Evangelical Church of the Ecclesiastical Province of Saxony

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Map of the Evangelical Church of the Church Province of Saxony
Basic data
Area : 25,000 km²
Leading clergyman: Bishop
Axel Noack (until 2008)
Membership: UEK
Propsties : 5 (2008)
Church districts : 20 (2008)
Parishes : 2,020 (2008)
Parishioners: 493,610 (December 31, 2006)
Share of the
total population:		 16.6% (2008)
Address: Am Dom 2
39104 Magdeburg
Official website (of the successor organization): www.ekmd.de

The Evangelical Church of the ecclesiastical province of Saxony existed as an independent regional church from 1947 to 2008. Between 1947 and 1969 and again from 1991 to the end of 2008 it was one of the last 23 member churches of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), from 1969 to 1991 it was part of the Federation of the Evangelical Churches in the GDR . On January 1, 2009, it merged with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thuringia to form the Evangelical Church in Central Germany (EKM).

Like all regional churches, the Evangelical Church of the Church Province of Saxony was a corporation under public law . The seat was in Magdeburg , the main or bishop's church was the Magdeburg Cathedral . The church had about 493,000 church members in 2,021 congregations . The Evangelical Church of the ecclesiastical province of Saxony was one of the united churches within the EKD, i. H. Lutheran, Reformed (Calvinist) and United Church congregations maintained a joint administration for overriding matters. The church was also a member of the Evangelical Church of the Union (EKU) (1947–2003) until it became part of the Union of Evangelical Churches on July 1, 2003 .

Territory of the regional church

The area of ​​the "Evangelical Church of the ecclesiastical province of Saxony" comprised the former Prussian province of Saxony , which today largely forms the state of Saxony-Anhalt with the former state of Anhalt . The southern parts of the ecclesiastical province belonged to the Free State of Thuringia (Propstei Erfurt-Nordhausen). There were also some areas in the east of the ecclesiastical province in today's state of Brandenburg (church district Bad Liebenwerda) and in the Free State of Saxony (church district Torgau-Delitzsch).

history

The history of the regional church is above all connected with the history of the Kingdom of Prussia .

Parish of Magdeburg Cathedral (1955)

After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the State of Prussia formed its provinces and so the Province of Saxony was created and with it its own church administration authority, the consistory, in Magdeburg . There were also other consistories at times (see below).

The head of the church was the respective King of Prussia as " summus episcopus ". In 1817 King Friedrich Wilhelm III. to a union of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches. In some places Lutheran and Reformed parishes then united and formed uniate parishes. Thus a unified church emerged within the state of Prussia, the Evangelical Church in Prussia , which changed its name several times in the following decades. This church covered the following eight provinces: East and West Prussia , province of Brandenburg , Pomerania , Posen , Province of Saxony , Silesia , Rhine Province and Westphalia . In each province there was a consistory (sometimes up to 4) that was responsible for the administration of the church within the province.

In 1850, an Evangelical Upper Church Council (EOK) called Upper Consistory was established in Berlin as the highest church authority for the State of Prussia . In 1866 Prussia annexed several areas. However, the newly acquired provinces retained their own church administrations and were not subordinated to the EOK in Berlin. From 1875 onwards the church was called the Evangelical Regional Church of the older Prussian provinces .

After the First World War , the King of Prussia had to abdicate (elimination of the sovereign church regiment ). The Prussian regional church and its provincial churches were therefore reorganized in 1922 as the Evangelical Church of the Old Prussian Union (abbr .: EKapU, APU), which had been reduced in size by separating the province of Posen, parts of West Prussia and Silesia. The name was chosen to specifically include the now Polish areas. From 1922 the general synod elected the church leadership, called the church senate, which was presided over by the president elected by the general synodals. The formerly powerful EOK became the executive body. The provincial synods elected a provincial church council, to which the consistories, led by general superintendents, were subordinate as executive organs.

After the Second World War , the former church province of Saxony became an independent regional church in 1947 with a bishop at its head, which joined the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). The Church adopted a constitution on June 30, 1950, which came into effect October 1, 1950. In 1954, together with the five other former Old Prussian church provinces, they reorganized the "Evangelical Church of the Old Prussian Union" from 1922 into their common church umbrella organization called the Evangelical Church of the Union , which, like its six member churches, also belonged to the EKD.

The spiritual direction of the ecclesiastical province of Saxony was the responsibility of the respective superintendent general until 1947 and the bishop from 1947. The bishop was chairman of the church government ("government" of the church). In addition to the bishop, this included eleven other full-time and part-time persons elected by the synod, including provosts, superintendents and lay people.

