Landeskirche - Knowledge

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assorted by the first territorial entity mentioned in the name. This makes sense because Landeskirchen have clear regional demarcations, therefore usually somehow mentioned in their names. The post-war German church bodies, listed below, have never existed all in the same time. The very independent and autonomous organisational structure of German Protestantism provides for unconcerted developments. One can assort the table below alphabetically or chronogically by clicking on the button with the

120:, certainly under a higher power (the pope or a patriarch), but also possessing an increased measure of independence, especially as concerning its internal structure and its relations to its king, prince or ruler. Unlike in Scandinavia and England, the bishops in the national churches did not survive the Reformation, making it impossible for a conventional diocesan system to continue within Lutheranism. Therefore, Martin Luther demanded that, as a stop-gap, each secular 1943:(Danzig, Klaipėda, and Saar) after the different post-World War I annexations. The new name was after a denomination, not after a state any more. It became a difficult task to maintain the unity of the church, with some of the annexing states being opposed to the fact that church bodies within their borders keep a union with German church organisations. The official old-Prussian church body became a 2778:(Kirchenprovinz Mark Brandenburg) in 1948, when this old-Prussian ecclesiastical province assumed independence as Landeskirche. The new name reflected the fact, that Berlin was no part of Brandenburg state at that time. Between 1948 and 2003 the Berlin-Brandenburg church was a member of the Evangelical Church of the (old-Prussian) Union. In 2004 the Berlin-Brandenburg church body merged into the 2506:

respective church body was constituted. Such a date of constitution is somewhat difficult to fix for the 19th century, when church constitutions were reformed and came into effect, which usually provided for more or less state-independent legislative and executive bodies more or less elected by parishioners. The Protestant Reformation and some church organisation of course existed long before.

2486:). However, following the violations of the church constitutions under Nazi reign many church bodies did not simply return to the pre-1933 status quo, but introduced altered or new church constitutions – usually after lengthy synodal procedures of decision-taking -, often including an altered name of the church body. In a process starting in June 1945 and ending in 1953 the 236:

by the first territorial entity mentioned in the name. This makes sense because Landeskirchen have clear regional demarcations, therefore usually somehow mentioned in their names. The post-World War I church bodies, listed below, have never existed all in the same time. One can sort the table below alphabetically or chronologically by clicking on the button with the

3812:(Kirchenprovinz Pommern) in 1947, when this old-Prussian ecclesiastical province assumed independence as Landeskirche. Between 1947 and 2003 the Pomerania church body was a member of the Evangelical Church of the (old-Prussian) Union. In 1968 communist East Germany ordered the church body to skip the term Pomerania from its name, then it chose the name 4074:(Kirchenprovinz Schlesien) in 1947, when this old-Prussian ecclesiastical province assumed independence as Landeskirche. Between 1947 and 2003 the Silesia church body was a member of the Evangelical Church of the (old-Prussian) Union. In 1968 communist East Germany ordered the church body to skip the term Silesia from its name, then it chose the name 3940:(Kirchenprovinz Sachsen) in 1947, when this old-Prussian ecclesiastical province assumed independence as Landeskirche. Between 1947 and 2003 the church body of the Saxony Ecclesiastical Province was a member of the Evangelical Church of the (old-Prussian) Union. On 1 January 2009 the church body of the Saxony Ecclesiastical Province merged into the 887:) were not followed by a change in ecclesiastical ambit. In 1939 (Greater Bremen, annexation of Hanoveran suburbs of Bremen to Bremen proper) and 1942, when the provincial territory was altered along the Brunswickian border, both church bodies readjusted their ambits accordingly, ceding congregations to and receiving some from each other. 2920:

became part of the Soviet zone. This did not affect the ecclesiastical affiliation. However, East Germany's sealing off its western border and its very restrictive granting of entry and exit visas made cross-border travelling for easterners almost impossible and difficult for westerners. In 1957 East

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In 1972 the church body installed double administrative structures for West Berlin on the one hand and for East Berlin and the parishes in the 1952-abolished state of Brandenburg on the other hand, because communist East Germany did not allow pastors and church functionaries travelling freely between

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There were mergers of church bodies in 1947, 1977, 1989, 2004, 2009, and 2012, and likely more are to come. The German demographic crisis and rising irreligionism influence them, especially in former East Germany. The first date given before every entry in the table below refers to the year, when the

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remaining member churches within the Evangelical Church of the (old-Prussian) Union, thus rather converted into an umbrella. The communist dictatorship in East Germany imposed further name changes and administrative reorganisations along the inner German borders. This was reversed after unification.

