Dean of the Divinity School Ronald F. Thiemann resigned last fall after thousands of pornographic images were found on his University-owned computer, Harvard sources told The Crimson yesterday.

Meanwhile, a bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said he will be meeting with Thiemann, who is an ordained Lutheran minister, to determine what action the church might take against him. The church adopted an official policy opposing pornography in November 1996.

Thiemann resigned from his post in the fall after 13 years as dean. At the time, Thiemann said publicly he was leaving for "personal and professional" reasons. Rumors at the time held that Thiemann had left because he was suffering from depression.

Thiemann could not be reached for comment yesterday, but a Lutheran church official said that he had spent the day receiving spiritual counseling from other church members.

According to one source, the pornographic material was found on Thiemann's Harvard-owned computer by technicians servicing the machine. The source said Thiemann had left material on the screen.

"This was not very secretive," the source said. "Maybe this was a cry for help."

According to the Boston Globe, which first reported the story Wednesday, Thiemann had also requested more disk space for the computer, which is located at his home.

For more than a year, people in computer services had encountered the pornography on his computer, a source told The Crimson yesterday.

Sources said the images did not include child pornography or other illegal material.