Apimeleki Nadoki Qiliho
Encyclopedia
Apimeleki Nadoki Qiliho is an indigenous
Fijian from the Province
of Nadroga-Navosa
in the Fiji Islands
. He is the Anglican
"Bishop
in Vanua Levu
and Taveuni
" in the Diocese of Polynesia
or Tikanga Pasefika under the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia
. He made church history by becoming the first indigenous Fijian Bishop in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. He is one of three Anglican Church
or suffragan bishops who serve under the Archbishop
of Polynesia, Jabez Bryce
. This diocese covers Fiji
, Samoa
, Tonga
and the Cook Islands
. Apimeleki Qiliho serves as area bishop over the Vanua Levu and Taveuni Episcopal Area. The other two Bishops in the Diocese of Polynesia are Gabriel Sharma
, Bishop of Viti Levu
West and Winston Halapua, the diocesan bishop who serves Polynesians
in New Zealand
.
, located in Fiji's Western Division
. He then spent some time living in Lautoka
, the capital of the Western Division, at which time he changed denomination from being Methodist
to an Anglican. He than decided to become a priest and eventually was made a Bishop after serving for some time as the Vicar general
at Holy Trinity Cathedral
in Suva. Apimeleki Qiliho lives in Labasa
on Vanua Levu and is currently married to Taomi Tapu Qiliho. He was previously married to Litiana Rika who died in 1997. He has four children and eight grandchildren.
, New Zealand. After becoming a priest he had postings to parish
es around Fiji such as Levuka
, etc. He than went on to become Vicar General under Bishop Jabez Bryce and then Bishop of Vanua Levu and Taveuni. He also has served on many church and non church organisations such as the Pacific Council Of Churches,The Fiji Council of Churches and the President of the Pacific/ Fiji Bible Society. He also does work with certain AIDS
, youth
and non governmental organisations in Fiji and the region. Apimeleki Qiliho also, on occasion, writes columns for the Fiji Times
newspaper.
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
Fijian from the Province
Province
A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...
of Nadroga-Navosa
Nadroga-Navosa
NADROGA NAVOSA is one of the fourteen provinces of Fiji, and one of eight based in Viti Levu, Fiji's largest island. It is about 2,385 square kilometers and occupies the South-West and Central areas of Viti Levu, Fiji's largest and principal island. The province includes the Mamanuca Archipelago,...
in the Fiji Islands
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
. He is the Anglican
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
"Bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
in Vanua Levu
Vanua Levu
Vanua Levu , formerly known as Sandalwood Island, is the second largest island of Fiji. Located 64 kilometres to the north of the larger Viti Levu, the island has an area of 5,587.1 km² and a population of some 130,000.- Geography :...
and Taveuni
Taveuni
Taveuni is the third-largest island in Fiji, after Vanua Levu and Viti Levu, with a total land area of 435 square kilometers . The cigar-shaped island, a massive shield volcano which rises from the floor of the Pacific Ocean, is situated 6.5 kilometers to the east of Vanua Levu, across the...
" in the Diocese of Polynesia
Diocese of Polynesia
The Diocese of Polynesia, or the Tikanga Pasefika, headed by Archbishop Winston Halapua, serves Anglicans in Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and the Cook Islands, within the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. The diocese's first bishop was consecrated in 1908. The diocese's cathedral is...
or Tikanga Pasefika under the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia
Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia
The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia is a church of the Anglican Communion serving New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and the Cook Islands...
. He made church history by becoming the first indigenous Fijian Bishop in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. He is one of three Anglican Church
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
or suffragan bishops who serve under the Archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
of Polynesia, Jabez Bryce
Jabez Bryce
Jabez Leslie Bryce was the Tongan-born bishop of the Anglican Church. Bryce served as the Bishop of Polynesia in the Province of New Zealand, which includes most of the South Pacific, from 1975 until his death in 2010. He was elevated to Archbishop of the diocese in 2006.Bryce was the first...
. This diocese covers Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, Samoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
, Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
and the Cook Islands
Cook Islands
The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...
. Apimeleki Qiliho serves as area bishop over the Vanua Levu and Taveuni Episcopal Area. The other two Bishops in the Diocese of Polynesia are Gabriel Sharma
Gabriel Sharma
Gabriel Sharma is an Anglican Bishop in Fiji. On 1 May 2005, he became the first Indo-Fijian to be consecrated as an Anglican Bishop, the first ethnic Indian Bishop in the Province of Aotearoa, of which Fiji forms a part, and the first Bishop specifically assigned to Fiji's Western Division, when...
