Former Protestant church in Germany
The
Pomeranian Evangelical Church
(German:
Pommersche Evangelische Kirche
; PEK) was a
Protestant
regional church
in the
German
state of
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
, serving the citizens living in
Hither Pomerania
. The Pomeranian Evangelical Church was based on the teachings brought forward by
Martin Luther
and other Reformators during the
Reformation
. It combined
Lutheran
and
Reformed
traditions (
Prussian Union
). The seat of the church was
Greifswald
, the bishop's preaching venue was the former
Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas
in Greifswald.
In May 2012, the
Pomeranian Evangelical Church
merged with the
North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church
and the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg
into the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany
.
[1]
The Pomeranian Evangelical Church was a full member of the
Protestant Church in Germany
(Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, EKD) between 1950 and 1969 and again from 1991 to 2012, and of the
Evangelical Church of the Union
between 1950 and 2003, and thereafter of the
Union of Evangelical Churches
. The church was also a member of the
Community of Protestant Churches in Europe
. Last bishop was Dr. Hans-Jurgen Abromeit since 2006.
History
[
edit
]
At the time of the
Reformation
Pomerania within the
Holy Roman Empire
(
Duchy of Pomerania
) consisted of three separate states, the two branch duchies of
Pomerania-Stettin
(capital:
Stettin, renamed as Szczecin
as of 1945) and
Pomerania-Wolgast
(capital:
Wolgast
) as well as of the
secular principality
(capital:
Kolberg, renamed as Kołobrzeg
as of 1945) ruled by the Prince-Bishops of Cammin, who ? in Roman Catholic respect ? presided over the
exempt
Roman Catholic Cammin diocese
(seat:
Cammin, renamed as Kamie? Pomorski
as of 1945) comprising all the prince-episcopal state, Pomerania-Stettin, parts of eastern
Mecklenburg
, the
New March
and much of Pomerania-Wolgast. The latter's island
Rugen
formed part of the
Roman Catholic diocese of Roskilde
, converted to Lutheranism by the Danish king in 1537, the northern mainland area of Pomerania-Wolgast formed part of the
Diocese of Schwerin
.
Reformation and formation of Lutheran state churches
[
edit
]
On 13 December 1534 the Pomeranian Common
Diet
in
Treptow an der Rega
voted in favour of the introduction of
Lutheranism
in the branch duchies, so in the subsequent years most congregations and
parishioners
in Cammin diocese converted to Lutheranism. Only in Cammin's prince-episcopal state Bishop
Erasmus von Manteuffel-Arnhausen
[
de
]
could defend the Catholic faith. In 1535 the first Lutheran
church order (Kirchenordnung; church constitution)
for Pomerania was designed by the famous Pomeranian Reformator
Johannes Bugenhagen
, also called
Doctor Pomeranus
, but was only implemented in 1563. In 1535 the two Pomeranian branch duchies, Pomerania-Wolgast and Pomerania-Stettin, each appointed its own spiritual leader (called
general superintendent
as of 1563), seated in Greifswald for Pomerania-Wolgast and in Stettin for western Pomerania-Stettin,
[2]
and, however, subordinate to Stettin, in
Stolp (renamed as Słupsk)
[3]
as of 1945) with subsidiary competence for the eastern part of Pomerania-Stettin.
In 1544 the Cammin diocesan
cathedral chapter
elected
Bartholomaeus Suawe
[
de
]
as successor of Manteuffel, becoming the first Lutheran on the Cammin see, however, not confirmed by the Holy See. Suawe then introduced Lutheranism in the prince-episcopal state. His competence as spiritual Lutheran leader, however, was restricted to the prince-episcopal state (
Hochstift
), everywhere else in the former Cammin diocesan ambit superintendents, appointed by the respective ducal rulers, had taken Lutheran leadership. Protestantism had since been the prevailing Christian denomination in all of ducal and episcopal Pomerania.
The Lutheran churches in the three states of ducal and prince-episcopal Pomerania ranked as
state churches
. Temporary partitions without share in the Pomeranian governments, such as Pomerania-Barth (1569?1605; ecclesiastically under the general superintendent in Greifswald) and Pomerania-Rugenwalde (1569?1620; ecclesiastically under the superintendent in Stolp till 1604, then Stettin), had no effect on the structure of the two ducal state churches. The Administrators of Cammin prince-bishopric, elected in 1557 and later, lacked theological skills and did not serve as spiritual leaders of the prince-episcopal Lutheran state church any more, but
superintendents
(Stiftssuperintendenten; i.e. superintendent of the
Hochstift
) were appointed since 1558. In the same year the Cammin prince-bishopric also established a Lutheran
consistory
of its own. In 1556 Pomerania-Wolgast had established its own consistory (
Greifswald Consistory
[
de
]
). Its ambit comprised Pomerania north of the river
Randow
and west of the rivers
Swine
and Oder. Between 1575 and 1815
Stralsund
, a city in Pomerania-Wolgast, maintained an own consistory for the Lutheran congregations within the city boundary.
