Stephen Elliott (bishop)

Stephen Elliott (born August 31, 1806 in Beaufort, South Carolina, died December 21, 1866 in Savannah, Georgia) was the 37th bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA). He was the first Bishop of Georgia and Provisional Bishop of Florida. He was also the first and only Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America.

Life

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When secession occurred and the war arrived, many of the Christian denominations in the U.S. split into Northern and Southern branches, a division that persists in many denominations today. The Episcopal Church was no different, giving rise to the Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America. Stephen Elliott became the Presiding Bishop of the Confederate States. Largely through the efforts of Bishop Elliott and his friend Bishop John Henry Hopkins of Vermont, who was the Presiding Bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church, the Northern and Southern branches of the Church were reunited after the Civil War. Both men considered this crucial to the survival of the Church and the nation.

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