Church of South India Synod

Church of South India Synod (CSI Synod) is the highest administrative body of the Church of South India. The presiding Bishop of the Synod is called the Moderator and is elected normally to hold office for three years.^[1] The church is governed by a synod based in Chennai and headed by a presiding bishop bearing the title of Moderator who is elected every three years.

About the Synod

The CSI synod consists of bishops of 24 dioceses, presybters and layman (both men and women) who are elected from the respective diocesan councils to the synod. The synod members will elect the apex body consisting of a Moderator, Deputy Moderator, general secretary and Treasurer. The Moderator is the spiritual and administrative head of the Church. Only Bishops are eligible to contest for the Moderator and Deputy Moderator posts. Pastors and lay members are eligible to contest for the remaining two posts of general secretary and Treasurer.The ordinary session of the synod is held once every three years.The last synod meeting was held in January 2016 at Kottayam. The practice has been to hold the meeting during the pongal holidays in mid January and over four days. Special meetings of the synod (between ordinary sessions) could also be convened by a decision of the Synod Executive. The Synod office is situated at CSI Center, Royapettah, Chennai.

Synod Executive

As the Church of South India synod meets only once in every two-year the power of the synod is mostly delegated to Synod Executive which is appointed by the synod and which meets at least twice a year. The synod executive is a subset of synod which has 95 members. The synod executive consists of 4 members each from the 22 dioceses of Church of South India, 3 nominees of the Moderator and 4 officers of the synod (Moderator,Deputy Moderator,General secretary and Treasurer).

Synod Working Committee

The Synod working committee is a subset of synod executive and it consists of 26 members.The working committee has a representation of one member each from the 22 dioceses of Church of South India and 4 officers of the synod.The synod working committee meetings are held based on need basis and they are held in between synod executive meetings. All the decisions of the synod working committee has to be ratified at a subsequent meeting of the synod executive.

Church of South India Synod Participants

According to the Church of South India constitution the participants in the synod belong to five categories:

Bishops of the 24 dioceses and assistant bishops, if any.
The Outgoing general secretary and treasurer.
Two members of the CSI Order of Sisters,
The President and General secretary of the Women’s Fellowship,
Presbyters and lay persons representing the various dioceses who are elected by their dioceses to represent them at the synod.
10 members nominated by the moderator

Dioceses send representatives based on a graded scale that starts with those having 10,000 baptised members sending two pastors and four lay persons while the maximum number of representatives to the synod come from dioceses with over 150,000 baptised members that send six presbyters and 11 lay persons.

According to the report of the 2014 synod meeting, there were ^[2] 135 presybters, 275 lay members and 22 bishops who participated in the synod.Other invitees to synod meetings include Accredited visitors, Heads of synod departments, Fraternal delegates (representing various CSI affiliated bodies), Special invitees, Overseas guests and Resource persons.

Quorum

The quorum is one-third of the total membership of which not less than two-thirds shall be lay members.

Agenda

First day of the Synod meeting consists of confirmation of minutes of the previous Synod, Appointment of various committees to oversee elections, Take up resolutions,Moderator's address, general secretary's report and Election of the four Officers of the Synod (Moderator, Deputy Moderator, general secretary and Treasurer).The second, third and fourth days of the Synod consists of a series of presentations by the treasurer, heads of synod departments, special invitees, etc. and some limited question-answer sessions. The final act of each Synod is the formal installation of the new Officers of the Synod on the last day.

Moderator and Deputy Moderator

The current moderator is the Most Reverend Thomas K. Oommen, Bishop of the Madhya Kerala Diocese (Kerala). The Deputy Moderator is the Right Reverend V. Prasada Rao, Bishop of the Dornakal Diocese (Telangana). They were elected for a tenure of three years at the Synod meeting held at Kottayam in January, 2017.

Missions and Committee

For proper guidance of the life and work of the Church the CSI Synod has set up various Commissions and Committees. The following are some of the important ones:

Ministerial Committee: which deals with issues relating to the ordained ministry.
Theological Commission: which deals with questions relating to the faith of the Church.
Liturgy Committee: for advising the Church on matters relating to worship and orders of service for different occasions.
Board of Mission and Evangelism: for promoting missionary outreach both within the CSI area and outside.
Union Negotiations Committee: for negotiations with other churches towards wider union.
Commission on Political Questions: for considering issues of justice and peace from the perspective of the Church's witness to the Gospel.

