The Anglican Bishop of Auckland, Ross Bay, has accidentally come across a 100 year old crozier (bishop’s staff) locked away in a storage room.
On Sunday night Bishop Ross and Bishop Jim White gave it back to Maori at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Khyber Pass.
It was accepted by Bishop Kito Pikaahu, of Te Tai Tokerau.
Bishop Kito intends to carry it round his hui amorangi and will take it to Oihi on Christmas Day.
During Sunday’s service Bishop Kito invited descendants of those who gave the crozier 100 years ago to come forward and hold it.
He named the crozier Te Take ki Oihi , which identifies Oihi as the beginning of a bicultural journey.
“The shape of this crozier tells of the wellspring of life and it symbolises the continuity of a strong relationship between the Diocese of Auckland and the Diocese of Te Tai Tokerau,” Bishop Kito added.
He noted that it was made from four woods, showing the tribes’ various identities but also their unity in one crozier.
The service on Sunday night was part of the bicentenary celebrations marking the arrival of Samuel Marsden and other Anglican missionaries, alongside Maori chief Ruatara in New Zealand and the establishment of the first permanent European settlement with Maori at Oihi in the Bay of Islands.
The crozier was originally presented to the Bishop of Auckland in 1914 to mark the centenary of the same event.
It was presented by the four northern Maori tribes.
Very little else is known about the crozier including who carved it.
The diocese is asking anyone who knows its history to come forward.
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