Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia

The Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia (German: Evangelische Kirche Berlin-Brandenburg-schlesische Oberlausitz - EKBO) is a Protestant church body in the German states of Brandenburg, Berlin and a part of Saxony. The seat of the church is in Berlin. It is the most important Protestant denomination in the area.

It is a full member of the Evangelical Church in Germany (German: Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland - EKD), and is a church of the Prussian Union. The leader of the church is bishop Dr. Markus Dröge (2010).

The EKBO is one of 22 Lutheran, Reformed, and United churches of the EKD and is itself a United church. The church has around 1,200,000 members (December 2005) in 1,770 parishes.

The church is a member of the Union of Evangelical Churches (German: Union Evangelischer Kirchen - UEK) and the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe. In Berlin and Görlitz the church runs two academies.

St. Mary's Church, Berlin, is the church of the bishop of the EKBO with the Berlin Cathedral being under joint supervision of all the member churches of the UEK.

Some theological statements

The theology of the church goes back to Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. The ordination of women is allowed, and the blessing of same-sex unions has been allowed by the synod but depends on the local presbytery (German: Gemeindekirchenrat).

History

After the Second World War the integrated Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union (under this name 1922–1953, then renamed into Evangelical Church of the Union) was transformed into an umbrella organization. In 1947 its ecclesiastical provinces (German: Kirchenprovinzen), as far as their territories were not annexed by Poland or the Soviet Union, became independent church bodies of their own.

Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg

The March of Brandenburg ecclesiastical province (including Berlin, but after 1945 without the territory east the Oder-Neiße line), which until 1933 was headed in rotation by the general superintendents of Kurmark, Neumark-Lower Lusatia, and Berlin, became the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg. After 1945, the church covered only the territory still in Germany.

From 1972 on this church body ran double administrative structures in West Berlin and East Berlin - also competent for Brandenburg - because the communist government of East Germany did not allow pastors and church functionaries to travel freely between East and West. The two church bodies reunited in 1991.

Evangelical Church of Silesia(n Upper Lusatia)

In 1946 the Silesian ecclesiastical province, presided over by Ernst Hornig, held its first post-war provincial synod in then already Polish Świdnica. But on 4 December 1946 Poland deported Hornig from Wrocław beyond the Lusatian Neiße, where he took his new seat in the German part of the divided city of Görlitz of the former Prussian province of Lower Silesia. In 1947 the Polish government also expelled the remaining members of the Silesian consistory, which temporarily could continue to officiate in Wrocław. Görlitz became the seat of the tiny territorial rest of the Silesian ecclesiastical province, constituting on May 1, 1947 as the independent Evangelical Church of Silesia (German: Evangelische Kirche von Schlesien) - comprising the small parts of Silesia remaining with Germany after 1945.

All of the church property east of the Oder-Neiße Line, parochial and provincial alike, was expropriated without compensation, and the church buildings were mostly taken over by the Roman Catholic Church in Poland. A small number of Silesian churches are owned today by Protestant congregations of the Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Poland (see e.g. Churches of Peace).

On April 9, 1968 East Germany adopted its second constitution, accounting for the de facto transformation into a communist dictatorship. Thus the East German government deprived the church bodies of their status as statutory bodies (German: Körperschaft des öffentlichen Rechts) and abolished the church tax, by which parishioners' contributions had been automatically collected as a surcharge on the income tax. Now parishioners would have 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 resulted in many people leaving the church, effectively eroded the financial situation of the church bodies in the East.

In 1968, churches were reclassified as civic associations, and the East German government required the Evangelical Church of Silesia to remove the term "Silesia" from its name. The church body then chose the new name Evangelical Church of the Görlitz Ecclesiastical Region.

With the end of the East German dictatorship in 1989, the things changed decisively. In 1992 the Evangelical Church of the Görlitz Ecclesiastical Region dropped its unwanted name and chose the new name of Evangelical Church of Silesian Upper Lusatia.

Due to increasing irreligion, the low birth rates in Germany since the 1970s, and low numbers of Protestant immigrants, the Protestant church bodies in Germany are undergoing a severe shrinking of parishioners and thus of parishioners' contributions. So church bodies are forced to reorganise their efforts also with respect to the financial situation.

In 2004 the Evangelical Church of the Silesian Upper Lusatia merged with the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg to become the present church body.

Leading persons and bishops (since 1934) in history

The leading bishop is elected for ten years from the synod and can be reelected for a second term. Before 1934 the leader of the church was called "Generalsuperintendent". After the merger of the independent churches Berlin-Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia in 2004 Wolfgang Huber has been the bishop of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia.