During the Thirty Years' War (1618?1648) Pomerania fell under Swedish occupation. In 1625 the Wolgast ducal branch was extinct in the male line and bequeathed to Stettin. With the extinction of the Stettin line too in 1637 the electors of Brandenburg inherited Pomerania, however, inhibited by the Swedish occupants. In 1653, after quarrels and negotiations Sweden and Brandenburg partitioned ducal Pomerania into
Swedish Pomerania
(comprising former Pomerania-Wolgast and the west of former Pomerania-Stettin), and
Brandenburgian Pomerania
(comprising the former Cammin prince-bishopric and central and eastern parts of former Pomerania-Stettin).
As to the Lutheran state church of Swedish
(Hither) Pomerania
it took over the Wolgast-Pomeranian ecclesiastical institutions in Greifswald (consistory and general superintendency), whereas consistory and general superintendency in Stettin were closed down. The Lutheran state church of Brandenburgian
(Farther) Pomerania
reorganised
Cammin
's consistory as the
Pomeranian and Cammin spiritual Consistory
[
de
]
(till 1668 aka
Kolberg Consistory
[
de
]
) and took over the superintendency in Kolberg, elevated to general superintendency. The Pomeranian and Cammin spiritual Consistory, established as Cammin Consistory in 1558 in Cammin's capital Kolberg, was seated in that city (1558?1668, and again 1683?1686), in
Stargard in Pomerania
(1668?1683, and again 1686?1738) and afterwards in Stettin. With the
Edict of Potsdam
(1685)
Huguenots
founded
Calvinist
congregations in Stargard (1687), Stolp and Kolberg (1699).
[4]
Swedish Pomerania did not allow the immigration of Calvinists.
After in 1713 Swedish Pomerania had ceded Stettin, in 1721 Calvinists founded a congregation there too. With the repeated cessions of Swedish Pomeranian territory to Brandenburgian Pomerania in the early 18th century also the ambit of the general superintendency in Greifswald shrank in favour of that for western Brandenburgian Pomerania. In 1738 the Pomeranian and Cammin spiritual Consistory moved to Stettin, however, due to the distance to remote eastern Farther Pomerania (the Hinterkreise; i.e. farther districts) it opened a subsidiary consistory for the east, the
Farther Pomeranian Consistory of
Koslin
(aka
Koslin Consistory
[
de
]
) in 1747. In 1750 the new Superior Consistory in Berlin (Lutherisches Oberconsistorium zu Berlin) became the superior authority for all Lutheran church bodies in
Brandenburg-Prussia
. The few
Reformed
(or Calvinist) congregations in Pomerania became subject to the Reformed Church Directorate in Berlin (Reformierte Kirchen-Direction).
Ecclesiastical Province of Pomerania within the Prussian Union of churches
[
edit
]
In 1815 Swedish Pomerania became a pawn in the hands of the powerful, Sweden ceded it to Denmark which passed it on to Prussia in exchange for Saxe-Lauenburg. Swedish Pomerania was renamed as New Hither Pomerania (Neuvorpommern). In 1817 the supreme governor of the Lutheran State Church and the Reformed State Church in Prussia,
Frederick William III
, initiated the merger of both churches to form the
Evangelical Church in Prussia
, avoiding in its name the terms Lutheran or Reformed. This new state church, an administratively united umbrella comprising Lutheran, Reformed (Calvinist) and United Protestant congregations, built up regional subdivisions, so-called
ecclesiastical provinces
(Kirchenprovinzen).
Its
Ecclesiastical Province of Pomerania
, comprising congregations within the borders of the
Province of Pomerania
, consisted of the Lutheran congregations within the state church of former Swedish Pomerania, of the Lutheran congregations previously subject to the Stettin general superintendent under the Lutheran Superior Consistory in Berlin, and of the Reformed (Calvinist) congregations located in Pomerania and previously subject to the Reformed Church Directorate in Berlin.
The King originally intended the merger of locally established Lutheran and Calvinist congregations into congregations of a United Protestant confession, and the adoption of the Union confession by all
local congregations
without an existing local partner of the other confession to merge with. His intention, however, failed due to strong Lutheran resistance throughout his monarchy, especially among Lutherans in Pomerania and Silesia.
This fight even caused the schism of the
Old Lutherans
. A number of Lutheran congregations refrained to join the new umbrella or seceded from it in the 1820s and 1830s, forming the independent
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Prussia
recognised in 1845, which was why the Evangelical Church in Prussia renamed as
Evangelical State Church in Prussia
(Evangelische Landeskirche in Preußen), indicating its privileged status. So finally the merger, not including all congregations, materialised as a mere administrative Union, including in Pomerania mostly Lutheran congregations, the traditionally prevailing denomination, and some few Reformed and United Protestant congregations.
Reformed congregations were usually found in cities or newly established or resettled villages in formerly Brandenburgian Pomerania, where Calvinist immigrants ensconced after 1685. United Protestant congregations usually emerged in cities, where Calvinists and Lutherans lived side by side and disliked the denominational split.
The ecclesiastical province had its headquarters, the 1815-founded Royal [or Evangelical (as of 1918)]
Consistory of Pomerania Province
[
de
]
and general superintendent, domiciling in Stettin, taken over from the Brandenburgian Pomeranian Lutheran Church, the latter's local Koslin Consistory had been dissolved in 1815. The Swedish Pomeranian former Greifswald Consistory and the local
Stralsund Consistory
[
de
]
were stripped of their competences and dissolved in 1849 and 1815, respectively, the general superintendency in Greifswald was not restaffed after 1824. Since initially the office of general superintendent was not provided as a function in the new Evangelical Church in Prussia at all, the respective offices had not been restaffed when their previous incumbents retired, causing a vacancy. However, since the late 1820s the Evangelical Church in Prussia appointed general superintendents in all its ecclesiastical provinces.
Bismarck
's church reforms strengthened the autonomy and self-rule of the state church, which in 1875 renamed as
Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces
(Evangelische Landeskirche der alteren Provinzen Preußens), since in Prussian provinces annexed since 1866 their regional Protestant church bodies had remained independent of the Evangelical State Church of Prussia. The reform laws strengthened the parishioners' participation through elected
presbyteries
and provincial
synods
in matters of the Ecclesiastical Province of Pomerania. In 1892 the Consistory of Pomerania Province moved into its new building on Elisabethstraße (today's ulica Kaszubska in Szczecin). With the end of the
monarchic summepiscopacy
[
de
]
the church lost its status as state church and assumed independence. With its new church order and name,
Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union
(as of 1922, Evangelische Kirche der altpreußischen Union; APU), it accounted for these changes.
The parishioners in the congregations elected synodals for their respective provincial synod ? the legislative body ? which again elected its governing board the
provincial church council
(Provinzialkirchenrat), which also included members delegated by the Evangelical Consistory of Pomerania Province. The consistory was the provincial administrative body, whose members were appointed by the
Evangelical Supreme Church Council
in Berlin, the central administrative body of the old-Prussian Union church. The consistory was chaired by the Stettin general superintendent, being the ecclesiastical, and a consistorial president (German: Konsistorialprasident), being the administrative leader. In 1921 the Ecclesiastical Province of Pomerania was divided into two general superintendencies (Westsprengel and Ostsprengel), the western ambit seated again in Greifswald, the eastern ambit in Stettin. The provincial synods and the provincial church councils elected from their midst the Pomeranian synodals for the general synod, the legislative body of the overall Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union. In 1927 the general synod of the old-Prussian Union church legislated in favour of the
ordination of women
.
With the Nazi-imposed premature reelection of presbyteries and synods within the old-Prussian church in July 1933 the Nazi-submissive Protestant movement of
German Christians
gained majorities in most Pomeranian presbyteries and the Pomeranian provincial synod, like in most old-Prussian ecclesiastical provinces. In June 1933 the Nazi government of Prussia, ignoring religious autonomy, furloughed the then incumbent general superintendent
Walter Kahler
[
de
]
(western district, seated in Greifswald), whereas his colleague
Paul Kalmus
[
de
]
(eastern district, seated in Stettin) retired in October the same year. This allowed the German Christians, dominating the provincial synod, to install their proponent
Karl Thom
[
de
]
as provincial bishop (Provinzialbischof), combining the ambits of Westsprengel and Ostsprengel, self-aggrandising as
Bishop of Cammin
, claiming
Fuhrerprinzip
-like authority over all the provincial clergy.
Especially among the many Pomeranian rural
Pietists
the opposition, forming the
Confessing Church
movement, found considerable support. Due to the Nazi regime's interference causing the violation and de facto abolition of the church order, new bodies emerged such as the provincial bishop (as of 1933) and the provincial ecclesiastical committee (Provinzialkirchenausschuss) since 1935 (dissolved in 1937, presided over by
Karl von Scheven
[
de
]
, a member of the
Emergency Covenant of Pastors
of the Confessing Church), depriving the extremist Thom of his power again in 1936. The provincial ecclesiastical committee provided for the ignoration of Thom, so that the constitutional two general superintendencies could be restaffed. In 1941, following the incorporation of
Posen-West Prussia
into Pomerania (1938), also the Ecclesiastical Province of Posen-West Prussia was dissolved and its ambit became a part of the Ecclesiastical Province of Pomerania. In 1941 about two million of the Pomeranians, then amounting to 2.394 million inhabitants, were parishioners of the Pomeranian ecclesiastical province.
