have 347.324 members of the Church of Norway (01.01.2003). The current bishop is Olav Skjevesland.
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