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Diocese of Bjørgvin Bjørgvin bispedømme
Former Bishop Halvor Nordhaug
Location
Country	Norway
Territory	Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane
Deaneries	10 prosti
Statistics
Area	34,083 km (13,160 sq mi)
Parishes	189
Members	481 804
Information
Denomination	Church of Norway
Established	1536
Cathedral	Bergen Cathedral
Current leadership
Bishop	Ragnhild Jepsen
Map
Location of the Diocese of Bjørgvin
Website
kirken.no/bjorgvin

The Diocese of Bjørgvin (Norwegian: Bjørgvin bispedømme) 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.

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 (modern) counties of Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane (with exception of the parishes of Eidfjord and Røldal).

The region of Sunnmøre (to the north) 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 (from the Diocese of Nidaros), 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 ten deaneries (Norwegian: Prosti) 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.

Bishops

References

1. "Bergen Domkirke" (in Norwegian). Gamle Bergen Museum.
2. Knudsen, Jacob Frode (2001). Bergen Domkirke 700 år. Bergen.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
3. Lidén, Hans-Emil; Magerøy, Ellen Marie (1990). Norges kirker : Bergen. Oslo: Gyldendal. ISBN 8205123683.
4. "Presentasjon av biskop Ragnhild Jepsen" [Presentation of bishop Ragnhild Jepsen] (in Norwegian). February 10, 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
5. Lampe, Johan Fredrik (1895). Bergen stifts biskoper og præster. Kristiania: Cammermeyers Boghandel.
6. "Bjorgvin" (PDF). Toandos.com.
7. "Prostia i Bjørgvin" (in Norwegian). Bjørgvin bispedømme. Retrieved 2015-04-12.

• Church of Norway dioceses
• Organisations based in Bergen
• Vestland