Индий дін қызметкері және Ескі өсиет зерттеушісі Виктор Премасагар

Indian churchman and Old Testament scholar

Victor Premasagar (1927–2005) was the fourth successor of Frank Whittaker as Bishop in Medak. He was an Indian churchman and Old Testament scholar who made major contributions to research on the Old Testament and to the field of theology. Premasagar's articles appeared in the Expository Times (1966), in the Bible and critical works on Psalms LXXX and the Hebrew word HOQ in the Tanakh. Premasagar was a pastor hailing from the Church of South India who tended rural congregations in the Diocese of Medak in north Telangana until 1961 when he became a seminary teacher at Dornakal and then moving out to Rajahmundry and later Secunderabad in 1972 and taught Old Testament. In 1980, the Church of South India recalled Premasagar to take up ministerial responsibilities and made him general secretary of the Church of South India Synod at its XVIIth session of the held at Tambaram. In 1983, Premasagar became a bishop and subsequently a moderator of the Church of South India Synod for two consecutive bienniums: 1988–1990 and 1990–1992.

Premasagar was born in Medak and was raised a Christian in what is now the Church of South India. In addition to the ancient Indian epics, his boyhood was filled with stories from the Bible. In the foreword to Promise in the Ancestral Narratives, his doctoral dissertation, Premasagar made mention of the Biblical stories that his mother told during his childhood and the promise they held. He completed his schooling from Wesley School in Secunderabad. It was around this time that he to study divinity. He completed his college studies from the century old Andhra Christian College (under Andhra University), Guntur. His contemporaries there included N. T. Rama Rao (a film actor and later Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh). Premasagar was involved in athletics. Football and tennis were his favourite sports.

Victor went to the United Theological College in Bangalore and studied spirituality during 1950–1954 and took his Bachelor of Divinity in 1955 in the ensuing convocation of the Senate of Serampore College (University) during the Registrarship of The Rev. William Stewart. Others studying during that period at UTC Bangalore included G. Solomon, V. C. Samuel, E. C. John, Samuel Amirtham, N. D. Anandarao Samuel, C. D. Jathanna, K. E. Swamidass, G. B. Devasahayam.

Premasagar was sent to Cambridge University where he specialized in the study of the Old Testament studying from 1964 to 1966 at Westminster College, Cambridge (affiliated to the University of Cambridge) and was awarded the Cambridge Tripos.

In 1969, the Board of Governors of ACTC accorded Premasagar study leave, which he used to go to St. Andrews University, Scotland for further studies in the Old Testament. He studied in St Mary's College between 1969 and 1972

After Premasagar's ordination as presbyter, he began pastoring parishes in Siddipet, Mancherial, Soan, and Shankarampet.

Premasagar first taught at the Andhra Union Theological College (AUTC), Dornakal, between 1961 and 1964, By 1973, Premasagar's collegemate G. Solomon, a teacher in Old Testament at the Ramayapatnam Baptist Theological College joined the faculty, also teaching Old Testament. By 1977, G. Babu Rao, a teacher in Old Testament at Serampore College, Serampore moved to the college. as the moderator of the Church of South India.

Later, in 1983 he was elected as the bishop in Medak, Asia's largest Anglican bishopric. It was at this time that indigenous methods were devised and put into practice for raising funds from the local congregations for supporting church programmes which was met with widespread success. He was instrumental in bringing rapid development of the church – congregation wise as well as in its social action. As for the educational institutions in the Diocese of Medak, schools were made to adapt to modern trends to face the changing pattern. St. George's Grammar School, Wesley College and other educational institutions were modernised during Premasagar's tenure. In 1983, Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom came to Hyderabad. On 20 November 1983, the Queen celebrated her 36th wedding anniversary in the Holy Trinity Church in Bolarum, Secunderabad. The church service was officiated by Bishop Premasagar and his ministerial colleagues Rev. B. Prabhakar Rao and Rev. B. P. Sugandhar, the present bishop in Medak and the moderator of the CSI.

The bishops of the Church of South India are invited to the decennial Lambeth Conference held at the Lambeth Palace, the seat of the archbishop of Canterbury in London. Rev. Premasagar attended the eleventh and twelfth conferences in 1978 and 1988 respectively.

Premasagar was a translator for the Bible Society of India (BSI) in its Telugu Bible Common Language Translation Programme since the 1970s. He headed the Translations Committee of the Bible Society of India Andhra Pradesh Auxiliary until the 1990s and then was followed by Rev. G. Babu Rao, his colleague while at ACTC. Premasagar was also the president of the Bible Society of India headquartered in Bangalore from 1988 to 1994 and continued to be a member of the India Bible Society Trust Association for a long period.

After retirement from the bishopric, Rev. Ryder Devapriyam, Bishop in Nandyal and a former colleague of Rev. Premasagar while at ACTC, succeeded him as the moderator while Rev. B. P. Sugandhar, presbyter in charge of Church of St John the Baptist, Secunderabad became the bishop in Medak. Post retirement, Premasagar spent about a year at the Presbyterian Church of Wales as an invitee. On his return to India, Premasagar taught part time at ACTC. He was later invited by Dr. K. Rajaratnam, director of Gurukul Lutheran Theological College, Chennai to teach and guide doctoral students and was Professor Emeritus of Old Testament. In 2000, Premasagar accepted an invitation to become principal of Bethel Bible College, Guntur, where he taught until his death at St. Joseph's Hospital, Guntur, on 1 December 2005.