Church of Ceylon

The first services were held on the island in 1796 and missionaries were sent to Ceylon to begin work in 1818.[2] The Church now has two dioceses, one in Colombo (covering the Western, Southern, Eastern, Northern and Uva provinces and Ratnapura, Nuwara Eliya and Puttalam districts) and the other in Kurunegala (covering Kurunegala, Kandy, Matale and Kegalla, Anuradapura, Polonnaruwa, districts). The Diocese of Colombo was founded in 1845 and the Diocese of Kurunegala in 1950.[2]

The Bishop of Calcutta was the Metropolitan Bishop of India and Ceylon from 10 October 1835. In 1930 Ceylon was included in the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon (from 1948 the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma, and Ceylon) until 1970. In 1970, the Church of the Province of Myanmar, the Church of Ceylon and the Church of Pakistan were separated from the CIBC (and the province of Calcutta).

There has been movement for the amalgamation of traditional Protestant Churches (including Church of Ceylon, Methodist Church, Lanka Baptist Sangamaya, Salvation Army, Presbyterian Church of Sri Lanka and the Christian Reformed Church of Sri Lanka (formerly the Dutch Reformed Church) and the Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India into one body, namely the Church of Sri Lanka.

The Bishop of Colombo, Dhiloraj Canagasabey has under him four archdeaconries, namely, Colombo, Galle, Jaffna and Upcountry and East. Keerthisiri Fernando the 6th Bishop of Kurunegala has one archdeaconry.

The Church of Ceylon with around 50,000 members,[3] is the second largest group of Christians in Sri Lanka, after the Roman Catholic Church with 1,600,000 members.

In the early 20th century an Anglican missionary, W. S. Senior arrived in Ceylon to work with the Church Missionary Society. He was Vice-Principal of Trinity College, Kandy for many years and spent three decades in the country.[4] W. S. Senior wrote the 'Hymn for Ceylon,' sung to this day in churches on the island. The music for parts of this hymn was composed in 1950 by the leading Sri Lankan folk musician Deva Suriya Sena.[5]

• Christianity in Sri Lanka
• Bishop of Colombo
• Bishop of Kurunegala
• Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour
• Cathedral of Christ the King, Kurunegala
• St. Paul's Church, Kandy
• Trinity College Chapel, Kandy
• Church of Ceylon church buildings in Sri Lanka
• Theological College of Lanka

• Diocese of Colombo
• The Church of Ceylon (Anglican Communion)
• Anglican Church of Ceylon News
• Worship Resources including a Prayer for Sri Lanka written by Metropolitan Lakdasa de Mel
• The Church of Ceylon – World Council of Churches website
• A photo selection of Parishes of the Church of Ceylon

Hymn

• A Sinhalese Hymn filmed at Holy Emmanuel Church, Moratuwa – Anglican Church of Ceylon on YouTube
• The Hymn for Ceylon – Trilingual (Anglican Communion)

Publications

• One hundred years in Ceylon, or, The centenary volume of the Church Missionary Society in Ceylon, 1818–1918 (1922) Author: Balding, John William Madras: Printed at the Diocesan Press.
• The Church of Ceylon – her faith and mission Published in 1945, Printed at the Daily News Press by Bernard de Silva for the Church of Ceylon.
• The Church of Ceylon: A history, 1945–1995 Editor: Medis, Frederick Published for the Diocese of Colombo.