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The six old-Prussian ecclesiastical provinces (Kirchenprovinz, sg.), which were not or not completely abolished by the expulsion of its parishioners from the Polish and Soviet annexed German territories, assumed independence as Landeskirchen of their own between 1945 and 1948, however, simultaneously

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The first date given before every entry in the table below refers to the year, when the respective church body was constituted. Such a date of constitution is somewhat difficult to fix for the 19th century, when church constitutions were reformed and came into effect, which usually provided for more

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whose Roman Catholic Regional Church had already been established in 1939), paralleling the long established Reformed Landeskirchen in those cantons and accounting for the recognition of Roman Catholicism as an equivalent denomination. Cantons of prevailingly Roman Catholic population then followed

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in 1953, after the communist dictatorship in East Germany insisted on skipping the name element Prussia. Between 1948 and 2003 EKU was rather an umbrella, though running an own synod and executive body. Therefore, it was an equal member of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), even though all of

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For the last and this century the given years refer to the formal establishment of the respective church body. The second date refers to the year, when the respective church body ceased to exist (if so), due to a merger or unwinding. The third entry gives the name of each church body alphabetically

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For the 20th century the given years refer to the formal establishment of the respective church body. The second date refers to the year, when the respective church body ceased to exist (if so), due to a merger or unwinding. The third entry gives the name of each church body alphabetically assorted

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According to Roman Catholic doctrine the Roman Catholic church bodies are not churches, since there is only one hierarchic church. Therefore some Roman Catholics oppose the Roman Catholic Landeskirchen as para-ecclesiastical entities paralleling the actual Roman Catholic church, while many others

2401:, who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. However, a merger, planned since 1926, with the Frankfurt, Hesse state and Nassau church bodies failed after quarrels about their Nazi radicalism. In 1934 the Waldeck church body merged in the 4496:

would be more appropriate for Roman Catholic regional church bodies, since they form a cantonally delineated corporation of the Roman Catholic parishioners within a canton but are cooperating and providing services to their members, who in the canonical sense remain members of the Roman Catholic

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Church buildings and other real estate, religious schools, religious charitable organisations and religious counselling centres are often owned, run and financed by the funds of the cantonally competent Roman Catholic church body. Since each has executive and legislative bodies, elected by its

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Some cantonal church bodies bear the name Landeskirche in their name, others are called a synod, federation or association of congregations or simply Catholic Church of the respective Canton. Whereas the term Landeskirche actually implies that the body is a separate denomination, the term

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Communist East Germany's sealing off its western border and its very restrictive granting of entry and exit visas made cross-border travelling for easterners almost impossible and difficult for westerners. So the Mecklenburg church body conveyed its tasks as to its western parishes to the

3435:. After unification the conveyed parishes decided not to return to their original Mecklenburg church body, personally and financially terribly weakened during East German dictatorship. In 2012 the Mecklenburg church body merged in the new Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany. 4613: 2921:

Germany forbade further contact of the East German Brunswickian parishes with the western-based Brunswick church body on the pretense that the latter co-operated with enimical western NATO forces, following a concordat of the Brunswick church body on military chaplains for the

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Any claim to merge the tiny Schaumburg-Lippe church body has been refused so far based on a solid self-confidence, also laid during the Nazi era, when this church body became the only one in 1936, which staffed all its executive board only with partisans of the Nazi-opponent

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vanished due to fleeing parishioners before the Soviet conquest and the subsequent violent expulsion of parishioners between 1945 and 1950, including many casualties. Also the bulk of the parishes in the Pomerania and Silesia ecclesiastical provinces were lost.

