The
Protestant Church of Anhalt
(
Evangelische Landeskirche Anhalts
) is a
United Protestant
member church of the
Protestant Church in Germany
. Its seat is in
Dessau-Roßlau
in
Saxony-Anhalt
, in the former
duchy
of
Anhalt
. This church is the smallest regional church in
Germany
in terms of membership.
The Protestant Church of Anhalt was affiliated with 214 churches in approximately 145
parishes
in central Saxony-Anhalt.
[1]
In December 2020, the church had 28,400 members,
[1]
[2]
making its membership the smallest among the member churches of the Protestant Church in Germany. In 1922, by contrast, the church counted 315,000 parishioners; at the time, it was the twelfth-smallest of Germany's 28
Landeskirchen
.
[3]
History
[
edit
]
The princes of Anhalt introduced the
Reformation
into their principalities very early on (
Kothen
1525,
Bernburg
1526,
Dessau
1534). In the theological disputes after
Martin Luther
's death in 1546, the princes tried to remain neutral for a long time. Following on from the important role that
Philipp Melanchthon
's mediating theology played in Anhalt, and in particular in contrast to
Electorate Saxony
,
Prince Joachim Ernest's
sons converted to the
Reformed
denomination in 1596, initially through a liturgical reform, and then from 1606 through the introduction of the
Heidelberg Catechism
. After the state was divided this year, there were four reformed regional churches. In the
Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst
, however, a
Lutheran
church system had been established since 1642, with the
Formula of Concord
as the confessional basis. Here the Reformed residents, and in the other principalities the Lutheran residents, were allowed to freely practice their religion since 1679. They subsequently built their own churches in the residential cities and some other places.
When the
German Confederation
was founded in 1815, there were three sovereign Anhalt states:
Anhalt-Bernburg
,
Anhalt-Dessau
and
Anhalt-Kothen
; these were united in 1863 to form the
Duchy of Anhalt
.
In 1820 the
union
of
Lutheran
and
Reformed
congregations was carried out in
Bernburg
and in 1827 in
Dessau
. In
Kothen
, this union only took place in 1880. However, since the reunification of the Anhalt states in 1863, there had already been a unified regional church, which also received a synodal basis between 1875 and 1878.
The head of the “Evangelical Regional Church of the Duchy of Anhalt” or its predecessor churches was the sovereign as “
summus episcopus
”. He exercised his church government through a consistory since the late 17th century. The spiritual leadership was provided by the superintendents, who - in addition to secular government councilors - also sat in the consistory. The title of general superintendent did not arise until the late 19th century. In the
November Revolution
, the
Duke of Anhalt
had to abdicate, which meant the end of the
sovereign church regime
. The regional church subsequently adopted its first constitution, which came into force on August 14, 1920. At the time, it was considered the most democratic church constitution in
Germany
because it contained a biblical (not historical) confession as well as
freedom of belief
and conscience for all members, who also had very extensive rights to have a say. Since then, the people of the church have been sovereign and have determined a
national synod
- initially through direct election. The government of the church is formed by the regional church council, which is temporarily elected by the regional synod. The church president chairs this committee, which is made up of three to five people. This title has existed since 1957. Previously, the chairman was called Oberkirchenrat. The administrative authority of the regional church is the regional church office. In 1960 the Evangelical Regional Church of Anhalt joined the
Evangelical Church of the Union
. After its dissolution in 2003, she became a member of the
Union of Evangelical Churches in the EKD
. Between 1969 and 1991 the regional church was a member church of the
Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR
.
Structure
[
edit
]
Regional church office and administrative hierarchy
[
edit
]
The church president has his official residence in
Dessau-Roßlau
. In the regional church office there, the regional church is administered by the regional church council, the permanent governing body of the church and its employees. The regional church council includes the department heads of the regional church office (they have the title “Oberkirchenrat” or “Oberkirchenratin”) as well as the church president.
In the administrative hierarchy, the regional church is structured from bottom to top as follows: At the base are the
parishes
as
corporations under public law
with elected church boards, the “parish church councils”. The members of these parish church councils are called “elders” or “parish church council”. Several parishes together form a church district (comparable to a district in terms of
general administration
), headed by a district pastor. The church districts are not corporations under public law and have the district synod as their body, whose members are appointed by the respective parishes. The five church districts together form the regional church.
