Diocese of Chichester


The Diocese of Chichester is a Church of England diocese based in Chichester, covering Sussex. It was founded in 681 as the ancient Diocese of Selsey, which was based at Selsey Abbey, until the see was translated to Chichester in 1075. The cathedral is Chichester Cathedral and the diocesan bishop is the Bishop of Chichester. The diocese is in the Province of Canterbury.

Organisation

The Bishop of Chichester has overall episcopal oversight of the diocese, with certain responsibilities delegated to the Bishop of Horsham and the Bishop of Lewes. The suffragan See of Lewes was created in 1909 and was the suffragan bishop for the whole diocese until the See of Horsham was created in 1968.
The four archdeaconries of the diocese are Chichester, Horsham, Hastings and Brighton & Lewes. Until 2014, the Archdeaconry of Chichester covered the coastal region of West Sussex along with Brighton and Hove, the Archdeaconry of Horsham the remainder of West Sussex and the Archdeaconry of Lewes & Hastings covered East Sussex.
On 12 May 2014, it was announced that the diocese is to take forward proposals to create a fourth archdeaconry Since Lewes itself would be within the new archdeaconry, Lewes & Hastings archdeaconry would become simply Hastings archdeaconry. On 8 August 2014, the Church Times reported that the archdeaconry of Brighton & Lewes had been created and Hastings archdeaconry renamed. On 12 October 2014, it was announced that, from 2015, Martin Lloyd Williams would become the first Archdeacon of Brighton & Lewes.
The 21 deaneries of the diocese are:
DioceseArchdeaconriesRural Deaneries
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of ChichesterDeanery of Arundel and Bognor
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of ChichesterDeanery of Chichester
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of ChichesterDeanery of Westbourne
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of ChichesterDeanery of Worthing
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of Brighton & LewesDeanery of Brighton
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of Brighton & LewesDeanery of Hove
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of Brighton & LewesDeanery of Lewes and Seaford
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of HastingsDeanery of Battle and Bexhill
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of HastingsDeanery of Dallington
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of HastingsDeanery of Eastbourne
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of HastingsDeanery of Hastings
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of HastingsDeanery of Rotherfield
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of HastingsDeanery of Rye
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of HastingsDeanery of Uckfield
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of HorshamDeanery of Cuckfield
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of HorshamDeanery of East Grinstead
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of HorshamDeanery of Horsham
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of HorshamDeanery of Hurst
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of HorshamDeanery of Midhurst
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of HorshamDeanery of Petworth
Diocese of ChichesterArchdeaconry of HorshamDeanery of Storrington

Bishops

Alongside the diocesan Bishop of Chichester, the diocese has two suffragan bishops: a Bishop of Horsham and Bishop of Lewes. The Bishop of Horsham oversees the archdeaconries of Chichester and Horsham, while the Bishop of Lewes oversees the archdeaconries of Brighton & Lewes and Hastings.
Other bishops living in the diocese are licensed as honorary assistant bishops:
Three further bishops retired to West Sussex in 2013: Michael Langrish, former diocesan Bishop of Exeter, moved to Walberton; Christopher Morgan, former area Bishop of Colchester, lives in Worthing; and Geoffrey Rowell, retired Bishop in Europe and Bishop suffragan of Basingstoke, lived in Chichester until his death in 2017.
There is no alternative episcopal oversight in the diocese because the ordinary does not ordain women as priests.

Episcopal areas

From 1974 until 2013, episcopal oversight of the diocese was divided: the Bishop of Chichester retained direct oversight of a coastal area including the See city and Brighton, and delegated Ordinary authority for the rest of West and East Sussex to the area Bishops of Horsham and of Lewes respectively.

History

Christianity was introduced to the British Isles during the Roman occupation. When the Romans departed, there were waves of non-Christian invasions from northern Europe; these were mainly Angles, Saxons and Jutes. Celtic Christianity was driven, with the Celts, into the remote western parts of the islands. The south of England was settled by Saxons. After the invasions had finished, Roman missionaries evangelized the south east of England and Celtic missionaries the rest of the British Isles.
The Kingdom of Sussex remained steadfastly non-Christian until the arrival of Saint Wilfrid in 681 AD. Wilfrid built his cathedral church in Selsey and dedicated it to Saint Peter. The original structure would have been made largely of wood. The stones from the old cathedral would have been used in the later church. Some stonework discovered in a local garden wall was believed to have come from the palm cross that stood outside the original cathedral and is now integrated into the war memorial that is in the perimeter wall outside the church.
The cathedral founded at Selsey was probably built, where the chancel of the old church still remains, at Church Norton. Selsey Abbey was the first seat of the South Saxon see. The seat was moved to Chichester in 1075 under William the Conqueror.

Insignia and shield of the diocese

One of the earliest representations of the diocesan coat of arms is that on the seal of Bishop Ralph Neville. A similar representation appears on the seal of his successor, St Richard. In heraldic language the arms are blazoned as follows:
Most of the older English cathedrals have arms of a simple design, usually various combinations of crosses, swords, keys and so on. Our Lady and the Holy Child are however shown in the top third of Lincoln's shield and occupy the whole of Salisbury's shield. Excluding the diocese of Sodor and Man, which was linked with Denmark prior to 1546, Chichester is the only other old diocese which includes a human figure in its arms. Over the centuries identifying the figure has attracted some unusual theories. The most common misconception, which was still being repeated in 1894, was that the arms show "Presbyter John sitting on a tombstone". Presbyter John, or "Prester John" as he is more commonly known, was a figure of mediaeval fantasy who appeared in many books and travellers tales. It was said that he was an all-powerful and immensely rich Christian emperor who lived in the East or in Africa and who would come to the aid of crusaders. A letter circulated in Europe in about 1165 referred to the annual visit of Prester John and his army, complete with chariots and elephants, to the tomb of the prophet Daniel in Babylonia Deserta. It was the imagery of this letter that seems to have become attached to Chichester's diocesan coat of arms.
Much more likely is that the imagery is parallel to that seen in an early fourteenth-century manuscript of the Apocalypse of St John. This illustrates several passages with a figure who variously has a sword across his mouth, holds an open book, and is seated on a throne. The clearest illustration accompanies chapter 19, verses 11-16:
In this manuscript are to be seen the main elements of the diocesan coat of arms and there is thus tangible support for what common sense suggests — that the figure is that of our Lord as ruler of the nations. The image was common in Byzantine iconography as Christ the Pantocrator.
In 1626 Thomas Vicars, vicar of Cuckfield, wrote in a sermon which he illustrated with references to the book of Revelation and also to Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." He dedicated his sermon to his father-in-law, the then Bishop of Chichester:
The position of the sword in the diocesan coat of arms is a matter that has raised some questions. In the newly drawn coat of arms the sword has been placed across the mouth, whereas previously and in the cathedral's coat of arms the sword is placed to the right of the mouth. It seems likely that medieval versions had the former position, while later generations have preferred the latter.
A medieval window in Bourges cathedral, France, depicts Christ with seven seals in his right hand and seven stars in his left. The sword is clearly across his mouth, as it is in the depiction of the same scene on the great Apocalypse tapestry in the chateau at Angers, also in France. In both of these representations, however, the sword points to the viewer's left, the opposite way from the diocesan arms.