Church Property Research Articles

Great Northern War and Church reform of Peter the Great

The article presents historical research on the Church reform of Peter I, considering the Great Northern War (1700–1721) as one of the crucial transformational factors in church-state relations in Russia. The article introduces descriptive books of patriarchal estates in 17 counties of Russia. They were created during the audit of Church and monastic property in line with the decree of January 31, 1701. It considers features of the form and content of these documents and previously known descriptions of bishops' houses and monasteries, which were carried out according to the mandated memorials of the Monastic Order in 1701-1705. The article claims that the secularization of the patriarch's landholdings, in contrast to other church holdings, was complete and final already at the beginning of the 18th century. In this regard, there is an obvious need to reject historical parallels between the events of the early 18th century and the "monastic secularization" of 1764.Comparing the Alexei Kurbatov’s proposals to Peter I in a letter dated October 25, 1700, with the content of the personal decrees of January 24 and 31, 1701 on the restoration of the Monastic Order allows us to hypothesize that the defeat at Narva and preparation for the meeting with the Elector Augustus II that would result in the signing of the Biržai pact, significantly adjusted the plans of the Church reform. The novelty of the January decrees that presumably started the reform (in the then-common European sense of the concept) was the inclusion of the patriarch's estates in the list of the Church's possessions subject to the control of the state in the future.I conclude that the secularization of church-monastic possessions and property that followed at the beginning of the Great Northern War not only contradicted the centuries-old historical practice but was at that time organizationally overwhelming for the state, which was able to solve the problem of managing the escheat patriarchal lands but did not yet have the appropriate staffing and logistics capacities for control over all possessions of the Church.

Selected topics concerning the rules of representation of parishes of the Catholic Church in the disposal of real estate

In jurisprudence, in cases where the parties are subjects of canon law, it is necessary to take into account their specific situation, which is the circumstance of being subject to two legal orders at the same time. Regardless of how the relationship between civil law and canon law is shaped, it is necessary to take into account the fact of being subject also to canon law. The legal situation of such an entity is determined by two legal orders at the same time. The question whether the internal norms binding within the organisational structure of the Catholic Church have an impact on the validity of legal transactions connected with the management of church property is of primary importance for the resolution of the case. A similar problem has already been considered by the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court. The purpose of this article is to put in order the positions presented in the above-mentioned scope.

Remarks on Church Property Restitution in Romania, With Special Focus on the Case of the Székely Mikó College

The Soviet-style dictatorship nationalized church property, primarily educational and social institutions, run by the historical churches of national minorities. After the collapse of this political regime, a quest for restitution began, which raised complex private law issues. Finally, legislation favorable for restitution was created. However, the application of the legislation unchanged in its relevant provisions has two distinct phases: the first one is favorable for restitution. The second phase started after the Romanian accession into the EU, and NATO was less favorable. The external pressure for restitution, based on the rule of law, diminished. The restitution of the national minority church property today is largely perceived as a process conflicting with Romanian national interest. These changes and the complex legal problems raised and misused even by courts are illustrated in the case of Székely Mikó College.

‘Because their patron never dies’: ecclesiastical freedmen, socio‐religious interaction, and group formation under the aegis of ‘church property’ in the early medieval west (sixth to eleventh centuries)

In the early medieval west, patronate, as adapted from Roman law, was a fundamental category in determining the legal status of freedmen. In many cases it entailed a basic set of obligations. In an increasing number of situations, however, the patron became an ecclesiastical institution, since slaves and freed persons were often given to churches and monasteries. As ecclesiastical institutions regarded their patronal rights over freed persons as part of inalienable church property, the patronal relationship became permanent and inheritable. In Eastern Francia (the Rhineland and beyond) this transformed ecclesiastical freedmen into religiously defined social groups with potentially distinct aims, religious tasks, and organizational structures, and a shared notion of freedom. From the Carolingian period onward, it even became attractive to enter voluntarily into this status. It is argued here that with its underlying network of socio‐religious relations, patronate over ecclesiastical freedmen and censuales can be better understood when considered as an element of a ‘temple society’.