4769: 1050:, who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. However, a merger, planned since 1926, with the Frankfurt, Hesse state and Nassau church bodies failed after quarrels about their Nazi radicalism. 4665: 5136: 4984: 4245:(Kirchenprovinz Westfalen) in 1945, when this old-Prussian ecclesiastical province assumed independence as Landeskirche. Between 1945 and 2003 the Westphalia church body was a member of the Evangelical Church of the (old-Prussian) Union. 4958: 4717: 4437:

with executive and supervising bodies elected by their parishioners. Roman Catholic Landeskirchen developed from denominationally separate committees of the cantonal governments in cantons with populations of mixed denomination, such as

3859:(Kirchenprovinz Rheinland) in 1948, when this old-Prussian ecclesiastical province assumed independence as Landeskirche. Between 1948 and 2003 the Rhineland church body was a member of the Evangelical Church of the (old-Prussian) Union. 4314: 3692: 2682: 4906: 5162: 4854: 5188: 4691: 5036: 4639: 4501: 3205:

Between 1949 and 1989 the East German communist government inflicted similar problems onto the East German parishes of the Electoral Hesse-Waldeck church body as onto the eastern parishes of Brunswick church body.

5010: 2737: 1410:, who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. However, its land provost (leading cleric) maintained a rather neutral position, so Nazi opponents of the 450:

in 1921, when the new church constitution accounted for the Kingdom having become a republic and the Reformed congregations having formed a separate church body. The Bavaria official church body remained an

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in 1970, after considerations, that the church body is rather a Christian than an organisation related to the Brunswickian state. After a British-Soviet boundary adjustment between the British Zone and the

43: 3566:, gained by the unconstitutional re-election of all synods and presbyteries ordered by Hitler in July 1933. In September 1947 a freely and constitutionally elected synod decided on the merger into the 3255:, gained by the unconstitutional re-election of all synods and presbyteries ordered by Hitler in July 1933. In September 1947 a freely and constitutionally elected synod decided on the merger into the 3037:, gained by the unconstitutional re-election of all synods and presbyteries ordered by Hitler in July 1933. In September 1947 a freely and constitutionally elected synod decided on the merger into the 4795: 5216: 375:

in 1920, when the new church constitution accounted for the Grand Duchy having become a republic. The Church body comprises only congregations of united confession. The official church body became a

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In September 1933 the destroyed Frankfurt, Hesse state, and Nassau church bodies merged in the new Hesse-Nassau church body, which thus became a new church body radically organised according to the

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became part of the British zone. This did not affect the ecclesiastical affiliation. So the Mecklenburg church body retains a stake as co-owner in the historically important Ratzeburg Cathedral.

4880: 5086: 4313:, the Reformed parishes before included in the Lutheran Bavarian church body seceded and formed their own church body in 1918. In 1989 Evangelical Reformed Church in Bavaria merged into the 2158:

could act within the church body. Even the more, in 1936 the German Christian minority was excluded from the executive board, which was then only staffed with partisans of the Nazi-opponent

654:, when the state territory was altered in 1942, the Brunswick church body readjusted its ambit accordingly, ceding congregations to and receiving some from the Hanover Lutheran church body. 1234:, thus anti-synodal and anti-presbyterial. With the end of the Nazi reign this church body was dissolved. Nazi opponents had organised along the church bodies merged into this church body. 4743: 4550: 1783: 535:

after 1918, when the new Oldenburgian monarchy with its Principality of Birkenfeld had become a republic. The Church body comprised only congregations of united confession. The

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Merger of Eutin, Hamburg, Lübeck and Schleswig-Holstein church bodies. In 2012 the North Elbian church body merged in the new Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany.

