The Evangelical Church Berlin - Brandenburg - Silesian Upper Lusatia (, EKBO) is a United Protestant church body in the German states of Brandenburg, Berlin and a part of Saxony (historical region of Silesian Upper Lusatia).
The seat of the church is in Berlin. It is a full member of the Evangelical Church in Germany (), and is a church of the Prussian Union. The leader of the church is bishop Dr. Markus Dröge (2010). The EKBO is one of 20 Lutheran, Reformed, and United churches of the EKD and is itself a United church. The church has 774,820 members (December 2024) in 694 parishes.Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland – Kirchemitgliederzahlen Stand 31. Dezember 2024 EKD The church is a member of the Union of Evangelical Churches in the EKD () and the Communion 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.
Background The theology of the church goes back to Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. Since 1927 the ordination of women has been allowed, and the blessing of same-sex unions has been allowed by the synod but depends on the local presbytery ().
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 (), 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 Protestant 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 (formerly Schweidnitz). But on 4 December 1946 Poland deported Hornig from Wrocław (formerly Breslau) beyond the Lusatian Neiße, where he took his new seat in the German part of the now 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 () - 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 () 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 word "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, 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 Evangelical 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. Ordination of women became allowed. In June 2017, the church voted to allow same-sex marriages in its churches.EKBO.de: Die evangelische Kirche in Berlin-Brandenburg traut ab sofort Paare (German) , June 2017
Leading persons and bishops in history Today the leading bishop is elected for ten years from the synod and can be reelected for a second term. Since 1817, when the Lutheran, Calvinist and newly founded united congregations formed a common administrative umbrella, later called Evangelical Church in Prussia's older Provinces, the area comprised by today's church body formed part of the two old-Prussian ecclesiastical provinces of Silesia () and of the March of Brandenburg (). Until 1933/1934 the spiritual leaders of the Evangelical Church were called general superintendents () with regional competences. The adulteration of the church constitution by the Nazi-submissive German Christians was accompanied by new titles (provincial bishop, ) with hierarchical supremacy over parishioners and church employees, and renamings (provosts instead of general superintendents). After 1945 the offices of general superintendents as spiritual leaders were reconstituted. The two ecclesiastical provinces assumed independence as the Evangelical Church of Silesia (as of 1947) and the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg (as of 1948) when their respective provincial synods legislated new church constitutions. Both independent regional Protestant church bodies created its office of an elected chairperson called bishop, in Protestant tradition of course without hierarchical supremacy. After the merger of both churches in 2004, Wolfgang Huber was elected as the first bishop of the merged Evangelical Church in Berlin - Brandenburg - Silesian Upper Lusatia (.
Chairmen of the March of Brandenburg ecclesiastical province The general superintendents for the different areas were rotating in the spiritual leadership within the provincial consistory, seated in Berlin.
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 The general superintendency was called in . 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) 1633 – 1829: vacancy, the function of general superintendent was taken by the recently formed Marcher Consistory (Märkisches Konsistorium), consisting of Lutheran and Reformed (Calvinist) members 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 superintendent for the Governorate of Frankfurt upon Oder 1829–1836: Wilhelm Ross The general superintendency of Frankfurt was merged with Lower Lusatia into New March-Lower Lusatia in 1836.
General superintendents of Lower Lusatia The general superintendency was seated in Lübben. The general superintendency of Frankfurt was merged with Lower Lusatia into New Narch-Lower-Lusatia in 1836.
1711–1715: Johann Christian Adami 1715–1811: ? 1811–1836: Friedrich Brescius (1766–1842), still appointed by the Saxon government
General superintendents of the New March-Lower Lusatia The general superintendency was seated in Cottbus.
1836–1842: Friedrich Brescius (1766–1842) 1842–1853: ? 1853–1884: Carl Büchsel 1884–1900: ? 1900–1909?: D. Theodor Braun (?-1911) 1909?–1925?: Hans Keßler (1856-1939) 1925–1933: D. Ernst Vits, pensioned off by State Commissioner August Jäger.
Bishopric of the March of Brandenburg 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. The bishops were subordinate to the newly instituted State Bishop () of the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union, Ludwig Müller. During Church Affair Minister Hanns Kerrl's attempt to force the Confessing Church and the officially recognised hierarchy to reunite, 1935–1937, many outspoken Nazi protagonists were furloughed. After the attempts to compromise the Confessing Church opposition turned out less successful than expected many functions remained simply vacant and the Church Affair Ministry and its favourites usurped direct influence by orders and ordinances.
Provincial Bishop for Brandenburg 1933, September - November: Joachim Hossenfelder 1933, November - 1945: vacancy due to the struggle of the churches
Provincial Bishop for Berlin 1933 - 1934: D. Emil Karow (resigned in opposition to the Nazi-obedient State Bishop Ludwig Müller) 1934 - 1945: vacancy due to the struggle of the churches
Kurmark (1933–1945) While the Nazi-streamlined provost was subordinate to the Bishopric of Berlin, the general superintendent ignored his illegitimate furlough and continued to serve, however, accepted only by the non-schismatic Confessing Church congregations.
1933 - 1936: Provost Fritz Loerzer 1936 - 1939: Provost Georg Heimerdinger (1875-1967) 1939 - 1945: Provost Fritz Loerzer
1934 - 1945: Gen. Supt. D. Dr. Otto Dibelius,
New March-Lower Lusatia (1933–1945) The Nazi-streamlined provost was subordinate to the Bishopric of Berlin.