D Daniel Jeyaraj was consecrated as the 13th bishop of Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church in a ceremony held at Tarangambadi in Nagapattinam district Monday.
The consecration was held at the 300-year-old New Jerusalem Church in the presence of retired High Court judge Justice K Venkatraman, who is the administrator of Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Earlier, a procession was taken out from the Ziegenbalg memorial, in which students, pastors, heads of various churches across the country and abroad participated.
After the consecration ceremony, a felicitation meeting was held.
Thousands of religious heads and delegates from Sweden, Denmark, Germany and other countries participated on the occasion.
The Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church is a popular Christian denomination in India and was established in 1919.
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It is headquartered at Tiruchirappalli and theBishopsof the Lutheran Church hold the title 'Bishopof Tranquebar'.
Until 1956, the church had foreigners as the bishops.
R B Manickam became the first Indian bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1956.
The Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church consists of about 120 pastorates.