4454:. These separate government committees, competent for ecclesiastical matters of the respective denomination and founded in the 16th and 17th century, were sometimes called 4087: 2795: 2779: 1961:, who gained a majority in the general synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Only the Westphalia ecclesiastical province remained an 435:, which formed a separate church body since 1848. In 1918 the Reformed congregations earlier subsumed within the Bavaria church body seceded and founded the independent 4008: 2184: 1736:. In 1921 the Lübeck region church body had seceded from the Oldenburg church body, while the Birkenfeld church body had never been part of the Oldenburg church body. 1025:. Some small northern exclaves in today's Lower Saxony were ceded in the 1920s to the Hanover Lutheran church body. In 1934 the Hesse Cassel church body merged in the 3062: 774: 4480:

statutory members (i.e. the parishioners of age), each Roman Catholic church body is accepted as a democratic entity entitled to levy member fees (also by way of a

3966: 3667: 2117: 1928: 934: 2070:

vanished due to fleeing parishioners before the Soviet conquest and the subsequent violent expulsion of parishioners between 1945 and 1950, including casualties.

3143:, in 1977 reduced for those parishes located in the Harburg area of Hanover province, which had been ceded to Hamburg in 1937 and increased by the parishes in 3957: 2108: 144:

chose what denomination his subjects had to belong to. This led to closed, insular landeskirchen. The principle was a byproduct of religious politics in the

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in 1922, when the Hanover Reformed church body caught up in terms of the title with the Hanover Lutheran church body. The official church body remained an

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or less state-independent legislative and executive bodies more or less elected by parishioners. The Protestant Reformation and some church organisation (

3916: 2885: 1939:

in 1919, and that the old-Prussian congregations were then spreading over four sovereign states (Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, and Poland) and three

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Katholische Landeskirche Graubünden / Chiesa cattolica dello Stato dei Grigioni / Baselgia chantunala catolica dal Grischun / Corpus Catholicorum Rætiæ

5434: 2246: 3881: 2041: 1567:, who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. State bishop Gerhard Tolzien was deposed. 3820:). The original name was readopted in 1990. In 2012 the Pomeranian church body merged in the new Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany. 3617: 675:, who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the Brunswickian 3166: 3005: 2866: 2402: 1969:

did not gain the majority in its provincial synod, while all the other old-Prussian ecclesiastical provinces within Germany were taken over by

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Since the parishioners' plesbiscite in 1817 all Palatine congregations are confessionally united. The official Palatinate church body became a

1063: 1026: 701: 633: 3365: 1296: 557:, who gained a majority in the provincial synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the 2947: 1364: 1003: 2019:

and refused the merger with the other seven church bodies in Thuringia in 1920. However, in 1934 Reuss merged in the Thuringia church body.

4564: 4198: 3175: 3126: 2746: 2487: 1843: 1072: 861: 618:, who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the Bremian 520: 4309: 3872: 2032: 600:

The church body comprises mostly Reformed and less Lutheran congregations and one united congregation. The official church body became a

597:, which was extended by 1939 by prior Hanoveran suburbs, whose Lutheran parishes continue to belong to the Hanover Lutheran church body. 4488:

support the idea since they offer Roman Catholics similar opportunities to participate in church life like the Reformed Landeskirchen.

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transformed from an integrated church body, subdivided into ecclesiastical provinces, into an umbrella-like church body, renamed into

2418: 164: 4800: 5472: 4103: 4026: 3707: 3580: 3432: 3389: 3110: 2976: 2321:, who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the 2237: 2222:, who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the 2091:, who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the 1826:, who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the 1757:, who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the 1711: 1694:, who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the 1338:, who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the 1178:, who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the 748:, who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the 393:, who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the 325:, who gained a majority in the synod by the unconstitutional election imposed by Hitler on 23 July 1933. Nazi opponents formed the 4467:

In other cantons with predominantly Reformed population, Roman Catholic Landeskirchen were founded after World War II (except for

4272: 2436: 167:) in the states or their administrative areas, and the ties between churches and nations came to be particularly close, even with 5251: 5228: 2347: 213: 2957: 1733: 1382: 3567: 3531: 3271: 3256: 3232: 3038: 2637: 1670: 1648: 1154: 1136: 724: 410: 176: 2459: