The Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney is one of the seven dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Created in 1865, the diocese covers the historic county of Aberdeenshire, and the Orkney and Shetland island groups. It shares with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aberdeen a Christian heritage that can be traced back to Norman times, and incorporates the ancient Diocese of Orkney, founded in 1035.

The diocese is considered the most conservative of the dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church, and was the only diocese to reject a change in the church's teaching to allow same-sex marriage in 2017.

The first female bishop of the SEC, Anne Dyer, was appointed to the diocese in November 2017 and consecrated and enthroned on 3 March 2018. Her gender, support of same-sex marriage, and the fact that she was not elected by the diocese itself (she was appointed by the College of Bishops in accordance with the SEC canonical process when a diocese fails to meet the requirements to elect its own bishop), caused some controversy, and two senior clergy, the Dean (Emsley Nimmo) and another member of the Cathedral Chapter, resigned their diocesan roles in protest. After further resignations by other clergy, the Westhill Community Church voted to leave the SEC in January 2019. Dorsey McConnell, former Bishop of Pittsburgh, took on the role of acting bishop on 1 November 2023, while Dyer remains suspended.

The diocese has a strong companion link with the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut and the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Samuel Seabury, the first Episcopal bishop outside the British Isles, was consecrated in 1784 by Robert Kilgour, Bishop of Aberdeen, and John Skinner, coadjutor bishop. Clarence Coleridge, suffragan bishop of Connecticut, was consecrated by a Bishop of Aberdeen in 1981; he was elected 13th diocesan bishop of Connecticut in 1993.

Area and population

The diocese covers the historic counties of Orkney (population 21,500), Zetland (population 23,000), Aberdeenshire except the Huntly area (population 393,000), the Banff, Buckie and Cullen areas of Banffshire (population 29,500), and the Banchory and Lower Deeside areas of Kincardineshire (population 26,000).

List of bishops

Bishops of Aberdeen and Orkney
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
1865	1883	Thomas Suther	Died in office.
1883	1905	Arthur Douglas	Died in office.
1906	1911	Rowland Ellis	Died in office.
1912	1917	Anthony Mitchell	Died in office.
1917	1943	Frederic Deane
1943	1955	Herbert Hall	Died in office.
1956	1972	Frederick Easson
1973	1976	Ian Begg
1976	1991	Frederick Darwent
1991	2006	Bruce Cameron	Installed 1992, Primus 2000–2006.
2006	2016	Robert (Bob) Gillies
2018	Incumbent	Anne Dyer	First female bishop in the SEC

List of provosts

List of deans

The following served as Dean of Aberdeen diocese:

• bef. 1846 – 1850: John Cumming, of Longside
• 1850 – 1865: David Wilson, of Woodhead

The following have served as Dean of Aberdeen and Orkney:

Churches and clergy

The diocese currently has 23 stipendiary clergy and 40 churches.

Benefice	Churches	Link	Founded (building)	Clergy
Banff	St Andrew, Banff	[1]	1722 (1833)	J. Paisey
Buckie	All Saints, Buckie	[2]	c. 1689 (1876)
Turriff	St Congan, Turriff	[3]	1738 (1862)	-
Cuminestown	St Luke, Cuminestown	[4]	C18th (1844)	-
New Pitsligo	St John the Evangelist, New Pitsligo	[5]	1835 (1870s)	-
Strichen	All Saints, Strichen	[6]	1861	-
Fraserburgh	St Peter, Fraserburgh	[7]	1721 (1892)	-
Longside	St John the Evangelist, Longside	[8]	1716 (1854)	R. O'Sullivan
Old Deer	St Drostan, Old Deer	[9]	1851
Peterhead	St Peter, Peterhead	[10]	1699 (1814)
Cruden Bay	St James the Less, Cruden Bay	[11]	C18th (1843)	-
Ellon	St Mary-on-the-Rock, Ellon		C18th (1871)
Insch	St Drostan, Insch	[12]	1894	A. MacDonald
Fyvie	All Saints, Woodhead of Fyvie	[13]	1849
Oldmeldrum	St Matthew & St George, Oldmeldrum	[14]	1863	-
Alford	St Andrew, Alford	[15]	1869	M. Blake
Auchindoir	St Mary, Auchindoir	[16]		-
Inverurie	St Mary, Inverurie	[17]	1841
Kemnay	St Anne, Kemnay	[18]	1938
Whiterashes	All Saints, Whiterashes	[19]	1858
Aberdeen (Cathedral of St Andrew)	St Andrew's Cathedral, Aberdeen	[20]	1817	I. Poobalan
Bieldside	Carpenters Arms Fellowship 4 Everyone	[21]		G. Bowyer
	St Devenick, Bieldside	[22]	1894 (1903)
Aberdeen (St Clement)	St Clement, Aberdeen	[23]	1960s	J. Lyon
Aberdeen (St Ninian)	St Ninian, Aberdeen	[24]	1936
Aberdeen (St James)	St James the Less, Aberdeen	[25]	1804	R. Green J. Souter
Aberdeen (St John the Evangelist)	St John, Aberdeen	[26]	1720 (1851)	J. Holden
Aberdeen (St Margaret of Scotland)	St Margaret of Scotland, Gallowgate	[27]	1867 (1870)	A. Nimmo
Aberdeen (St Mary)	St Mary, Carden Place	[28]	1863 (1864)	T. Taggart J. Hobbs
Cove Bay	St Mary, Cove Bay	[29]	1864	-
Bucksburn	St Machar, Bucksburn	[30]	1874 (1880)	D. Heddle
Aboyne	St Thomas, Aboyne	[31]	1909	V. Hancock
Ballater	St Kentigern, Ballater	[32]	C19th (1907)
	St Ninian's Chapel, Braemar	[33]	1895
Kincardine O'Neil	Christ Church, Kincardine O'Neil	[34]	1866	-
Banchory	St Ternan, Banchory	[35]	1851	L. Downs
Burravoe	St Colman, Burravoe	[36]	1898	N. Brice
Lerwick	St Magnus, Lerwick		1861 (1864)
Kirkwall	St Olaf, Kirkwall	[37]	1876	D. Dawson
Stromness	St Mary, Stromness	[38]	1885 (1888)	T. Miller

Former congregation

Benefice	Church	Link	Founded (building)	Seceded from SEC
Westhill Community Church	Westhill Community Church	[39]	1972 (2014)	2019

Closed churches in the diocese area

Name	Founded (building)	Closed
St Peter, Torry
St John the Baptist, Portsoy		2016
Chapel of Christ the Encompasser, Fetlar		2015
St Margaret, Braemar		2001
St Paul, Aberdeen	1867	1986

See also

• Bishop of Aberdeen (before and after the Reformation)