Protestant Church of Anhalt
Protestant Church of Anhalt | |
---|---|
Evangelische Landeskirche Anhalts | |
Reformed) | |
Landesbischof | Joachim Liebig |
Associations | Union of Protestant Churches in the EKD, World Council of Churches, Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe |
Region | 2.299 km² in Saxony-Anhalt |
Headquarters | Dessau-Roßlau, Germany |
Congregations | 145 |
Members | 28.400 |
Official website | https://www.landeskirche-anhalts.de/ |
The Protestant Church of Anhalt (Evangelische Landeskirche Anhalts) is a
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
The princes of Anhalt introduced the
When the
, 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 “
Structure
Regional church office and administrative hierarchy
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
The territory of the Protestant Church of Anhalt includes the former state of Anhalt, which existed until 1945 and which has since formed the
Church division
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 Süd
- Region West
- Köthen
- Region Stadt Köthen
- Region Nord
- Region Südwest
- Region Südost
- Zerbst
- Region West
- Region Ost
- Bernburg
- Region Bernburg
- Region West
- Region Nord-West
- Ballenstedt
- Region Unterharz
- Region Vorharz
- Region Harz-Vorland
Worship and liturgy
Hymn books
In recent decades, the congregations of the Evangelical Regional Church of Anhalt sing or have sung primarily from the following hymn books:
- Evangelisches Gesangbuch für das Herzogtum Anhalt
- Gesangbuch für die Provinz Sachsen und Anhalt
- Evangelisches Kirchengesangbuch
- Evangelisches Gesangbuch
Practices
The
Church newspaper
The weekly newspaper is published in collaboration with the Evangelical Church in Central Germany - it is entitled Faith and Homeland.
References
- ^ a b "Gemeinden : Evangelische Landeskirche Anhalts". www.landeskirche-anhalts.de. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
- ^ Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland – Kirchemitgliederzahlen Stand 31. Dezember 2020 EKD, November 2021
- ISBN 3-525-61362-8.
- ^ Bechtold, Markus; Kampf, Anne; Sussmann, Johannes (November 23, 2020). "Segnung homosexueller Paare, Bunt wie ein Regenbogen". Evangelisch.de (in German). Retrieved April 18, 2021.
Literature
- Jan Brademann: Religiöse 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, Dößel 2012, S. 463–480.
- Jan Brademann: Paritätische Residenzstadt und Spätkonfessionalisierung. Reformierte, Lutheraner und Pietisten im Zerbst des späten 17. und frühen 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)
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External links