Through the eyes of a deacon: lesser clergy, major donors, and institutional property in fifth‐century Rome

This is a study of the cults of two holy deacons at Rome: St Stephen and St Laurence. It is argued that the narratives associated with these saints were a medium for the resolution of two key, overlapping areas of tension: status anxiety within the clerical hierarchy, and relations between clergy and wealthy lay patrons. Controlling the ambitions of lesser clergy on the one hand, and on the other commanding the attention of major donors, absorbed a great deal of the energies of Roman priests and their bishop in this period. These issues converged on the figure of the deacon, understood in its early Christian sense as the helper/patron of the bishop. Defining the role of ‘deacons’ through the medium of saint cult was a necessary condition of the institutional development of the Roman church, and of church property.

Osiecki , Jakub The Armenian Church in Soviet Armenia: The Policies of the Armenian Bolsheviks and the Armenian Church, 1920–1932 (review)

SEER, 99, 4, OCTOBER 2021 778 new: they demonstrate that the Central European countries, as individual states, as the location of globally-networked cities, and as a regional force, were not just acted upon, but were able to act as sovereign entities and assert their own political identities and ambitions through the League. The volume certainly leaves a lot more nuance in our understanding of the dynamic relationship between the League and the ex-Habsburg lands. But I would have liked greater appreciation of the sheer fragility of the political and cultural idea of Weltösterreich. There was nothing inevitable about Austria’s survival as a post-imperial nation-state detached from its bigger German neighbour. Not only Pan-Germans and Austrian Nazis, but also Social Democrats, commercial interests and a ‘wide segment […] of the public’ favoured Anschluss in the 1920s, as Madeleine Dungy rightly notes (p. 225). Moving forward to the present, right-wing leaders Sebastian Kurz, Andrej Babiš and Viktor Orbán can hardly be cast as products of what Patricia Clavin calls the ‘formative years of global governance’ after 1918 (p. 374). If tied to history at all, they invoke a populist longing for the fabled Habsburg Gemütlichkeit of the pre-1914 period, not for the time when the League and its mid-century replacement, the United Nations, were forced to grapple with practical questions of reshaping international politics in the interests of turning a delicate peace into something more than the mere absence of war. Department of Humanities Matthew Stibbe Sheffield Hallam University Osiecki, Jakub. The Armenian Church in Soviet Armenia: The Policies of the Armenian Bolsheviks and the Armenian Church, 1920–1932. Translated by Paweł Siemianowski and Artur Zwolski. Peter Lang, New York, Bern and Oxford, 2020. xvi + 271 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. €79.20: £64.00;£76.80 (e-book): $94.95. The history of the Armenian Church in the first decade after the imposition of Soviet rule on Armenia in 1920 has been little studied by foreign scholars. The opening of the archives in the 1990s allowed a long-forgotten history to emerge, and several collections of archival documents and monographs have appeared in Armenian, with some publications also in Russian. Hacik Rafi Gazer provided an extensive analysis of the Armenian Church in the years up to the Second World War in his German-language work Die Armenische Kirche in Sowjetarmenien zwischen den Weltkriegen (Hamburg, 2001, reviewed in SEER, 81, 2003, 3, pp. 573–75). Jakub Osiecki draws on these sources, but has also delved into the archives in Yerevan, Tbilisi and elsewhere to fill out REVIEWS 779 this picture for the 1920s and has included insights from several oral history interviews he conducted in Armenia between 2011 and 2014. For those who might think that the anti-religious policies imposed by the Bolsheviks in Armenia were entirely new, Osiecki offers a corrective. He notes the popularity of ‘the ideology of secularism’ (p. viii) especially among Armenian intellectuals in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many of whom expressed anti-clerical views. Political parties advocated the separation of Church and state and the secularization of schools, and the removal of land holdings from the Church. The tsarist government had seized Church property in 1903. The genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire left fleeing survivors disillusioned and impoverished. The government of the independent, Dashnak-led Armenian Republic (1918–20) nationalized almost all Church schools. The Bolsheviks — determined to crush the Church as they were the Dashnak party and any other source of actual or potential opposition — could draw on these earlier impulses. For those not familiar with the first decade of Communist rule in Armenia, Osiecki provides a useful summary chapter before looking in detail in further chapters at Communist policies towards the Church (the party’s anti-religious policies, the secret police’s anti-Church activity and anti-religious and antiChurch propaganda), and the consequences of these policies (destruction of Church structures and the Church’s independence, persecution of the clergy, and atheization of the population and persecution of laypeople). The Bolshevik authorities in December 1920 immediately imposed in Armenia the range of measures they had already used in Russia to...

