MECMiddle East
Churches
CHURCH BUILDING

Church of Simon the Zealot

Shiraz · Anglican / Episcopal

Locality
Shiraz
Tradition
Anglican / Episcopal
Type of place
CHURCH BUILDING
Coordinates
29.61973° N, 52.53470° E
Identity
Matched to a public listing

A brief history

An Anglican church on Zand Avenue in Shiraz, standing next to the Shiraz Christian Mission Hospital. Both belong to the same story: the Church Missionary Society had worked in Iran since 1869 and reached Shiraz in 1900, and Dr Donald Carr founded the hospital here as demand grew for the clinic that the medical missionary Mary Bird had started. The Anglican Diocese of Persia was created in 1912; in 1961 Hassan Dehqani-Tafti became its first Persian bishop. The diocese exists today as the Diocese of Iran, one of three in the Anglican province of Jerusalem and the Middle East.

Saints & traditions

The bishop's title is Bishop in Iran, not Bishop of Iran — a small preposition that says a good deal about the church's position in the country.

Sources & directions