Church territory
[
edit
]
The territory of the Protestant Church of Anhalt includes the former state of Anhalt, which existed until 1945 and which has since formed the
state of Saxony-Anhalt
with most of the former
Prussian
province of
Kingdom of Saxony
. Since the second district reform in
Saxony-Anhalt
, the church area includes larger parts of the districts of
Anhalt-Bitterfeld
and
Salzlandkreis
, smaller parts of the districts of
Harz
,
Mansfeld-Sudharz
and
Wittenberg
as well as the independent city of
Dessau-Roßlau
. The parish of the former Anhalt
exclave
of
Dornburg
in today's
Jerichower Land
district was reclassified in 1982 into what was then the
Evangelical Church of the Church Province of Saxony
. The churches in the former exclaves of
Groß
- and
Kleinmuhlingen
as well as Groß- and Kleinalsleben also belong to the resulting
Evangelical Church in Central Germany
. Conversely, the former
Prussian
village church of
Altjeßnitz
is now part of the
Raguhn
parish in the Dessau church district in Anhalt.
Church division
[
edit
]
The 5 church districts are divided into 140 parishes, which are grouped into regions.
- Dessau
- Region Dessau Innenstadt
- Region An der Elbe
- Region Ost
- Region Sud
- Region West
- Kothen
- Region Stadt Kothen
- Region Nord
- Region Sudwest
- Region Sudost
- Zerbst
- Bernburg
- Region Bernburg
- Region West
- Region Nord-West
- Ballenstedt
- Region Unterharz
- Region Vorharz
- Region Harz-Vorland
Worship and liturgy
[
edit
]
Hymn books
[
edit
]
In recent decades, the congregations of the Evangelical Regional Church of Anhalt sing or have sung primarily from the following hymn books:
Practices
[
edit
]
The
ordination of women
and
blessing of same-sex unions
had been allowed.
[4]
Church newspaper
[
edit
]
The weekly newspaper is published in collaboration with the
Evangelical Church in Central Germany
- it is entitled
Faith and Homeland
.
References
[
edit
]
Literature
[
edit
]
- Jan Brademann
: Religiose Dynamik und Vielfalt im Kleinen. Ein Streifzug durch die Kirchen- und Religionsgeschichte Anhalts bis 1989, in: Anhaltischer Heimatbund e. V. (Hg.), 800 Jahre Anhalt. Geschichte, Kultur, Perspektiven, Doßel 2012, S. 463?480.
- Jan Brademann: Paritatische Residenzstadt und Spatkonfessionalisierung. Reformierte, Lutheraner und Pietisten im Zerbst des spaten 17. und fruhen 18. Jahrhunderts, in: Barbara Reul/Bert Siegmund (Hg.), Fasch und die Konfessionen (Fasch-Studien; 14), Beeskow 2018, S. 29?56.
- Jan Brademann: Evangelische Kirche im Freistaat Anhalt. Erinnerungen von Oberkirchenrat Franz Hoffmann an die Jahre 1918 bis 1923 (Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte Sachsen-Anhalts; 22), Halle (Saale) 2021.
- Jan Brademann (2021), Evangelische Landeskirche Anhalts (ed.),
Freiheit und Bekenntnis ? Die anhaltische Kirchenverfassung von 1920
, Dessau-Roßlau,
ISBN
978-3-9819215-4-0
{{
citation
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
External links
[
edit
]
Regional churches of the
EKD
|
---|
|
|
---|
|
|
|
---|
Africa
| |
---|
Asia
| |
---|
Europe
| |
---|
North America
| |
---|
Latin America
| |
---|
Oceania
| |
---|
|
|
|
---|
Africa
| |
---|
Asia
| |
---|
Europe
| |
---|
North America
| |
---|
Latin America
| |
---|
Oceania
| |
---|
|
|
---|
Africa
| |
---|
Asia
| |
---|
North America
| |
---|
Latin America
| |
---|
Oceania
| |
---|
|
|
---|
Africa
| |
---|
Eastern Asia
| |
---|
Europe & Western Asia
| |
---|
North America
| |
---|
|
|
|
---|
Africa
| |
---|
Asia
| |
---|
Europe
| |
---|
North America
| |
---|
Latin America
| |
---|
|
|
|
---|
Africa
| |
---|
Asia
| |
---|
Europe
| |
---|
North America
| |
---|
Latin America
| |
---|
Oceania
| |
---|
|
|
---|
Africa
| |
---|
Asia
| |
---|
Europe
| |
---|
North America
| |
---|
Latin America
| |
---|
|
|
|
---|
Africa
| |
---|
North America
| |
---|
Latin America
| |
---|
|
|
---|
Africa
| |
---|
Eastern Asia
| |
---|
Europe & Western Asia
| |
---|
|
|
---|
Africa
| |
---|
Asia
| |
---|
Europe
| |
---|
North America
| |
---|
Latin America
| |
---|
Oceania
| |
---|
|
United christianity
|
---|
Africa
| |
---|
Asia
| |
---|
Europe
| |
---|
North America
| |
---|
Latin America
| |
---|
Oceania
| |
---|
|
|