Since July 1, 2004, the Evangelical Church of the Ecclesiastical Province of Saxony and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thuringia have formed the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Central Germany (EKM), which led to the unification of both churches in the Evangelical Church in Central Germany on January 1, 2009.

Membership numbers

year
 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Members
 584,867 574.484 563,948 553,498 542.286 533.113 523.217 512.929 504.216 493.610

Head of the regional church

The provincial synod, the consistory (since 2004 the church office of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Central Germany) and the church leadership formed the three church-governing organs of the Evangelical Church of the Church Province of Saxony (see Basic Order). The bishop presided over the 12-person church leadership (until 1947 the “general superintendents”). This was elected by the Provincial Synod .

Superintendent Generals and Bishops

Spiritual leaders of the Evangelical Church in Prussia were general superintendents , of whom there were a total of 12 in all of Prussia. The office was established shortly after the Reformation, later abolished in Prussia and only reintroduced in 1830. After the elimination of the sovereign church regiment in 1918, the general superintendents were heads of the provincial church. When the Provincial Church became independent in 1945, there was only one spiritual leader who had been bishop since 1947.

In the old Prussian church province of Saxony there was initially one, from 1867 two and from 1911 three general superintendents, some of whom also bore the honorary title of bishop. The general superintendents were members of the consistory in Magdeburg and its chairman, provided the office of consistorial president was vacant. Her title there was "Director".

General superintendent until 1867

General superintendent 1867–1933 (1st office)

General superintendent 1867–1933 (2nd office)

General superintendent 1912–1933 (3rd office)

This post was not established until 1912.

Bishops since 1933

Provincial Synod

As a “parliament”, the church province had a provincial synod (the entire old Prussian regional church was called the “general synod” until 1948). Its members, the synodals, were elected by the church districts for six years. But it also had appointed members as well as born members , i.e. those who belonged to it ex officio. The task of the synod was similar to that of political parliaments. It usually only met about once a year. The chairman of the synod was the praeses.

President of the Synod

Administration of the regional church

Consistories (church office) and administrative hierarchy

The consistory in Magdeburg - since 2004 the church office of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Central Germany - ran the day-to-day business, was responsible for administrative matters and, on behalf of the church leadership, supervised the parishes, church districts and church officials. The head of the consistory was the consistorial president. Until 1918, the office of Consistorial President was even more important than it is today.

The consistory had already been established with the formation of the Province of Saxony in 1815. In addition, there were older consistories, so-called media consistories, namely in Wernigerode (1658 to 1930 for the Lutheran parishes in the area of ​​the former County of Wernigerode ), in Roßla the Stolberg-Roßla consistory (1719 to 1947 for the Lutheran parishes in the area of ​​the former . Grafschaft Stolberg- Rossla) and in Stolberg am Harz the Stolberg-Stolberg Consistory (from 1553 to 1947 for the Lutheran parishes in the area of ​​the former Stolberg-Stolberg County). Since the declarations of submission by the Counts of Stolberg-Stolberg (1730) and Stolberg-Roßla (1731), the consistories of Roßla and Stolberg had been subordinate to Electoral Saxon sovereignty and thus to the Lutheran Upper Consistory in Dresden, until these two and the Wittenberg Consistory moved under Prussian sovereignty in 1815.

Four to five consistorial councils, two ecclesiastical and two to three secular, formed the collegial body of the media consistory. The spiritual director was the superintendent, but the chairman was usually a secular official, often called the consistorial director. The Stolberg-Stolberg and Stolberg-Roßla consistories were merged on November 5, 1947 to form the new Stolberg-Roßla consistory based in Stolberg, which was initially responsible for the church district of the same name. Most recently, the consistorial district was in the Eisleben parish. "The church leadership of the Evangelical Church of the Church Province of Saxony [...] decided on October 28, 2005 [...] to dissolve the Evangelical Lutheran Consistory in Stolberg-Roßla." An Evangelical Ministry in Erfurt existed until 1948 .

The consistorial and provincial church archive founded on March 6, 1936 (most recently: Archive and Library of the Church Province of Saxony ) ensures the written transmission of central administrative institutions of the consistory and the church districts and is the office of the Association for Church History of the Church Province of Saxony e. V.

Consistorial presidents in Magdeburg since 1845 (presidents of the church office)

Seal of the consistory for the province of Saxony

Chair of the media consistory

Until the separation of state and religion in 1919, the media consistories were directly subordinate to the noble counts (later princely) heads of families. Until the separation of state and religion in 1919, the consistory in Roßla and Stolberg am Harz were indirectly subordinate to the Upper President of the Province of Saxony, while the consistory in Wernigerode was indirectly subordinate to the provincial consistory in Magdeburg.