On 22 December 1941 the official new umbrella, the pan-
German Evangelical Church
, called for suited actions by all Protestant church bodies to withhold baptised non-Aryans from all spheres of Protestant church life.
[5]
Many
German Christian
-dominated congregations followed suit, whereas confessing congregations in the Ecclesiastical Province of Pomerania dared to hand in lists of signatures in protest against the exclusion of the stigmatised Protestants of Jewish descent.
[6]
By the
East Pomeranian Offensive
, February?April 1945, the Red Army advanced so speedily, that there was hardly a chance to rescue refugees, let alone archives of congregations in
Farther Pomerania
, as was recorded in a report about the situation in the ecclesiastical provinces (10 March 1945). By the end of the war hundred thousands of parishioners and hundreds of pastors were fleeing westwards. The Ecclesiastical Province of Pomerania tried to relocate its Stettin-based institutions, the consistory, general superintendency, and pertaining offices, to Greifswald. Between April and July 1945 the Soviets handed over all of Pomerania on both banks along the
Oder
and east thereof to Poland. Thus the east district (Ostsprengel) dropped into dissolution. With the simultaneous atrocities against and expulsion of the remaining Pomeranians and the systematic suppression of any kind of their organisations and associations the church life in Polish-annexed Pomerania came to an end. Chattel, such as archives and files of the ecclesiastical province and the congregations, could only be partially rescued to places in the west ambit. In August 1945 the three Allies of Potsdam approved these facts and agreed to house and feed the destitute Pomeranians expelled to their zones of occupation.
On the occasion of the first meeting of representatives of Germany's persisting Protestant church bodies in Treysa (a part of today's
Schwalmstadt
) on 31 August 1945, the representatives of the six surviving old-Prussian ecclesiastical provinces (March of Brandenburg, Pomerania, Rhineland, Saxony, Silesia, and Westphalia) and the central
Evangelical Supreme Church Council
took fundamental decisions about the future of the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union. They decided to assume the independent existence of each ecclesiastical province as
Landeskirche (Protestant regional church body)
and to reform the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union into a mere umbrella organisation ("Neuordnung der Evangelischen Kirche der altpreußischen Union"). In Treysa the representatives of all Protestant church bodies from Germany founded a new umbrella, the
Protestant Church in Germany
(EKD).
Most of the parishioners remaining in Polish-annexed Pomerania Province were expelled by Poland in the post-war period of
expulsion of Germans
between 1945 and 1948. With most of the territory, formerly comprised by the eastern ambit (Ostsprengel) of the Ecclesiastical Province of Pomerania, transferred to Poland, it expropriated all church property there, parochial and provincial alike, without compensation, with the church buildings mostly taken over by the Roman Catholic Church, and most Protestant cemeteries desecrated and devastated. The provincial church institutions were built up anew in Greifswald, while the Soviets handed over Stettin, the former seat, to Poland in July 1945.
The majority of the 1.5 million fled and expelled Pomeranian parishioners found refuge outside of the remaining territory of the Ecclesiastical Province of Pomerania and thus joined congregations within other Protestant regional church bodies, about 70,000 parishioners perished through war, flight and expulsion. But many stranded also in the west ambit (Westsprengel) with its original 500,000 inhabitants. The situation turned severe with a massive shortage of food and lodgement. However, since the Soviets had decided to keep most of Hither Pomerania, which included the Westsprengel, as part of
their occupation zone
refugees from Hither Pomerania, fled from there from March to May 1945, could return afterwards and congregational and provincial ecclesiastical structures were rebuilt. However, the position of general superintendent remained vacant after 1945. In October 1946 the 20th Pomeranian provincial synod elected Scheven general superintendent, and allowed him to adopt the new title of bishop.
[7]
Pomeranian Evangelical Church
[
edit
]
The 20th Pomeranian provincial synod, 9?11 October 1946, had also decided to develop a new church order in order to reconstitute the Ecclesiastical Province of Pomerania as an independent
regional Protestant church body
.
[7]
On 2 June 1950 the Pomeranian provincial synod adopted the prepared new church order and thus established the Pomeranian Evangelical Church, territorially comprising those parts of the former ecclesiastical province located in then
East Germany
(German Democratic Republic, GDR). By its new constitution its spiritual leader, titled bishop since late 1946, would continue to use that title. The Pomeranian Evangelical Church became a full member of the Protestant Church in Germany and between 1950 and 2003 was a full member of the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union, now a mere umbrella. Under communist pressure the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union had to skip the term Prussian from its name and renamed as Evangelical Church of the Union (Evangelische Kirche der Union; EKU) on its general synod in December 1953. In 1956 the Pomeranian church counted 720,000 parishioners, about one third of them with refugee background.
