Church of India, Burma and Ceylon


The Church of India, Burma and Ceylon was the autonomous ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion in British India.
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. The Church of India, Burma and Ceylon spread as missionaries from the Church Mission Society travelled throughout the Indian Empire. By 1930, the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon had fourteen dioceses across the Indian Empire. Bishops from India were present at the first Lambeth Conference.
After partition of India in 1947, the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon became known as the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon. It published its own version of the Book of Common Prayer, which served as its authorised liturgical text.
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. In 1970, ecumenical dialogue led to the merger of the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon with other Protestant Christian denominations, thus creating the Church of North India and Church of Pakistan.

Dioceses