Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/691

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EUROPE


613


EUROPE


the Catholic League, which was formed in 1609 among the Catholic States of the German Empire and had for its leader the vigorous Duke Maximilian of Bavaria, and the Union in which, from 1009, most of the Protestant princes and cities combined under the leadership of Frederick IV of the Palatinate. Foreign powers — Denmark, Sweden, and France — also took part in the war. The result of the Tliirty Years' War, confirmed in the Peace of Westphalia, laid the founda- tion of confessional relations as they now exist. Neither internal commotions nor seemingly mighty political revolutions, such as the illuminism of the French En- cyclopedists and the German neo-classicists, the tem- porary supremacy of rationalism, and the French R,evolution, with its consequent wars, greatly changed these relations. The present condition as developed during the course of the nineteenth century and up to the present time is as follows.

Present Condition of Religion in Europe. — (1) Relations of the Different States to the Religious Com- ynunions. — In the German Empire the formation of religious denominations and their religious worship are subject to the legislation of the several States. Some States allow complete freedom, as Prussia, Wiir- temberg, Hesse, and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; others su- pervise religious worship, as Baden, Waldeck, and Mecklenburg; others again make the establishment of religious denominations depend on the Government, as in Bavaria, Saxony, Brunswick, Saxe-Meiningen, and Alsace-Lorraine. The Cat liolic and the Evangelical Churches are regarded as privileged and public cor- porations. In England and Wales the Anglican is the State Church, its head Iieing the king; the funda- mental principles are defined by Parliament. There is a similar arrangement for the Prcsbj'teriau State Church in Scotland where, however, the organization is somewhat freer. On the other hand the Anglican Church of Ireland is, since 1SG9, no longer a State Church. The Dissenters, who in 16S9 were only con- ditionally tolerated, have now equal rights. In France the Separation Law of 9 December, 1905, brought about the separation of Church and State and provided for the formation of Associations cultuelles for the exercise of religion. In Italy the Constitution originally declared the Roman Catholic religion the religion of the State, but gradually all privileges have been withdrawn from it; besides the Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelical Waldensian Church, the Na- tional Greek Church, and the Jewish communities are organized as Churches with separate constitutions. In Spain and Portugal the State religion is the Roman Catholic. In Belgium the Catholic, Protestant, Jew- ish, and Anglican forms of worship are recognized by the granting of salaries from the State to those having ecclesiastical charges. Outside of these any religious community is a private association The Netherlands grants equal protection to all confessions. So does Switzerland, excepting that in this country a more ex- acting control is exercised over the Roman Cathohc Church. In Denmark the Evangelical Lutheran Church is the State Church, at least inasmuch as its ministers are paid by the State and subject to removal by the State; other religious communities have no claim to state support. The case is the same in Sweden, where, in addition, the condition is laid down that the king, the members of the C'ouncil of State, and foreigners who are appointed teachers at the univer- sity must all subscribe to some evangelical confession. In Norway this ordinance is enforced for the head of the State. In Austria the Churches and religious asso- ciations recognized by law are as follows: the Roman Catholic, the Uni.it Greek, and Uniat Armenian Churches, the Evangelical Churches of the Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions, the Orthodox Greek Church, the Jewish religious community, the religious associa- tion of the Russian sect of the Lipovani, and the Oriental Armenian in Bukowina, the Old Catholic


religious community, and the Moravian Brethren {Herrnhuter). Tiie expenses of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Greek Churches are met from a fund controlled by the State and obtained from the secu- larization of Church property in the reign of Joseph II. In Hungary the Roman CathoUc Church was origi- nally the state religion; the State grants in addition free exercise to other Christian confessions and to the Jew- ish faith. Croatia-Slavonia recognizes only the Ro- man Catholic and Uniat Greek Churches, the Orthodox Greek and Protestant Churches, and the Jewisii belief. ( In Bosnia and Herzegovina the ruling confessions are the Orthodox Greek and Roman Catholic Churches, and Mohammedanism. The State Church of the Balkan provinces is the Orthodox Greek. The State Church of Russia is the Ortliodox Greek Russian Church; the other Christian and non-Cliristian confes- sions are tolerated, the Jews have only limited rights.

(2) Organization of the Religious Communions. — The Evangelical Church distinguishes three forms of or- ganization: (a) The episcopal, in which the ruler of the country with the aid of a subordinate hierarchy exer- cises ecclesiastical authority. This is the form in force in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland. ' (b) The consistorial organization, in which the ruler is aided by a consistory made up of ecclesiastical and secular members. This form is found in Mecklen- burg-Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Strclitz, Saxe-Coburg- Gotha, Saxony-Altenburg, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen, the two principalities of Reuss, Schaumburg-Lippe, Liibeck, Bremen, Alsace- Lorraine, and Russia, (c) The synodal form of or- ganization and similar Presbj-terian associations which are based on assemblies of elected representatives and the ordinances passed by these. This form of organi- zation is in existence in Austria-Hungary, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Wurtemberg, Baden, Hesse, and other German States, where the consistorial system is not in force. The synodal organization also exists among the non-Anglican Churches in Great Britain, in France, among the Italian Waldenses, in the Nether- lands, Belgium, Switzerland, and Spain; also in con- nexion with the episcopal form of church government in Sweden and Finland. The Anglican Church, called in England and Wales the Established Church of England, and in Ireland the Church of Ireland, is episcopal in government; in Ireland the episcopal and synodal sys- tems are united. The head of the Church is the king. England and Wales are diviiled into the two church provinces of Canterbury and York. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the Primate of All England; under Canterbury are 28 suffragan dioceses; York consists of an archdiocese and 9 suffragan bishoprics. Ireland has 2 archdioceses: Armagh, which has the primacy of all Ireland, and Dublin with 10 suffragans; Scotland has 7 dioceses. The organization of the Oriental Greek Church varies in different countries. In Russia the head of the Church is the Tsar, who appoints the mem- bers of the Holy Svnod, the higlicstecclesiastical body. In Turkey the (Ecumenical Patriarch is the head; under him are 10 or 12 metropolitans. In Rumania a national synod is the highest ecclesiastical authority; in Servia a metropolitan with the bishops; in Bulgaria the church government is vested in an exarch, aided by archbishops, bishops, and archpriests. The Holy Synod of Greece consists of five prelates or bishops named by the king. In the Austro-Hungarian Mon- archy there are 3 provinces of the Oriental Greek Church: the Austrian, or Province of Czcrnowitz, with the suffragan Dioceses of Zara and Cattaro, the Arch- i diocese of Karlowitz (Patriareh-ArchViishoi)), with 6 suffragans, and the Archdiocese of Ilcrrmannstadt, with 2 suffragans. Bosnia and Herzegovina have each a metropolitan.

For the ecclesiastical organization of European countries, see the respective articles on the various political divisions, also Eastern Churches. The