Evangelical Church in Greifswald
[
edit
]
Following the
second constitution
of the GDR, enacted on April 9, 1968, and accounting for its de facto transformation into a communist dictatorship, the
Council of Ministers of the GDR
demoted all church bodies from statutory "Public-law Corporations" (German:
Korperschaft des offentlichen Rechts
) to mere "Civil Associations". Thus the council could force the Pomeranian Evangelical Church to remove the term
Pomerania
from its name, because East German propaganda silenced about all terms recalling former German territory annexed by Poland or the Soviet Union. The church body then chose the new name
Evangelical Church in Greifswald
.
Along with the status as "Public-law Corporation" the new GDR constitution did away with the
church tax
, automatically collecting parishioners' contributions as a surcharge on the income tax. Now parishioners had to fix the level of their contributions and to transfer them again and again on their own. This together with ongoing discrimination of church members, which let many secede from the church, effectively eroded the adherence of parishioners and the financial situation of the Evangelical Church in Greifswald. In 1969 the church body, like all its East German fellows, seceded from the umbrella Protestant Church in Germany and joined the
Federation of Protestant Churches within the GDR
[
de
]
.
Pomeranian Evangelical Church from 1990 to 2012
[
edit
]
In 1990, after the end of the GDR dictatorship, the church body returned to its former name. With the dissolution of the GDR-Federation of Protestant Churches in 1991 the Pomeranian Evangelical Church reentered the EKD and remained its member until the merger in 2012. The
blessing of same-sex unions
was allowed. The number of parishioners continued to sink and reached 140,000 in 1997, somewhat more than 20% of the Hither Pomeranian population. On 28 March 2009 the synod voted in the merger with the two Lutheran church bodies of
Mecklenburg
and
North Elbia
, by 44 out of 58 synodals. The merger took effect on
Pentecost
, 27 May 2012.
Number of parishioners
[
edit
]
Pomeranian parishioners (Pop.)
Year
| Pop.
| ±%
|
---|
1905
| 1,616,550
| ?
|
---|
1925
| 1,787,691
| +10.6%
|
---|
1941
| 2,014,536
| +12.7%
|
---|
1956
| 720,000
| ?64.3%
|
---|
1985
| 400,000
| ?44.4%
|
---|
1994
| 160,000
| ?60.0%
|
---|
1997
| 140,000
| ?12.5%
|
---|
2010
| 94,119
| ?32.8%
|
---|
Note: In 1939 Posen-West Prussia ecclesiastical
province was absorbed.
Note: As of 1945 c. 1.5 million parishioners were
exiled, many outside Pomerania, c. 70,000 perished
Source: See footnote
[8]
|
Governors, governing bodies and chairpersons of the church
[
edit
]
Historically the church was subdivided into districts (later called Sprengel in German), partially due to different secular rulers reigning different parts of Pomerania, or partially due to the mere extension of the territory. Thus originally these districts territorially resembled the political subdivisions of Pomerania at the time. Each ecclesiastical district had a consistory and a spiritual leader (usually called general superintendent). At times there were additional subordinate consistories and spiritual leaders with regional competence.
Supreme governors (1534?1918)
[
edit
]
Between 1534 and 1918 the incumbents of the different Pomeranian thrones were simultaneously Supreme Governors (summus episcopus) of the State Church, like the English monarch as
Supreme Governor of the Church of England
. Since 1532 the ducal
House of Griffins
was divided into two lines, ruling in partitioned parts of the duchy (Pomerania-Stettin 1532?1637; Pomerania-Wolgast 1532?1620). Furthermore, the third political unit was the
Prince-Bishopric of Cammin
(1248?1650), a
prince-bishopric
in parts of
Farther Pomerania
, ruled by Catholic and later Lutheran bishops of Cammin or by
administrators
elected by its governing body, the
collegial
cathedral chapter
of Cammin, since the Reformation mostly staffed with Lutheran capitular canons.
Two dependent branch duchies, Pomerania-Barth (1569?1605) and Pomerania-Rugenwalde (1569?1620) were without share in the government, thus also without competence as to the Lutheran
state churches
. After the extinction of the Griffins in 1637 Pomerania was divided into a Swedish and a Brandenburgian part, where the
monarchs of Sweden
and the Berlin-based Hohenzollern rulers, respectively, then wielded the summepiscopacy.
|
|
|
State Church in Pomerania-Wolgast (1534?1648)
[
edit
]
The dukes of Pomerania-Wolgast were supreme governors of the Lutheran state church in their branch duchy, including dependent Pomerania-Barth (1569?1605).
|
Term
|
Image
|
Name
|
1531?