From the Communists and Post-Communists Alike: State-Paid Salaries of the Clergy in the Czech Lands 1949–2012

AbstractThe article examines the development of state-paid salaries for the clergy introduced by the Communists in Czechoslovakia from their institution in 1949 until they were removed in a major change of church-state relations in 2012. In the initial years of Communist rule, it appears that the salaries were part of a “carrot and stick” strategy aiming to subject churches to the state. Later, the real value of salaries steadily decreased, leaving priests marginalized in the economic structure. Following the collapse of the Communist regime, the salaries of the clergy were significantly increased; although, in subsequent years, they followed a trend similar to the pre-1989 period. The similarity in the development of salaries in the Communist and post-Communist period and the reluctance to restitute the church property after 1989 reflects the attitudes of the Czech population and the political representation toward organized religion and the transition from assertive to passive secularism.

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Critical Reflection of Determinants of Conflict in Selected African in Land Churches in Kangundo Region, Kenya

The African Inland Church has undergone leadership wrangles at the national offices. These conflicts have however percolated to the local level which has resulted into schism which have caused some churches to separate completely and some factions went to courts to seek regress. The aim of this study is to determine the root causes of church conflicts among selected churches in Kangundo Regional Churches (KRC). The objectives of the study were to access the root causes of the church conflicts in KRC and to analyze the systemic issues in the churches that might have triggered the conflicts. The study adopted a qualitative research design. The target population was 11 KRCC churches where members of the congregation of all categories of men, women, pastors, adult youth and leaders were purposively selected. The researcher sampled 100 respondents from the 11 churches, approximately 25% of the total churches selected. The data was collected using questionnaires, focus group and narrative interviews which were administered by the researcher. The researcher used NVIVO 11 to analyse the data. The data was thematically analysed where responses were organized according to themes with the aid of the analytical tool. The study established that the main causes of conflict in the AIC churches in Kangundo regions was the fact that the local churches felt overburdened by the financial needs of the DCC which caused rebellion and others started to seek autonomy. There were also leadership wrangles at the national office but trickled down to the local churches as there were faction for the warring groups one led by Rev. Yego and the other by Re. Mbuvi. The conflict was also as a result of the bureaucracies and autocratic leadership of the church which resulted in some churches seeking break away. The church resisted change as any person particularly the pastors perceived to be going against the church doctrine like welcoming Pentecostalism, was excommunicated from the church. The study established that there were feelings by the dissenting groups who felt that the DCC/RCC strong hand interfered with the day to day running of the local churches. These included the transfer of pastors against the wishes of the congregation. There was also the issue of control of the church property such as church land among others. The study recommends that the DCC should be flexible to allow the local churches space and not to overburden them its financial needs but rather seek alternative sources of finance to raise money for its financial needs, there is need to conduct a free and fair elections and also to diversify the church’s leadership structure so as to avoid contested elections of the national church leaders particularly the bishop, the church needs to embrace change so as to accommodate the modern ways of worship so as to avoid walkouts or loss of members to other surrounding churches or worse still a split in the church and lastly, there is need for the DCC/RCC to involve the local church leaders in certain decisions like the decision to transfer a pastors so as not to be seen as interfering with the day to day running of the churches.

Responsibility for Sacrilege in Russian Empire of 19th — early 20th Centuries (Law and Enforcement)

The article deals with the history of relations between the Orthodox Church and the state and society. The importance of the religious component as a factor that played one of the key roles in the relationship between the state and society in Russia in the 19th — early 20th centuries is emphasized. The history of the development of responsibility for crimes against faith is traced. Particular attention is paid to this type of religious crime as sacrilege. The definition of “sacrilege” is given as a property encroachment directed at sacred or consecrated objects, as well as at church property. A detailed description of this type of crime is given and, using examples of judicial precedents of the law enforcement practice of the Russian Empire of the 19th century, its features are shown. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that it traces the evolution of the concept of “sacrilege” in Russian legislation of the 19th — early 20th centuries and determines the main trends in the field of law enforcement in relation to these crimes. It is proved that, despite the all-Russian tendency to gradually mitigate punishments for committing many religious crimes at the beginning of the 20th century, mitigation of responsibility in relation to sacrilege did not happen.