Consistory in Roßla
Consistory of Stolberg and Roßla zu Stolberg / Harz, April 1990

Founded in 1719 for the Lutheran parishes in the county of Stolberg-Roßla, first in the Counts, from 1893 on in Princely, later called Evangelical-Lutheran Consistory Stolberg-Roßla, added to the Consistory in Stolberg in 1947.

  • 1719–1944:?
  • 1944–1947: Hans-Werner Jaenicke, as consistorial director
Consistory in Stolberg am Harz
Seal mark of the consistory in Stolberg am Harz

Center founded in the 16th century for the Lutheran churches all over the county Stolberg, separated in 1645 part of County of Stolberg-Wernigerode, since initially Gräfliches called from 1893 Princely consistory Stolberg-Stolberg, reduced by County of Stolberg-Rossla 1719, 1947 reincorporation Roßlas, since Evangelical Lutheran Consistory called Stolberg and Roßla , repealed in 2005.

  • 1553 – before 1688:?
  • before 1688–1694: Joachim Ulrich Amthor
  • 1694–1947:?
  • 1947–1951: Hans-Werner Jaenicke, as consistorial director, on leave of absence to the Federal Republic
  • 1951-2005:?
Seal mark of the Wernigerödischen Consistory
Consistory in Wernigerode

Founded in 1658 for the Lutheran parishes in the county of Stolberg-Wernigerode, which was partitioned off in 1645, added to the consistory in Magdeburg in 1930.

  • 1658-1667:
  • 1667: Burchard Wissel (1617–1667)
  • 1667–1816:?
  • 1816–18 ?: Christian Heinrich Delius , as consistorial director
  • 18? –1864:?
  • 1864–1876: Rudolph Elvers
  • 1876–1877: Hermann von Hoff
  • 1877-1880: Rudolph Elvers
  • 1880–1930:?

Structure of the church members

In the administrative hierarchy, the regional church was structured as follows from bottom to top:

Parishes

At the base standing parishes as public bodies with elected parish councils , the "parish council". The members of this body were called "elders". The 2,020 parishes were most recently divided into 20 church districts.

Church districts and provosts

Several parishes together formed a church district (in general administration comparable to a district ), headed by a superintendent. The church districts were also corporations under public law and have the district synod, whose members were appointed by the respective parish councils, and a district church council.

Several church districts together formed a provost ( comparable to an administrative district in terms of general administration ). Until the 1990s, the Evangelical Church of the ecclesiastical province of Saxony comprised a total of eight provosts with 78 church districts, which included regional Lutheran and United parishes, as well as its own Reformed church district, to which all Reformed parishes located in the area of ​​the regional church belonged. As part of a structural reform, the number of provosts and church districts was reduced. In 2008 the regional church was only divided into five provosts with 20 church districts:

  • Propstei Erfurt-Nordhausen based in Erfurt (created in 1994 from the two previous provosts Erfurt and Nordhausen. It includes all of the former Prussian areas in what is now the state of Thuringia)
    • Church district Südharz-Nordhausen based in Nordhausen
    • Church district Mühlhausen
    • Church district Erfurt
    • Sömmerda church district
    • Church district Henneberger Land with seat in Suhl
  • Propstei Magdeburg-Halberstadt based in Magdeburg (created on April 1, 1997 from the two previous provosts Halberstadt-Quedlinburg and Magdeburg)
    Mailbox with information board at the seat of the Propstei in Magdeburg
    • Egeln church district
    • Elbe-Fläming church district based in Burg near Magdeburg
    • Halberstadt church district
    • Church district Haldensleben-Wolmirstedt with seat in Wolmirstedt
    • Church district Magdeburg
  • Propstei Halle-Naumburg based in Halle / Saale (created on October 1, 1996 from the two previous provosts Halle and Naumburg)
    • Eisleben church district
    • Church district Halle-Saalkreis
    • Church district Merseburg
    • Church district Naumburg-Zeitz
  • Propstei Kurkreis Wittenberg
    • Church district Bad Liebenwerda (in the state of Brandenburg)
    • Church district Torgau-Delitzsch (in the state of Saxony)
    • Wittenberg Church District (in Saxony-Anhalt)
  • Propstei Altmark based in Stendal
    • Church district of Stendal
    • Salzwedel church district

Training centers

The church of the ecclesiastical province of Saxony had several training centers for various church professions. The training of church musicians served in 1926 Aschersleben founded School of Church Music , which since 1939 in Halle (Saale) is located. It has had university status since 1993 and is now jointly supported by the EKM and the state of Saxony-Anhalt .