1560
|
|
Philip I
, co-ruling duke in Pomerania, as of 1532 only in Pomerania-Wolgast
|
1560?
1569,
1560?
1569,
1560?
1569, and
1560?
1592
|
|
John Frederick
with his brothers
Barnim X
(no image)
,
Bogislaw XIII
and
Ernest Louis
, as dukes regnant in Wolgast
|
1592?
1625
|
|
Philip Julius
|
With Philip Julius' childless death Pomerania-Wolgast was bequeathed to Stettin in 1625.
|
1637?
1648
|
vacancy, Swedish occupation
|
Former Pomerania-Wolgast increased by western parts of Pomerania-Stettin became
Swedish Pomerania
in 1648.
|
|
State Church in Pomerania-Stettin (1534?1648)
[
edit
]
The Stettin dukes were supreme governors of the Lutheran state church in their branch duchy, including dependent Pomerania-Rugenwalde (1569?1620).
|
Term
|
Image
|
Name
|
1523?
1569
|
|
Barnim XI
, co-ruling duke in Pomerania, as of 1532 only in partitioned Pomerania-Stettin
|
1569?
1600
|
|
John Frederick
, as duke regnant in Stettin
|
1600?
1603
|
|
Barnim XII
|
1603?
1606
|
|
Bogislaw XIII
, as duke regnant in Stettin
|
1606?
1618
|
|
Philip II
|
1618?
1620
|
|
Francis
, as duke regnant, before administrator of Cammin prince-bishopric
|
1620?
1637
|
|
Bogislaw XIV
, as duke regnant in Stettin, inherited Wolgast in 1625
|
1637?
1648
|
vacancy, disputes between Brandenburg and Sweden, both claiming Pomerania
|
Former Pomerania-Stettin was partitioned between
Brandenburgian
(centre and east) and
Swedish Pomerania
(west) with Stettin until 1713, then ceded to the former.
|
|
State Church in Cammin Prince-bishopric (1544?1650)
[
edit
]
The Lutheran bishops of Cammin were simultaneously spiritual leaders and supreme governors of the Lutheran state church. Since 1557
Administrators
(
colloquially bishops
), succeeded in ruling the
prince-bishopric
and as supreme governors of its church. As its spiritual leaders served superintendents since 1558.
|
Term
|
Image
|
Name
|
1544?
1549
|
|
Bartholomaeus Suawe
[
de
]
, Prince-Bishop of Cammin, the first of Lutheran faith
|
1549?
1556
|
|
Martin Weiher
[
de
]
, last prince-bishop with theological skills
|
1557?
1574
|
|
John Frederick
, as administrator regnant, resigned in favour of his youngest brother Casimir
|
1574?
1602
|
|
Casimir VI
, as administrator regnant
|
1602?
1618
|
|
Francis
, as administrator regnant, resigned in order to become duke in Stettin in 1618
|
1618?
1622
|
|
Ulrich
, as administrator regnant
|
1623?
1637
|
|
Bogislaw XIV
, as administrator regnant
|
1637?
1650
|
|
Ernst Bogislaw von Croy
, as administrator regnant
|
In 1650 Brandenburg seized Cammin prince-bishopric. Its church and that in partitioned eastern Pomerania-Stettin (Farther Pomerania) merged in the Lutheran state church of
Brandenburgian Pomerania
.
|
|
|
|
State Church of Swedish Pomerania (1648?1815)
[
edit
]
|
State Church in Brandenburgian Pomerania (1648?1817)
[
edit
]
Brandenburgian Pomerania took over the Cammin prince-episcopal consistory and superintendency in Kolberg, elevated to general superintendency. In 1738 they moved to Stettin, acquired in 1713.
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Term
|
Image
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Name
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1637?1688
|
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Frederick William
the Great Elector
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1688?1713
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Frederick I
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1713?1740
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Frederick William I
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1740?1786
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Frederick II
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In 1750 the Lutheran State Church of Brandenburgian Pomerania became an ecclesiastical district subject to the Berlin-based Lutheran Superior Consistory of Brandenburg-Prussia.
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1786?1797
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Frederick William II
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1797?1840
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Frederick William III
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In 1817 the Pomeranian Lutheran congregations subject to the Stettin general superintendent under the Lutheran Superior Consistory in Berlin became part of the new
Evangelical Church in Prussia
, an administratively united umbrella of Lutheran, Calvinist and United Protestant congregations.
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|
Ecclesiastical Province of Pomerania (1826?1918)
[
edit
]
In 1817 the Lutheran congregations previously subject to the Stettin general superintendent under the Lutheran Superior Consistory in Berlin, the Lutheran congregations previously subject to the Greifswald general superintendent and the Reformed (Calvinist) congregations located in Pomerania and subject to the Reformed Church Directorate in Berlin, became part of the new
Ecclesiastical Province of Pomerania
, seated in Stettin, an ecclesiastical district of the Evangelical Church in Prussia.