Spór o powołanie Kościoła narodowego w Koronie w okresie soboru trydenckiego (1545-1563)

Debate on the Creating of the Polish National Church in the Times of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) In the time of the Council of Trent, the Polish nobility often and loudly demanded the forming of the Polish National Church, which would enable them to execute state control over the clergy, its activity, and church property. Popular Protestant ideas coherent with such an idea fulfilled the role of useful weapon in their struggle against the clergy. Even though the idea of the church reform converged with many changes postulated by the contemporary noble reform movement, the state finances, homogeneity of Crown lands and the Polish-Lithuanian union took predominance over church matters. Appropriate conduct of debate, disabling discussion about a reform, was promoted by the clergy itself, which was not interested in loosening their dominant position in the society and becoming subject to civic laws. Protestant deputies to the parliament, who constituted the majority in the lower chamber, could have acquired more benefits, were it not for their reluctance to impose certain solutions on the Catholics, who still dominated in the society. The clergy, in particular bishops, sought some compromise with Protestants, until the Catholic Church itself undertook mild reforms in the third phase of the Council of Trent. The stand of the Polish monarch, Sigismundus Augustus, who – having been raised as a Catholic – opposed the forming of new church and his attitude was also important.

THE SPECIFIC FEATURES OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE ORTHODOX MOVEMENT IN SUBCARPATHIAN RUS IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 1920S (BASED ON THE EXAMPLE OF BILKY AND VELYKI LUCHKY VILLAGES)

This paper analyzes the newly discovered archival documents and materials of periodicals focusing on the development of the Orthodox movement in the second half of the 1920s. As an example, the author singled out two localities where Orthodoxy manifested itself yet in the early 20th century. Emphasis is placed on the fact that over this period in Subcarpathian Rus no Orthodox jurisdiction was established and there was neither bishop nor administration. All these facts used to lead to chaos and disorder within the Orthodox movement. The author argues that the population who decided to leave the Greek Catholic Church did not wish to comply with the outdated Austro-Hungarian legislation. It was indeed discriminatory and needed immediate reform. Based on the archival documents, the paper suggests that local and central authorities did not pay sufficient attention to the religious issue in the region. Due to the study of the sources it can be asserted that the government officials and the President of the Republic did not have a well-elaborated position on resolving a possible religious conflict in Subcarpathian Rus. Ignoring the population’s legitimate demands for the allocation of premises for prayer meetings, led to the forcible seizure of churches and church property. The paper analyzes the content of the appeals and memoranda to the President and government officials in Prague, in which the Orthodox Christian population offered their vision of resolving the difficult situation. The Greek Catholic clergy’s position as well as the bishop’s position on the Orthodox movement are studied separately. The author traces the behavior of Orthodox priests in the mentioned localities. It has been concluded that the radicalization of the relations was caused by ordinary believers who did not want to follow the clergy’s instructions. This issue is insufficiently explored and requires further research.

The Effects of Land Redistribution: Evidence from the French Revolution

AbstractThis study exploits the confiscation and auctioning off of Catholic Church property that occurred during the French Revolution to assess the role played by transaction costs in delaying the...

Listening to the land: eco-rooted activism at the Charis community in Charlottesville, Virginia

The Charis Community is an intentional community on Episcopal Church property founded in 2014 in Charlottesville, Virginia. What began as a modest agrarian ministry on six acres of land grew into a powerful ministry of antiracist and antifascist community organizing through the white supremacist Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville in 2017. Through telling the story of Charis, I argue that our land-based ministry necessarily drew us into fighting many forms of systemic oppression. As we grew closer to the land and grew in our understanding of our stewardship of the land, the stories the land held—stories of oppression and resilience—shaped our vocation of fighting for justice.

