Bishop John Alexander Sean Semple

(Bishop Sean)

The Right Reverend Sean  Semple is the sixth Bishop of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf.

His service of consecration and enthronement was held at St Christopher’s Cathedral, Bahrain on 24 May 2024. He was enthroned in St Paul’s Cathedral, Nicosia on 22 June 2024.

Bishop Sean was previously the Rector of the Benefice of Ross with Walford and Brampton Abbotts in the Diocese of Hereford. He also chaired the Council for World Partnership and served as Rural Dean of the Deanery of Ross and Archenfield.

Sean has now worked in three provinces of the Anglican Communion, having also served as a priest in the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf, and in the Diocese of Natal, South Africa.

He was ordained priest in the Diocese of Natal in 2011, following a decade of ordained ministry in the Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. His undergraduate studies in Psychology and Theology were undertaken at the University of Natal and the University of South Africa, followed by postgraduate studies in Spirituality and Clinical Psychology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of Nicosia.

Bishop Sean is married to Jenny, and they have five children and three grandchildren.

Bishop Sean’s

Sermon at a Celebration of Jubilee

January 24, 2026

Friends of the Diocese gathered in London today for a service of Holy Eucharist at All Hallows-by-the-Tower marking the 50th Anniversary of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf—in joyful celebration of a Year of Jubilee .

Addressing the congregation, Bishop Sean said:

“While we acknowledge that there has been an Anglican presence in the Middle East for at least 150 years, and that there have been Arab Christians since the Day of Pentecost, our Province and Dioceses were reconstituted in their current form fifty years ago. 

“From its inception, the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf had an improbable quality to it: it is the largest diocese in the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East—12 times larger than the Diocese of Jerusalem and twice the size of the Diocese of Iran; it is the second-largest Anglican diocese in the world after the Diocese of Europe; and, in terms of landmass, it covers half of the Middle East and is 15 times the size of the UK.*

“The Diocese is constituted of Anglican Churches in ten countries or jurisdictions, nine of which are Muslim-majority, and eight of which operate under Sharia law. In every country in which we are present we have no right to practise our faith—we are the guests of gracious, far-sighted and tolerant rulers, churches, or religious authorities. To be an Anglican Diocese in this complex, vast and politically volatile context seems improbable indeed.”

“The influx of international Christians is matched by a disturbing exodus of indigenous Christians from the region. Nonetheless, present estimates suggest that there are between 3 and 4 million Christians in the Gulf. Again, we bear witness to a reality so often hidden in the world—a flourishing international Christian presence in the countries of the Middle East.”

Bishop Sean spoke too of “what the people of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf do naturally and daily: we work at gathering and connecting people. Our well-governed, doctrinally moderate, via-media Anglicanism fits surprisingly well into the landscape of the Middle East. We are dedicated and respected interlocutors between Eastern and Western Christian Traditions, and between Islam and Christianity. Our parishes are gloriously international. We offer something incredibly rare and precious to the Anglican Communion and the wider world that counters disinformation about the Middle East and divisive rhetoric: it is possible to have positive interfaith and ecumenical relationships; it is possible for parishes to have 58 different nationalities worshipping in them all at one time; it is possible for streams of living water to flow in desert places.”

The Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf was created on 5 January 1976, when the Right Reverend Leonard Ashton was invested as the first bishop of the Diocese during Evensong in the Collegiate Church of St George the Martyr in Jerusalem (now St George’s Cathedral). The Right Reverend Sean Semple, sixth and current Bishop in Cyprus and the Gulf, was consecrated and installed at St Christopher’s Cathedral in Manama, Bahrain in 2024. 

“In 1976 the Archbishop of Canterbury ceded Metropolitan authority over our Province to its Central Synod,” said Bishop Sean. “At that point in time, Cyprus and the Gulf ceased being the Church of England in the Middle East and became a Middle Eastern Anglican Diocese. The demographic shifts of the last five decades have further shaped our distinct identity: today, less than 5% of the people of our Diocese are from Europe or the West; 70% are from the Indian Subcontinent, 13% are from Southeast Asia and 8% are from Africa.” 

The Rt Rev’d Sean Semple

Bishop in Cyprus and the Gulf

  • Editor’s note: The land mass of the diocese is equivalent to the combined land mass of Alaska, California, Texas, Montana and New Mexico .