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Term
|
Image
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Name
|
1797?1840
|
|
Frederick William III
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1840?1861
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Frederick William IV
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1861?1888
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William I
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1888
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Frederick III
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1888?1918
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William II
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The dethronement of the Hohenzollern in 1918 and the
separation of church and state
, as decreed by the
Weimar Constitution
in 1919, did away with the summepiscopacy of the monarchs. The
Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces
(this name as of 1875) turned into an independent regionally competent church body, renamed as
Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union
. Its new church order generally provided for stronger presbyterial and synodal participation, particularly in the ecclesiastical provinces, such as that of Pomerania.
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Spiritual leaders (1535?2012)
[
edit
]
|
|
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In Greifswald (1535?1653)
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edit
]
Pomerania-Wolgast installed in Greifswald, Pomerania's only university town, its general superintendency and
consistory
(as of 1553). Their ambit included dependent Pomerania-Barth (1569?1605).
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Term
|
Image
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Name
|
1535?
1556
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Johannes Knipstro
[
de
]
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1557?
1595
|
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Jacob Runge
[
de
]
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1595?
1597
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vacancy
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1597?
1604
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Friedrich Runge
[
de
]
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1604?
1607
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vacancy
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1607?
1642
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Bartold von Krakevitz
[
de
]
, separate ambits persisted also after Pomerania-Stettin had inherited Wolgast in 1625
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1642?
1650
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Movius Volschow
[
de
]
, appointed by Sweden
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1650?
1658
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vacancy, border disputes between Brandenburg and Sweden, both claiming Pomerania
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The
Treaty of Westphalia
ceded all of former Pomerania-Wolgast and the west of former Pomerania-Stettin to Sweden in 1648.
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In Pomerania-Stettin (1535?1653)
[
edit
]
Pomerania-Stettin installed the general superintendency of Stettin for its territory west of the Grabow, and east thereof the only subsidiary general superintendency of Stolp. The latter's ambit included dependent Pomerania-Rugenwalde (1569?1620).
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Term
|
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In Stettin
Name
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Term
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In Stolp
Name
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1535?
1563
|
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Paul vom Rode
[
de
]
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1535?
1573
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Jakob Hogensee
[
de
]
(aka Hoonsee)
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1563?
1570
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Fabian Timaus
[
de
]
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1570?
1572
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Christoph Stymmel
[
de
]
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1572?
1595
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Johann Cogeler
[
de
]
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1574?
1604
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David Crolle
[
de
]
After his death his ambit merged in that of Faber
|
1595?
1613
|
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Jakob Faber
[
de
]
|
1613?
1618
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vacancy
|
1618?
1634
|
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David Reutzius
[
de
]
(aka Reuß), separate ambits persisted also after Pomerania-Stettin had inherited Wolgast in 1625
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1634?
1641
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Jakob Fabricius
[
de
]
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1641?
1653
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vacancy, border disputes between Brandenburg and Sweden, both claiming Pomerania
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Former Pomerania-Stettin was partitioned between
Brandenburgian
(centre and east) and
Swedish Pomerania
(west) with Stettin until 1713, then ceded to the former.
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|
In Kolberg (1544?1650)
[
edit
]
In 1544 Cammin's first Lutheran bishop led the Reformation in his prince-episcopal state (
Hochstift
Cammin), elsewhere in his diocese the respective dukes had appointed general superintendents. The successors after 1556 lacked theological skills so that two years later the Hochstift installed a superintendent.
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Term
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Image
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Name
|
1544?
1549
|
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Bartholomaeus Suawe
[
de
]
, Bishop of Cammin, Lutheran
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1549?
1556
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Martin Weiher
[
de
]
, last bishop with theological skills, his successors were only ruling the prince-bishopric and enjoying its revenues
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1556?
1558
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vacancy, Weiher's successors lacked theological skills
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1558?
1567
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Georg Venetus
[
de
]
,
Stiftssuperintendent
[9]
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1568?
1602
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Petrus Edeling
[
de
]
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1602?
1605
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vacancy
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1605?
1620
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Adam Hamel
[
de
]
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1622?
1645
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Immanuel Konig
[
de
]
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1645?
1650
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Andreas Scholasticus (Scholastke), episcopal court preacher, vice-superintendent
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1650?
1653
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vacancy, border disputes between Brandenburg and Sweden, both claiming Pomerani
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In 1645 Brandenburg seized the prince-bishopric. Its Lutheran Church and that of eastern Farther Pomerania were merged.
