Consistory (Protestantism)

[1] The meaning and the scope of functions varies strongly, also along the separating lines of the Protestant denominations and church bodies.

[2] In the Lutheran or Reformed states of imperial immediacy in the Holy Roman Empire episcopal offices were not staffed any more and the secular government assumed the function of the bishop (summepiscopate, summus episcopus), looked after by the consistories.

In countries under French influence the Protestants, Calvinists and Lutherans alike (and the Jews as well, see Israelite consistories), made use of the term in the beginning of the nineteenth century with the enactment of the Organic Articles, when the movement for political emancipation demanded the creation of a representative body, whereas Napoleon's government simultaneously aimed at gaining influence onto the non-Catholic religious bodies.

Furthermore, the desire for reform among the educated classes demanded the creation of a body vested with authority to render religious decisions.

By the French Organic Articles each time several parishes (paroisses) of the EPCAAL form a consistory (consistoire), terming the board and its district alike.

When John Calvin was invited to take over supervision of the Reformed Church of Geneva (EPG), he insisted on the creation there of a new disciplinary institution called the Consistory, and drafted the ecclesiastical ordinances that created it himself in November 1541.

[1] If the charges proved of substance, the consistory had a range of options including referring the person for counselling or, in more severe cases, to the civil courts.

[1] Also in the Protestant Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine (EPRAL) several parishes form a consistory (consistoire), with the term used for the board and its district alike.

[4] As religious statutory law corporations the consistories have legal entity status, holding property of their own and receiving contributions from member parishes.

This consistory was founded in 1543 and underwent a number of alterations of its official naming and functions in compliance with the development of the constitution of the church.

In the Protestant Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine four consistories form district organisations each comprising several parishes.

EPCAAL 's Supreme Consistory in Strasbourg
APU 's Berlin Consistory sat in the Collegienhaus between 1737 and 1826, sharing it with the Kammergericht , and again from 1913 to 1945 as the sole user.
APU 's former Posen-West Prussia Consistory , now the office of an oil and gas drilling company in Piła .
The Dokkum Consistoriekamer (consistorial chamber), venue of the Reformed local church elders.
EPG 's Genevan Consistory : Session in the time of Calvin .
EKBO 's Berlin Consistory , former building
Palatine Regional Church Council, called the Speyer Consistory until 1921
Pomeranian Church District Administration, called the PEK 's Greifswald Consistory until 2012