, Bishop of Viti Levu
Viti Levu
Viti Levu is the largest island in the Republic of Fiji, the site of the nation's capital, Suva, and home to a large majority of Fiji's population.- Geography and economy :...
West and Winston Halapua, the diocesan bishop who serves Polynesians
Polynesians
The Polynesian peoples is a grouping of various ethnic groups that speak Polynesian languages, a branch of the Oceanic languages within the Austronesian languages, and inhabit Polynesia. They number approximately 1,500,000 people...
in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Background
Qiliho comes from the village of Rukurukulevu in the district of Cuvu in NadrogaNadroga-Navosa
NADROGA NAVOSA is one of the fourteen provinces of Fiji, and one of eight based in Viti Levu, Fiji's largest island. It is about 2,385 square kilometers and occupies the South-West and Central areas of Viti Levu, Fiji's largest and principal island. The province includes the Mamanuca Archipelago,...
, located in Fiji's Western Division
Western Division, Fiji
The Western Division of Fiji is one of Fiji's four divisions. It consists of the three provinces Ba, Nadroga-Navosa and Ra.The capital of the division is Lautoka. The division includes the western part of the largest island in Fiji, Viti Levu, with a few outlying islands, including the Yasawa...
. He then spent some time living in Lautoka
Lautoka
Lautoka is the second largest city of Fiji and the second largest in the South Pacific. It is in the west of the island of Viti Levu, 24 kilometres north of Nadi, and is the second port of entry in Fiji, after Suva. Lying in the heart of Fiji's sugar cane growing region, it is known as the Sugar...
, the capital of the Western Division, at which time he changed denomination from being Methodist
Methodist Church of Fiji and Rotuma
The Methodist Church of Fiji and Rotuma is the largest Christian denomination in Fiji, with 36.2 percent of the total population at the 1996 census...
to an Anglican. He than decided to become a priest and eventually was made a Bishop after serving for some time as the Vicar general
Vicar general
A vicar general is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ordinary executive power over the entire diocese and, thus, is the highest official in a diocese or other particular...
at Holy Trinity Cathedral
Holy Trinity Cathedral
Holy Trinity Cathedral may refer to:* Holy Trinity Cathedral , Ethiopia* Holy Trinity Cathedral , Ghana* Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland, New Zealand* Holy Trinity Cathedral, Blaj, Romania...
in Suva. Apimeleki Qiliho lives in Labasa
Labasa
Labasa is a town in Fiji with a population of 27,949 at the most recent census held in 2007.Labasa is located in Macuata Province, in the north-eastern part of the island of Vanua Levu, and is the largest town on the island. The town itself is located on a delta formed by three rivers - the...
on Vanua Levu and is currently married to Taomi Tapu Qiliho. He was previously married to Litiana Rika who died in 1997. He has four children and eight grandchildren.
Career
Qiliho began training to be an Anglican priest in the early 1960s and during the course of his training stayed in Suva and HamiltonHamilton, New Zealand
Hamilton is the centre of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area, and Hamilton City is the country's fourth largest territorial authority. Hamilton is in the Waikato Region of the North Island, approximately south of Auckland...
, New Zealand. After becoming a priest he had postings to parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
es around Fiji such as Levuka
Levuka
Levuka is a town on the eastern coast of the Fijian island of Ovalau, in Lomaiviti Province, in the Eastern Division of Fiji. It was formerly the Capital of Fiji. At the census in 2007, the last to date, Levuka town had a population of 1,131 , about half of Ovalau's 8,360 inhabitants...
, etc. He than went on to become Vicar General under Bishop Jabez Bryce and then Bishop of Vanua Levu and Taveuni. He also has served on many church and non church organisations such as the Pacific Council Of Churches,The Fiji Council of Churches and the President of the Pacific/ Fiji Bible Society. He also does work with certain AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, youth
Youth
Youth is the time of life between childhood and adulthood . Definitions of the specific age range that constitutes youth vary. An individual's actual maturity may not correspond to their chronological age, as immature individuals could exist at all ages.-Usage:Around the world, the terms "youth",...
and non governmental organisations in Fiji and the region. Apimeleki Qiliho also, on occasion, writes columns for the Fiji Times
Fiji Times
The Fiji Times is a daily English-language newspaper published in Suva, Fiji. Established in Levuka on 4 September 1869, it is Fiji's oldest newspaper still operating....
newspaper.