Marta Rzepecka: Archiwum kapituły i parafii Opatów

The aim of the following article is to present and analyse the collection of the Chapter and Parish Archive in Opatów. The Opatów chapter, existing for over eight centuries, is one of the oldest Polish collegiate chapters. The canons of Opatów produced a great number of records, which constitute an important source for the regional history. Unfortunately, through the centuries the documents of this archive have been depleted due to numerous wars, partitions, church fires and because of borrowing of these documents.The author concentrates on the archival sources ffom the Chapter and Parish Archive in Opatów. Among others, there are statutes and detailed reports of the Opatów chapter meetings ffom the years 1762-1822 and 1848-1972, original documents issued for the chapter and its church sińce the 16® century, the records of the bishops of Sandomierz, consistory’s and diocesan curia’s correspondence, inventories of a church property and benefices of St Marcin Church in Opatów. This archive materiał includes, among other things, information on canons, the chapter, a church property and on the materiał and spiritual condition of the parishioners. The other collection (The Parish Archive in Opatów) holds mainly registers. There are birth, marriage, death records. The oldest records are baptism ones. They have been kept sińce the beginning of the 17® century. The oldest death records are ffom the end of the 17® century, while marriage ones ffom the first half of the 18® century. The registers are connected with the banns books of the intended marriages and prenuptial exams. In the above-mentioned collection there are such books ffom the 20® century. Apart ffom registers, interesting materiał to leam the history of the parish of Opatów can be found in petty cash ledgers and minutę books such ecclesiastical institutions as the Third Order of St Francis, Rosary Fratemity, rosary groups and "Caritas"

МОНАСТИРІ КИЇВСЬКОЇ ЄПАРХІЇ В УМОВАХ РЕАЛІЗАЦІЇ РАДЯНСЬКОЇ МОДЕЛІ ДЕРЖАВНО-ЦЕРКОВНИХ ВІДНОСИН (1920–1930-ТІ РОКИ)

У статті акцентовано увагу на ролі та значенні православних монастирів у формуванні морального здоров’я суспільства. Відродження цих інституцій у незалежній Україні сприймається як відродження національної ідентичності і національних цінностей, як ознака морального очищення суспільства, антитеза бездуховності та гонитві за матеріальним благополуччям. Сучасні православні монастирі в Україні перетворилися на центри паломництва і туризму, вони не обділені увагою сучасних політиків і діячів культури. На початку ХХ ст. монастирі Київської єпархії виконували значну господарську та соціокультурну функцію, перетворилися на потужні релігійно-культурні центри. Досліджено долю монастирів Київської єпархії у 1920–1930-х роках. З’ясовано, що у цей період на них випали вкрай важкі випробування. Монастирі і церковні общини позбавлялися права власності та статусу юридичної особи. Доведено, що у період 1919–1921 рр. закриття монастирів набуло особливо масового характеру, їх спосіб існування та доля насельників кардинально змінилися. Діяльність чернечих общин була спрямована у цей час на пошук можливих шляхів, які б забезпечили їх фізичне існування у соціалістичній державі. Необхідність налагодження церковного життя в нових умовах змусили Православну церкву шукати нові форми існування своїх інститутів. З’ясовано, що відповідно до чинного законодавства до 1922 р. майже в усіх монастирях Київської єпархії були утворені релігійні громади. У дея- ких обителях почали функціонувати сільськогосподарські артілі або трудові комуни. Конфіскація церковних цінностей, реорганізація та закриття монастирів і храмів відображали політику радянської держави у царині духовної культури того часу. Установлено, що радянська влада знайшла способи і методи, за допомогою яких було закриті монастирі і ліквідовано чернецтво як особливу соціальну групу людей в Україні.

Surplus sacred space: Reflections on the impending glut of US church property

Dramatically more churches will close in the US over the next decade as the numbers of self-identified Christians declines, the COVID-19 pandemic inflicts financial pain and the large number of church buildings become unwieldy. Churches that wish to survive must examine alternate uses for much of their overbuilt real estate. Congregations, developers and municipalities must be ready for how to redevelop empty church sites and how to convert existing churches to mixed use. Municipal agencies and developers must understand how to deal with churches, given the special nature of their mission and their decentralised management structures. This paper discusses how it is in the best interests of churches, developers and communities to plan for alternate uses of church properties. It concludes that collaboration on church redevelopment and repurposing will result in significant benefits for all involved. Brief case studies of four churches are presented, with relevant questions.

