Alexander Viets Griswold

Alexander Viets Griswold

Alexander Viets Griswold (born April 22, 1766 in Simsbury , Colony of Connecticut , † February 15, 1843 in Boston ) was Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the USA from July 17, 1836 until his death .

Griswold owes his education to his uncle, who was also an Anglican priest . As a young man he ran a small farm, but in 1794 he decided to study theology and was ordained a deacon on June 7, 1795 and a priest on October 1 of the same year. His first three parishes as priests were in Litchfield County in the US state of Connecticut. In 1804 he was appointed rector of the Michaelis Congregation in Bristol, Rhode Island .

In 1811 the dioceses of New England (with the exception of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut ) merged to form a so-called "Eastern Diocese". Although this was not an independent diocese , since each member diocese kept its own bishop and also remained independent in relation to the general synod of the general church, it had coordination tasks and its own bishop. For this office Griswold was ordained on May 31, 1811 by William White and Samuel Provoost and Abraham Jarvis . However, he remained a full-time parish priest in various parishes until 1835, when he became the full-time bishop of the "Eastern Diocese".

With the death of the fourth presiding bishop on July 17, 1836, Griswold became the longest serving bishop of the US Episcopal Church, its presiding bishop. After Griswold's death, the "Eastern Diocese" was dissolved.

After his episcopal ordination, Griswold received a spiritual revival as part of the Second Great Awakening (a revival movement in the United States in the first half of the 19th century ), and his preaching and piety became more evangelical . This was also the experience of many in his diocese at the time. The membership of his church increased tenfold between 1790 and 1840.

Web links

• Griswold's biography on the official website
• Documents by Alexander Viets Griswold from Project Canterbury