List of Synod Meetings

Synodical Sessions of the Church of South India with years, venue and elected Moderator and Deputy Moderator^[3]
Session	Synod	Host Diocese	Venue	Moderator	Deputy Moderator
I	1948	Madurai-Ramnad	Madurai	The Most Rev. A. Michael Hollis	The Right Rev. C. K. Jacob
II	1950	Madras	Chennai	The Most Rev. A. Michael Hollis	The Right Rev. Frank Whittaker
III	1952	Krishna-Godavari	Machilipatnam	The Most Rev. A. Michael Hollis	The Right Rev. H. Sumitra
IV	1954	Madras	Madras	The Most Rev. H. Sumitra	The Right Rev. J. E. L. Newbiggin
V	1956	Trichy-Tanjore	Trichy	The Most Rev. H. Sumitra	The Right Rev. J. E. L. Newbiggin
VI	1958	Kanyakumari	Nagercoil	The Most Rev. H. Sumitra	The Right Rev. J. E. L. Newbiggin
VII	1960	Mysore	Bangalore	The Most Rev. H. Sumitra	The Right Rev. A. G. Jebaraj
VIII	1962	Tirunelveli	Palayamkottai	The Most Rev. A. H. Legg	The Right Rev. A. G. Jebaraj
IX	1964	Tirunelveli	Palayamkottai	The Most Rev. A. H. Legg	The Right Rev. P. Solomon
X	1966	Madhya Kerala	Kottayam	The Most Rev. P. Solomon	The Right Rev. J. E. L. Newbiggin
XI	1968	Coimbatore	Coimbatore	The Most Rev. P. Solomon	The Right Rev. J. E. L. Newbiggin
XII	1970	Madras	Tambaram	The Most Rev. P. Solomon	The Right Rev. J. E. L. Newbiggin
XIII	1972	Madras	Tambaram	The Most Rev. I. R. H. Gnanadason The Most Rev. N. D. Ananda Rao Samuel	The Right Rev. N. D. Ananda Rao Samuel The Right Rev. J. E. L. Newbiggin
XIV	1974	Madras	Madras	The Most Rev. N. D. Ananda Rao Samuel	The Right Rev. Solomon Doraiswamy
XV	1976	Trichy-Tanjore	Trichy	The Most Rev. N. D. Ananda Rao Samuel	The Right Rev. Solomon Doraiswamy
XVI	1978	Madhya Kerala	Kottayam	The Most Rev. N. D. Ananda Rao Samuel	The Right Rev. Solomon Doraiswamy
XVII	1980	Madras	Tambaram	The Most Rev. Solomon Doraiswamy	The Right Rev. I. Jesudason
XVIII	1982	Vellore	Vellore	The Most Rev. I. Jesudason	The Right Rev. Sundar Clarke
XIX	1984	Medak	Secunderabad	The Most Rev. I. Jesudason	The Right Rev. Sundar Clarke
XX	1986	South Kerala	Trivandrum	The Most Rev. I. Jesudason	The Right Rev. P. Victor Premasagar
XXI	1988	Madurai-Ramnad	Madurai	The Most Rev. P. Victor Premasagar	The Right Rev. D. Pothirajulu
XXII	1990	Karnataka North	Dharwad	The Most Rev. P. Victor Premasagar	The Right Rev. Vasant P. Dandin
XXIII	1992	Tirunelveli	Palayamkottai	The Most Rev. B. Ryder Devapriyam The Most Rev. Vasant P. Dandin	The Right Rev. Jason S. Dharmaraj
XXIV	1994	Trichy-Tanjore	Trichy	The Most Rev. Vasant P. Dandin	The Right Rev. R. Paul Raj
XXV	1996	Coimbatore	Coimbatore	The Most Rev. Vasant P. Dandin	The Right Rev. William Moses
XXVI	1998	Rayalaseema	Madanapalle	The Most Rev. William Moses	The Right Rev. K. J. Samuel
XXVII	2000	Medak	Secunderabad	The Most Rev. K. J. Samuel	The Right Rev. B. P. Sugandhar
XXVIII	2002	East Kerala	Melukavu	The Most Rev. K. J. Samuel	The Right Rev. B. P. Sugandhar
XXIX	2004	Karnataka Central	Bangalore	The Most Rev. B. P. Sugandhar	The Right Rev. S. Vasantha Kumar
XXX	2006	Karnataka Southern	Mysore	The Most Rev. B. P. Sugandhar	The Right Rev. S. Vasantha Kumar
XXXI	2008	Krishna-Godavari	Visakhapatnam	The Most Rev. J. W. Gladstone	The Right Rev. Christopher Asir
XXXII	2010	Tirunelveli	Courtallam	The Most Rev. S. Vasantha Kumar	The Right Rev. G. Devakadasham
XXXIII	2012	Kanyakumari	Kanyakumari	The Most Rev. G. Devakadasham	The Right Rev. G. Dyvasirvadam
XXXIV	2014	Krishna-Godavari	Vijayawada	The Most Rev. G. Dyvasirvadam	The Right Rev. Thomas K. Oommen
XXXV	2017	Madhya Kerala	Kottayam	The Most Rev. Thomas K. Oommen	The Right Rev. V. Prasada Rao

References

↑ "TBishop Devakadasham elected Church of South India moderator". NDTV. 14 January 2012.
↑ "Krishna-Godavari Diocese Bishop all set to become head of CSI". The Hindu. 11 January 2014.
↑ K. M. George, Church of South India: Life in Union, 1947-1997, Jointly published by Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, New Delhi and Christava Sahitya Samithi, Tiruvalla, 1999.

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