The Diocese of Agder og Telemark () is a diocese of the Church of Norway, covering all of Agder county and Telemark county in Norway. The cathedral city is Kristiansand, Norway's fifth largest city. Kristiansand Cathedral serves as the seat of the presiding Bishop. The bishop since 2013 has been Stein Reinertsen. As of 1 January 2003, there were 347,324 members of the Church of Norway in the diocese.

History

In 1125, the southern part of the Ancient Diocese of Bergen was split off as the Ancient Diocese of Stavanger. 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. During the Protestant Reformation, Norway became a Lutheran nation, establishing the Church of Norway. The diocesan boundaries remained the same.

Over time, however, the diocese was reduced in size. The parish of Eidfjord was transferred to the neighboring Diocese of Bjørgvin in 1630. The regions of Valdres and Hallingdal were transferred to the Diocese of Oslo in 1631, but in exchange, the Diocese of Oslo had to give the upper part of Telemark and transfer that to the Diocese of Stavanger.

In order to exploit the ancient walls of the church that burned in 1880, the altar was placed against the west, while the churches generally tend to have the altar in the east. Building work was completed on 1 February 1885. The church was consecrated on 18 March 1885 with Johan M. Brun as acting bishop.

Structure

The diocese is administratively divided into 9 deaneries spread out over two counties. Each deanery corresponds to one or more municipalities in the diocese. Each municipality has its own church council (}) and municipalities are made up of one or more parishes, each of which may contain one or more congregations. See each municipality below for lists of churches and parishes within them.

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! County !! Deanery () !! Municipalities

|-

|rowspan="6"|Agder||Kristiansand domprosti||Kristiansand

|-

|Arendal prosti||Arendal, Froland

|-

|Aust-Nedenes prosti||Gjerstad, Risør, Tvedestrand, Vegårshei, Åmli

|-

|Lister og Mandal prosti||Farsund, Flekkefjord, Hægebostad, Kvinesdal, Lindesnes, Lyngdal, Sirdal

|-

|Otredal prosti||Bygland, Bykle, Evje og Hornnes, Iveland, Valle, Vennesla, Åseral

|-

|Vest-Nedenes prosti||Birkenes, Grimstad, Lillesand

|-

|rowspan="3"|Telemark||Bamble prosti||Bamble, Drangedal, Kragerø

|-

|Skien prosti||Porsgrunn, Siljan, Skien

|-

|Øvre Telemark prosti||Fyresdal, Hjartdal, Kviteseid, Midt-Telemark, Nissedal, Nome, Notodden, Seljord, Tinn, Tokke, Vinje

|}

Bishops

  • 1681–1694 Jacob Jensen Jersin
  • 1694–1699 Hans Munch
  • 1699–1705 Ludvig Stoud
  • 1705–1720 Jens Bircherod
  • 1720–1733 Christopher Nyrop
  • 1733–1751 Jacob Kærup
  • 1751–1759 Rasmus Paludan
  • 1759–1762 Jens Christian Spidberg
  • 1762–1778 Ole Tidemand
  • 1778–1789 Eiler Hagerup d.y.
  • 1789–1798 Hans Heinrich Tübring
  • 1798–1804 Peder Hansen
  • 1804–1805 Jens Bloch
  • 1805–1810 Johan Michael Keyser
  • 1811–1823 Christian Sørenssen
  • 1823–1832 Johan Storm Munch
  • 1832–1840 Mathias Sigwardt
  • 1841–1874 Jacob von der Lippe
  • 1874–1881 Jørgen Engebretsen Moe
  • 1882–1884 Jørgen Johan Tandberg
  • 1885–1889 Jakob Sverdrup Smitt
  • 1889–1904 Johan Christian Heuch
  • 1904–1908 Gunvald Thorkildsen
  • 1908–1913 Kristian Vilhelm Koren Schjelderup, Sr.
  • 1914–1930 Bernt Støylen
  • 1930–1946 James Maroni
  • 1946–1951 Johannes Smemo
  • 1951–1957 Johannes Smidt
  • 1957–1973 Kaare Støylen
  • 1973–1983 Erling Utnem
  • 1983–1998 Halvor Bergan
  • 1998–2012 Olav Skjevesland
  • Since 2013 Stein Reinertsen

References

  • Kristiansand Cathedral panorama
  • Diocese of Agder og Telemark website (Norwegian)