In 1949 the catechetical college was founded in Wittenberg , which moved to Naumburg in 1950. Initially, catechists were trained there for religious instruction in schools. The Oberseminar later developed into a fully-fledged training facility for studying Protestant theology . Recognized as a fully-fledged university in 1990, what was now the Naumburg Church University was finally closed in 1993. Since then, the theological faculty in Halle has been the only training facility for theology studies in the territory of the ecclesiastical province. The diploma of the Hallische Faculty fulfilled the function in the church of the ecclesiastical province that the First Ecclesiastical Exam had in other regional churches.

The preacher's seminary in Wittenberg, which is still in existence today and is in spatial continuity with the theological faculty in Wittenberg, served the training of the vicariate .

Hymn books

The parishes of the Evangelical Church of the ecclesiastical province of Saxony sang mainly from the following hymn books in the last decades:

  • Evangelical hymn book for the province of Saxony - elaborated by resolution of the provincial synod and published with the approval of the church authorities; introduced in 1881
  • Hymn book for the province of Saxony and Anhalt ; introduced by resolution of the Provincial Council of Churches of January 22, 1931
  • Evangelical Church Hymns - Edition for the Evangelical Church of the Church Province of Saxony; introduced on the basis of the resolution of the synod of the ecclesiastical province of Saxony on February 14, 1952, ed. by the church leadership in Magdeburg on the 1st of Advent 1953; later also with the titles “Edition for the Konsistorialbezirke Berlin, Magdeburg, Greifswald and Görlitz and the Evang. Landeskirche Anhalts ”or“ Edition for the Evang. State Church of Anhalt, Evang. Church Berlin-Brandenburg, Evang. Church of the Görlitz church area , Evang. Regional Church Greifswald , Evang. Church of the ecclesiastical province of Saxony "
  • Evangelical hymn book - edition for the Evangelical Church of Anhalt, the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg, the Evangelical Church of Silesian Upper Lusatia, the Pomeranian Evangelical Church, the Evangelical Church of the Church Province of Saxony; introduced on Sunday Cantata, May 1, 1994

literature

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ http://www.ekd.de/download/kirch_leben_2006.pdf
  2. ↑ http://www.ekd.de/download/kirch_leben_1997.pdf
  3. ↑ http://www.ekd.de/download/kirch_leben_1998.pdf
  4. ↑ http://www.ekd.de/download/kirch_leben_1999.pdf
  5. ↑ http://www.ekd.de/download/kirch_leben_2000.pdf
  6. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated May 4, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ekd.de
  7. ↑ http://www.ekd.de/download/kirch_leben_2002.pdf
  8. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated May 4, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ekd.de
  9. ↑ http://www.ekd.de/download/kirch_leben_2004.pdf
  10. ↑ http://www.ekd.de/download/kirch_leben_2005.pdf
  11. ↑ https://www.ekd.de/ekd_de/ds_doc/kirch_leben_2006.pdf
  12. ↑ Herbert Frost, Structural Problems of the Evangelical Church Constitution: Comparative Legal Studies on the Constitutional Law of the German Evangelical Regional Churches , Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 1972, p. 230, at the same time: Cologne, Univ., Rechtsswiss. Fac., Habil.-Schr. 1968.
  13. ↑ Jörg Brückner, Between Imperial Estates and Estates. The Counts of Stolberg and their relationship to the Landgraves of Thuringia and later dukes, electors and kings of Saxony (1210 to 1815) , Chemnitz: Technische Univ. Diss., 2003, p. 208.
  14. ↑ Herbert Frost, Structural Problems of the Evangelical Church Constitution: Comparative Legal Studies on the Constitutional Law of the German Evangelical Regional Churches , Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 1972, p. 231, at the same time: Cologne, Univ., Rechtsswiss. Fac., Habil.-Schr. 1968.
  15. ↑ Cf. “Abolition of the order on the composition and powers of the Evangelical Lutheran Consistory and dissolution of the Evangelical Lutheran Consistory of Stolberg-Roßla”, in: Official Journal of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Central Germany , 1st year (No. 12, 15. December 2005), p. 345.
  16. ↑ Ernst Pinder, The Provincial Law of the Royal Prussians formerly Königl. Saxon regions with the exclusion of Lausitz: together with evidence, reasons and comments : 2 parts., Leipzig: Leopold Voss, 1836, part 1: Containing provincial law, p. 418.
  17. ↑ GM Kletke, The evangelical church, parish u. School law of the Prussian state; For clergy, church patrons, church u. School inspectors, judicial and administrative authorities, etc .: 2 parts, Berlin: Seidel, 1868, part 1, p. 48.
  18. ↑ He died 14 weeks after his appointment as consistorial director and chancellery, a son of Johann Wissel .