Diocese of Bjørgvin


The Diocese of Bjørgvin is one of the 11 dioceses that make up the Church of Norway. It includes all of the churches located in the county of Vestland in Western Norway, and those outside of Norway in the Seamen's Church. The cathedral city is Bergen, Norway's second largest city. Bergen Cathedral, formerly the Church of Saint Olaf, serves as the seat of the presiding Bishop. The Bishop since 2023 has been Ragnhild Jepsen.
WWW kirken.no/bjorgvin

History

Prior to 1536, the state religion of Norway was Roman Catholicism, but the government of the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway joined in with the Protestant Reformation and in 1536 it declared itself to be Lutheran, and the Church of Norway was formed. In 1537, the diocese of Bjørgvin, heir of the ancient Diocese of Bergen, consisted of the counties of Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane.
The region of Sunnmøre was transferred from the Diocese of Nidaros to the Diocese of Bjørgvin in 1622. The parish of Eidfjord was transferred from the Diocese of Stavanger to Bjørgvin in 1630. The parish of Røldal was transferred from the Diocese of Kristiansand to Bjørgvin in 1863. The Sunnmøre region was removed from the Diocese of Bjørgvin in 1983 when it, along with the regions of Nordmøre and Romsdal, were established as a separate diocese, the Diocese of Møre.

Name

The Old Norse form of the name for Bergen was Bjǫrgvin. The first element is berg or bjǫrg, which translates as "mountain". The last element is vin, which translates as "meadow". It is an old form of the name for the present-day city of Bergen.

Structure

The Diocese of Bjørgvin is divided into eleven deaneries in the new Vestland county. Each deanery corresponds to one or more municipalities in the diocese. Each municipality is further divided into one or more parishes which each contain one or more congregations. See each municipality below for lists of churches and parishes within them.
Deanery Municipalities
Bergen domprostiBergen
Bergensdalen prostiBergen
Åsane prostiBergen, Osterøy
Fana prostiAustevoll, Bergen, Bjørnafjorden
Hardanger og Voss prostiEidfjord, Kvam, Samnanger, Ullensvang, Ulvik, Vaksdal, Voss
Sunnhordland prostiBømlo, Etne, Fitjar, Kvinnherad, Stord, Sveio, Tysnes
Vesthordland prostiAskøy, Øygarden
Nordhordland prostiAlver. Austrheim, Fedje, Masfjorden, Modalen, Gulen, Solund
Sogn prostiAurland, Luster, Lærdal, Sogndal, Vik, Årdal
Nordfjord prostiBremanger, Gloppen, Kinn, Stad, Stryn
Sunnfjord prostiAskvoll, Fjaler, Hyllestad, Høyanger, Sunnfjord

Bishops