Dissolving the ‘Sacred Union’? The Disestablishment of the Church in Ireland

In 1869, Parliament disestablished the Church of Ireland, dissolving what Benjamin Disraeli called the ‘sacred union’ of church and state in Ireland. Disestablishment involved fundamental issues – the identity and purpose of the established church, the religious nature of the state, the morality of state appropriation of church property for secular uses, and the union of Ireland and Britain – and debate was carried on at a high intellectual level. With disestablishment, the Church of Ireland lost much of its property, but it recovered, now as an independent Episcopal church with a renewed mission. The idea of the United Kingdom as a semi-confessional Protestant state, however, was dealt a serious blow.

Bona fides (poštenje posjeda) kod zastare (praescriptio acquisitiva) i dosjelosti (usucapio) – prilog raspravi o suodnosu kanonskog i hrvatskog prava

The author analyses bona fides, or possession in good faith, as a prerequisite of the canonical praescriptio acquisitiva and the adverse possession as set forth in contemporary Croatian law in their interrelationship. The problem stems from the fact that the Treaty between the Holy See and the Republic of Croatia on legal matters, being an international treaty and thus having precedence over Croatian laws according to the Croatian constitution, in certain circumstances allows for a direct application of canon law within the Croatian legal system. The aim of this paper is to analyse whether this also applies to bona fides in adverse possession, and if so, in which way exactly. The canonical praescriptio in the context of the Roman legal tradition is analysed first in order to clarify certain terminological and conceptual discrepancies between canon law and Croatian law in this field. Bona fides regarding usucapio and praescriptio of Roman law and the Roman legal tradition is then particularly addressed. The central part of the paper deals with canonical bona fides, where it is specifically noted that it is a stricter standard in comparison to good faith as found in Croatian law. Canon law requires positive good faith throughout the whole required prescription period, meaning knowledge or a reasonable possibility of knowledge of having a right to possess, not infringing the right of another thereby. On the other hand, Croatian law requires knowledge or possibility of knowledge at the outset, while later on only acquired knowledge will render possession illicit. In addition, the Croatian standard of good faith is conceived more simply in comparison to the twofold canonical standard, i.e. only as the absence of knowledge or possibility of knowledge of not having a right to possess. Although both systems presume good faith, those differences may prove crucial if an interested party (owner of property being prescribed) offers evidence to the contrary. Finally, our analysis of the Treaty between the Holy See and the Republic of Croatia on legal matters revealed that the canonical standard of bona fides should be applied whenever a juridical person of the Catholic Church in Croatia acquires property by means of adverse possession, but by all accounts also when any other person acquires Church property in the same way.

STATE RELIGIOUS POLICY AND PROPERTY OF THE MONASTERIES OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH (LATE XVIII - EARLY XX CENTURY)

The article examines the state policy on the monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church in the late XVIII - early XX centuries. It was also examined the Russian government’s secularization policy on church property, especially monastic landownership and peasants, leading to the liquidation of many monasteries, and the remaining ones were deprived of their main sources of income and placed in economic dependence on the state. The monasteries that continued to exist were divided into three classes, the size of their funding and the staffing norms of the monks were set. All other monasteries that did not receive funding from the state became “regular” and could only exist at their own expense. During this period, the number of monasteries almost halved. The size of their land also decreased. It was found out that in the post-reform period the financial situation of the monasteries improved significantly, their sources of income were analyzed. They started becoming large landowners again, thanks to which they could significantly expand economic activity, the financial and economic position of the monasteries became quite strong. In particular, attention is focused on the economic activities of the Kyiv-Brotherhood Epiphany Monastery of the Kyiv Diocese. With the change of authorities in 1917, there were changes in the attitude of the state to Orthodox monasteries. The first decrees of the Soviet government concerning the issues of confiscation of monastic land holdings and property, their nationalization are analyzed. Monasteries and church communities were deprived of property rights and legal personality. All property of religious institutions, including monasteries, was transferred to the People’s Commissariat of Social Security. In the vast majority of Orthodox monasteries, the Soviet authorities turned them into economic objects or subjected them to complete destruction.