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.

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.

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