History
In 1125 Stavanger became a diocese, after first being a part of the Diocese of Bjørgvin. 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.
In 1682 Christian V, King of Denmark-Norway, issued an order that the Bishop and the Prefect were to be moved to the cathedral of Kristiansand, which had been consecrated 1646 and which the King intended be perfect site for a new cathedral. The citizens of Stavanger protested, with the Prefect and the Bishop refusing to move and ignoring the order. It took two years before Kristiansand was established as the new cathedral city. The new name of the diocese became "Christiansands stift", and this later became the Diocese of Agder og Telemark.
The upper part of Telemark had been transferred from the Diocese of Oslo to the Diocese of Stavanger in 1631 - and the rest of Telemark was transferred from Oslo to Kristiansand in 1864. In that same year, the parish of Røldal was transferred from Kristiansand to the Diocese of Bjørgvin.
The diocese consists of 67 parishes and 147 congregations. As at 1 January 2003, 347,324 members of the Church of Norway were in the diocese. The current bishop is Olav Skjevesland.
Read more about this topic: Diocese Of Agder Og Telemark
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