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In Greifswald (1658?1810)
[
edit
]
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In Kolberg (1653?1668), Stargard (1668?1738), and in Stettin (1738?1826)
[
edit
]
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In Stettin (1826?1921)
[
edit
]
In Greifswald (1921?2012) and in Stettin (1921?1945)
[
edit
]
In 1921 the Ecclesiastical Province of Pomerania, then as to territory and the number of parishioners the largest ecclesiastical province of the
Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union
(new name in 1922), installed two districts, east and west (Ostsprengel and Westsprengel), with a general superintendent each, one in Greifswald and the other in Stettin. The central institutions for all the ecclesiastical province were seated in Stettin too.
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Term
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In Greifswald
Name
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Term
|
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In Stettin
Name
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1921?1922
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Wilhelm Reinhard
[
de
]
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1921?1933
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Paul Kalmus
[
de
]
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1923?1934
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Walter Kahler
[
de
]
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1933?1936
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vacancy, new parallel structure built up:
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Karl Thom
[
de
]
, self-aggrandising as
Bishop of Cammin
, 1933?1935
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1934?1945
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Heinrich Laag
[
de
]
, per pro only
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1936?1945
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Heinrich Ernst Boeters
[
de
]
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1945?1946
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vacancy, reorganisation after end of Nazi tyranny and war turmoil
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1945?1948
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vacancy, flight and expulsion of parishioners, expropriation of the church, suppression of any attempt of reorganisation
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With Poland annexing Stettin in 1945 the ecclesiastical headquarters moved to Greifswald, the new spiritual leader assumed the title bishop and in 1950 the ecclesiastical province assumed independence as
regional Protestant church body
named Pomeranian Evangelical Church.
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1946?1954
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Karl von Scheven
[
de
]
, before
praeses
of the provincial synod
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1955?1972
|
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Friedrich-Wilhelm Krummacher
[
de
]
|
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1972?1989
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Horst Gienke
[
de
]
, resigned when unmasked as
Stasi
spy
|
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1990?2001
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Eduard Berger
[
de
]
|
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2001?2012
|
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Hans-Jurgen Abromeit
[
de
]
|
|
At
Pentecost
of 2012 the Pomeranian Evangelical Church merged with two Lutheran church bodies in the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany
.
|
|
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Nordkirche.de (german)
- ^
The ambit of the Stettin general superintendents, also called supreme superintendents (Obersuperintendenten) as opposed to the Stolp superintendents, was delineated by the rivers
Oder
and
Swine
in the west and the river
Grabow
in the east, not including the area of the Prince-Bishopric of Cammin proper.
- ^
It existed between 1535 till 1604 and comprised Pomerania-Stettin east of the river Grabow, without area of the Prince-Bishopric of Cammin.
- ^
Radosław Gazi?ski, Paweł Gut and Maciej Szukała,
Staatsarchiv Stettin ? Wegweiser durch die Bestande bis zum Jahr 1945
[Przewodnik po zasobie archiwalnym. Akta do 1945 roku. Archiwum Pa?stwowe w Szczecinie, 2002; German], Generaldirektion der Staatlichen Archive Polen/Generalna dyrekcja archiwow pa?stwowe (ed.), Oldenburg in Oldenburg: Bundesinstitut fur Kultur und Geschichte der Deutschen im ostlichen Europa, 2004, (=Schriften des Bundesinstituts fur Kultur und Geschichte der Deutschen im ostlichen Europa; vol. 24), p. 496.
ISBN
3-486-57641-0
.
- ^
Circular (Rundschreiben) by the church chancery of the
German Evangelical Church
to all governing bodies of the Protestant
church bodies
(22 December 1941), published in Kurt Meier,
Kirche und Judentum: Die Haltung der evangelischen Kirche zur Judenpolitik des Dritten Reiches
, Halle upon Saale: Niemeyer, 1968, pp. 116seq. No ISBN.
- ^
Cf. Evangelisches Zentralarchiv, Berlin: I/C3/172, vol. 3.
- ^
a
b
Die Protokolle der Kirchlichen Ostkonferenz 1945?1949
, Carsten Nicolaisen (compil.), Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2005, (=Arbeiten zur kirchlichen Zeitgeschichte; vol. A 9), footnote 5 on p. 138.
ISBN
3-525-55759-0
.
- ^
Norbert Buske,
Pommersche Kirchengeschichte in Daten
, Arbeitsgemeinschaft fur pommersche Geschichte e.V. (ed.), Schwerin: Thomas Helms, 2000.
ISBN
3-931185-83-4
(for 1941, 1956, 1997);
Lutheranworld.org
Archived
2011-09-26 at the
Wayback Machine
(for 2010); Meyers Lexikon (for 1905), Brockhaus (for 1925, 1985, 1994).
- ^
I.e. superintendent of the prince-bishopric.
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