Chairmen of the March of Brandenburg provincial subsection of the Prussian united Evangelical Church

• Ecclesiastical Chairmen of Berlin (City)
  • 1823 - 1865: D. Daniel Amadeus Gottlieb Neander, bearing the title Provost of St. Peter's Church, then the highest ecclesiastical rank in Berlin, in 1830 King Frederick William III of Prussia bestowed him with the merely honorary title Bishop.
  • 1865 - 1871: not restaffed before Neander's death in 1869, then vacancy
  • 1871 - 1892: D. Bruno Brückner, bearing the title General Superintendent (Gen.Supt.)
  • 1893 - 1911: Gen.Supt. D. Wilhelm Faber
  • 1912 - 1918: Gen.Supt. D. Friedrich Lahusen
  • 1918 - 1921: vacancy
  • 1921 - 1927: Gen.Supt. D. Georg Burghart
  • 1928 - 1933: Gen.Supt. D. Emil Karow, furloughed by State Commissioner August Jäger, after Hermann Göring's Prussian government usurped the factual power in the church body.

• General Superintendent of Berlin (Suburbia; German: Berlin-Land und Kölln-Land)
  • 1911 - 1933: D. Wilhelm Haendler (created in 1911, dissolved after Haendler retired)

• General Superintendents of the Kurmark
  • 1540 - 1550: Jacob Stratner (*unknown-1550*)
  • 1550 - 1566: Johannes Agricola (*1494-1566*)
  • 1566 - 1581: Andreas Musculus (*1514-1581*)
  • 1581 - 1594: Christoph Cornerus (also Corner, Körner, or Korner; *1519-1594*)
  • 1595 - 1633: Christoph Pelargus (also Storch; *1565-1633*)
  •  ?
  • 1829 - 1853: D. Daniel Amadeus Gottlieb Neander, in personal union Provost of St. Peter's Church (Berlin)
  • 1853 - 1873: D. Wilhelm Hoffmann, also court preacher
  • 1873 - 1879: ?
  • 1879 - 1891: Theodor Johannes Rudolf Kögel (*1829-1896*), also Berlin royal court preacher since 1863
  • 1892 - 1903: D. Ernst Hermann (von) Dryander (*1843-1922*)
  • 1903 - 1921?: David Hennig Paul Köhler (*1848-1926*)
  • 1921 - 1924: Karl Theodor Georg Axenfeld (*1869-1924*)
  • 1925 - 1933: D. Dr. Otto Dibelius, furloughed by State Commissioner August Jäger.

• General Superintendents of the New March-Lower Lusatia
  • 1829 - 1836: Wilhelm Ross
  • 1836 - 1900?: vacancy?
  • 1900 - 1909?: D. Theodor Braun (*?-1911*)
  • 1909? - 1925?: Hans Keßler (*1856-1939*)
  • 1925 - 1933: D. Ernst Vits, pensioned off by State Commissioner August Jäger.

In 1933 the Prussian government imposed new leaders, who reshaped the structures. The evangelical church (then named Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union) underwent a schism into a schismatic streamlined Nazi-obedient branch and a steadfast, truly Protestant branch, clinging to the Confessing Church.

• Bishopric of Berlin (subordinate to the newly instituted State Bishop (German: Landesbischof) of the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union)
  • 1933, September - November: Provincial Bishop Joachim Hossenfelder
  • 1933 - 1934: Provincial Bishop D. Emil Karow (resigned in opposition to the Nazi-obedient State Bishop Ludwig Müller, the position was not restaffed)

• Kurmark (subordinate to the Bishopric of Berlin)
  • 1933 - 1945: Provost Fritz Loerzer (with interruption 1936-1939)
  • 1933 - 1945: D. Dr. Otto Dibelius, ignoring the furlough and continuing to serve as general superintendent - accepted only in the non-schismatic congregations.

• New March-Lower Lusatia (subordinate to the Bishopric of Berlin)
  • 1933 - 1935?: Provost Otto Eckert

In 1945 the pre-1933 structures were provisionally restituted:

• General Superintendent of the Kurmark
• 1945 - 1946: D. Dr. Otto Dibelius, reconfirmed by the provisionally leading advisory council (German: Beirat). The Beirat also commissioned Dibelius to serve per pro the vavant general superintendencies of Berlin and New March-Lower Lusatia. The Soviet occupational power agreed that Dibelius would use the title of Bishop, better recognisable for the Soviets as clerical title than the term general superintendent mostly unknown in Russian.
• 1946 - 1949: Martin Braun

• General Superintendents of the New March-Lower Lusatia
  • 1945: D. Dr. Otto Dibelius, per pro
  • 1946 - 1949: Günter Jacob

In 1949 the General Superintendencies were renamed in Cottbus (formerly New March-Lower Lusatia) and Neuruppin (formerly Kurmark) and territorially somewhat redeployed.

