Order of life
Ordinances of life or church life ordinances are regulations of the Protestant churches in which at least the casualia (from Latin casus = event, individual case; also called official acts ) are regulated, i.e. mainly baptism , confirmation , marriage , burial . Other areas of community life can also be included. Ordinances of life are mostly decided by the synods of the respective regional churches .
Corresponding, extensive regulations in the Catholic Church can be found in the Codex Iuris Canonici , there in particular Book 4 ("Sanctification of the Church") and its Part 1 ("Sacraments"), Can. 840 ff., As well as Part 2 ("Other acts of worship"), Can. 1166 ff.
Legal quality
Because of the proximity to preaching and pastoral care , the binding effect and thus the legal quality is questionable and different: the individual regional churches have partly chosen the form of binding ecclesiastical laws, general requirements regulations or mere recommendations.
This becomes clear, for example, in the Baden regional church, which provides for a decision by the elected group of elders for disputes arising from the rules of life . The ecclesiastical administrative court process is not open against the decision of the also elected District Council of Churches in the complaint procedure (Section 15 lit. c KVwGG): it is less a question of law than a question of faith, which is to be decided by the elected representatives of the community, not by judges .
Areas of regulation
baptism
The regulations on baptism are essentially explained by the two pillars of the missionary order : baptism and teaching. Every Christian is allowed to baptize ("emergency baptism"), but usually clergymen baptize in worship. In the case of the baptism of an infant, the doctrine must be made up, from which the parents' promise of baptism for Christian upbringing and the sponsorship and finally the confirmation as confirmation of baptism follow. By contrast, the baptism of religion consenting goes a baptismal instruction ahead .
Reasons for rejection are consequently a lack of baptismal instruction or seriousness (adults) or if the Christian upbringing is not guaranteed - for example in the event of disagreement between the custodians, lack of church membership of the parents, etc. The regulations in the regional churches differ in detail.
confirmation
The lack of instruction in infant baptism and the person being baptized's own consent leads to confirmation lessons and personal confession during confirmation (Latin: confirmare = to confirm, to affirm). Unlike Baptism and Catholic Confirmation, Confirmation is not a sacrament. The traditional second meaning of Confirmation as a sacrament approval waning now by the increasingly widespread approval of all the baptized to Holy Communion.
Again, the regulations in the individual regional churches are very different. In any case, baptism is required, the age is usually around 14 years. Adult confirmations are also possible. The legal consequence of the confirmation can be admission to the Lord's Supper (see above) or participation on one's own responsibility, admission to the sponsorship office, rights of participation in the community assembly and the right to vote for church leadership .
wedding
The understanding of marriage in the Reformation churches differs considerably from that of the Roman Catholic. While in the Catholic Church the marriage itself takes place in front of the priest and in the form of a church service, Protestant weddings are only church services on the occasion of a (already done, e.g. civil) marriage. For details see the article on marriage law .
funeral
A church burial usually requires that the deceased belonged to the Protestant church. Otherwise, a conscious decision by the deceased would subsequently be disregarded. Exceptions in special situations are usually possible.
Notarization
The performance of official acts within the framework of the rules of life is usually notarized. So baptism is about in the parish registers of the parish entered. Corresponding certificates of official acts are also often issued.
literature
- Wolf-Dieter Hauschild : Confession and way of life of the church - a service for our world , in: Association for Schleswig-Holstein Church History (ed.): The state superintendent of Lauenburg as a north Elbian church district. Lectures and speeches on the 400th anniversary of the “Lauenburg Church Ordinance” from 1585 , Neumünster: Wachholtz 1986 ( content ), pp. 80–96.
