Francis Ah Mya was an Anglican Archbishop[1] in India and Burma (now Myanmar) in the mid-20th century.[2]
He was educated at the Bishop's College in Calcutta and ordained in 1933. He was a tutor at the Divinity School, Rangoon from 1933 to 1940 and then the incumbent at St Matthew Moulmein until 1949. He became archdeacon of Toungoo in 1946[3] and was placed in charge of St Peter's Bible School when it was moved to Kappli.[4]
He was appointed to the episcopate as assistant bishop of Rangoon in 1949; he and John Aung Hla were the first native bishops in Calcutta.[4][5] He was consecrated a bishop on Pentecost day (5 June), by George Hubback, Bishop of Calcutta, at St Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta.[6][7] In 1966 he became its diocesan[8] and in 1970 established a new Anglican Province with himself as Archbishop,[9] resigning in 1972.[10]
Ah Mya transformed Rangoon into an autonomous province independent of the Province of India, Pakistan, Burma and Cylone;[11] he also worked on lay associations within the church as well as self-supporting projects and an evening Bible school.
In 1981, he reopened the Mindon mission.[4]
WWII edit
During the Second World War he was held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese. It was said that he became the leader of other POWs. He managed to persuade the Commandant to release other prisoners and himself under a plan given to him by God.[dubious ] — This story is told in the book "Going My Way" by Godfrey Winn.
References edit
- ^ Project Canterbury
- ^ Crockford's Clerical Directory 1975-76 London: Oxford University Press, 1976 ISBN 0-19-200008-X
- ^ Anglican History website, Time Line of The Anglican in Myanmar Church of the Province of Myanmar (Burma), 1825-2001, by Bishop Stephen Myint Oo Than (December 2004)
- ^ a b c Church of the Province of Myanmar (Anglican) website, History
- ^ Google Books website, Christianity in East and Southeast Asia, edited by Ross Kenneth R. Ross
- ^ "Church News: General". Church Times. No. 4504. 3 June 1949. p. 359. ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved 25 October 2019 – via UK Press Online archives.
- ^ "Consecration of three national bishops". Church Times. No. 4507. 24 June 1949. p. 409. ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved 25 October 2019 – via UK Press Online archives.
- ^ New Bishop Of Rangoon The Times Tuesday, Jun 07, 1966; pg. 12; Issue 56651; col D
- ^ United Society Partners in the Gospel website, The Church of the Province of Myanmar (CPM)
- ^ ttc Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Google Books website, The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to the Anglican Communion, edited by Ian S. Markham, J. Barney Hawkins, IV, Justyn Terry and Leslie Nuñez Steffensen