• General Superintendents of Cottbus
  • 1949 - 1972: Günter Jacob

• General Superintendents of Neuruppin

Bishops of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg

In 1948 the first post-war elected provincial synod of the March of Brandenburg ecclesiastical province of the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union constituted as an independent church body named Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg. The new constitution provided for a chairperson to bear the title bishop.

• 1948 - 1966: D. Dr. Otto Dibelius
• 1966 - 1972: D. Kurt Scharf

West 1972-1991 (competent for West Berlin):

• 1972 - 1976: D. Kurt Scharf
• 1976 - 1991: Dr. theol. Martin Kruse

East 1972- 1991 (competent for East Berlin and Brandenburg):

• 1972 - 1981: D. h.c. Albrecht Schönherr
• 1981 - 1991: Dr. theol. Gottfried Forck

Reunited church body since 1991:

• 1991 - 1993: Dr. theol. Martin Kruse
• 1994 - 2003: Prof. Dr. theol. Wolfgang Huber

On January 1, 2004 the church body merged with the Evangelical Church of Silesian Upper Lusatia.

Silesian General Superintendents and Bishops

• 1829 - 1925: ?
• 1925 - 1945: D. Otto Zänker, general superintendent until 1935, then titled bishop
• 1945 - 1963: D. Ernst Hornig, preases until 1946, then bishop
• 1964 - 1979: D. Hans-Joachim Fränkel, bishop
• 1979 - 1985: Hanns-Joachim Wollstadt, bishop
• 1986 - 1994: Joachim Rogge, bishop
• 1994 - 2003: Klaus Wollenweber, bishop

Bishops of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia

• 2004 - 2009: Wolfgang Huber
• 2009 - present: Markus Dröge

Synod

The election of the synod (Landessynode) is for six years. The synod meets each year in Berlin. The leader of the synod is called "Präses" (English: praeses).

Books

• Berlin-Brandenburg:
  • Gesangbuch zum gottesdienstlichen Gebrauch für evangelische Gemeinen, Berlin, 1829
  • Evangelisches Gesangbuch, nach Zustimmung der Provinzialsynode vom Jahre 1884 zur Einführung in der Provinz Brandenburg mit Genehmigung des Evang. Oberkirchenrats herausgegeben vom Königlichen Konsistorium, Berlin, 1884
  • Evangelisches Gesangbuch for Brandenburg and Pommern, Berlin and Frankfurt/Oder; eingeführt durch Beschlüsse der Provinzialsynoden der Kirchenprovinz Pommern 1925 and 1927 and Mark Brandenburg 1927 and 1929 and nach der Notverordnung des Kirchensenats from August 7, 1931 published from the Provinzialkirchenräten Brandenburg and Pommern 1931
  • Evangelisches Kirchengesangbuch, Edition for the Evangelische Kirche in Berlin-Brandenburg; Ausgabe für die Konsistorialbezirke Berlin, Magdeburg, Greifswald und Görlitz und der Evang. Landeskirche Anhalts" bzw. "Evangelisches Kirchengesangbuch, Ausgabe für die Evangelische Landeskirche Anhalt, Evang. Kirche Berlin-Brandenburg, Evang. Kirche des Görlitzer Kirchengebietes, Evang. Landeskirche Greifswald, Evang. Kirche der Kirchenprovinz Sachsen"
  • Evangelisches Gesangbuch, Edition for the Evangelische Landeskirche Anhalts, die Evangelische Kirche in Berlin-Brandenburg, die Evangelische Kirche der schlesischen Oberlausitz, die Pommersche Evangelische Kirche, die Evangelische Kirche der Kirchenprovinz Sachsen, Berlin/Leipzig; eingeführt am Reformationstag, 31. Oktober 1993
• Silesian Upper Lusatia:
  • Gesangbuch für Evangelische Gemeinden Schlesiens; since 1878
  • Schlesisches Provinzial-Gesangbuch; since 1908
  • Evangelisches Kirchen-Gesangbuch (EKG) - Edition for the Konsistorialbezirke Berlin, Magdeburg, Greifswald und Görlitz and the Evang. Landeskirche Anhalts/ Edition for the Evangelische Landeskirche Anhalt, Evangelische Kirche Berlin-Brandenburg, Evangelische Kirche des Görlitzer Kirchengebietes, Evangelische Landeskirche Greifswald, Evangelische Kirche der Kirchenprovinz Sachsen; since 1953
  • Evangelisches Gesangbuch - Edition for the Evangelische Landeskirche Anhalts, the Evangelische Kirche in Berlin-Brandenburg, the Evangelische Kirche der schlesischen Oberlausitz, the Pommersche Evangelische Kirche, the Evangelische Kirche der Kirchenprovinz Sachsen; since Mai 1994

External links

• Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia
• Evangelical Church in Germany