To proceed to details. At the present day there is no established
religion in the United States, the German empire as a whole, Holland,
Belgium, France and Austria-Hungary (saving, indeed, "the rights of the
sovereign arising from ecclesiastical dignity"[1]); whereas there are
religious establishments in Russia, Greece, Sweden, Norway, Denmark,
Prussia,[2] Spain, Portugal and even in Italy, as well as in England and
Scotland. These, however, differ greatly amongst themselves. In Russia
the "Orthodox Catholic Eastern" is the state religion. The emperor is,
by the fundamental laws of the empire, "the sovereign defender and
protector of the dogmas of the dominant faith, who maintains orthodoxy
and holy discipline within the Church," although, of course, he cannot
modify either its dogmas or its outward order. Further, "the autocratic
(i.e. imperial) power acts in the ecclesiastical administration by means
of the Most Holy Ruling Synod, created by it"; and all the officers of
the Church are appointed by it. The enactments of the Synod do not
become law till they have received the emperor's sanction, and are then
published, not in its name but in his; and a large part of the revenues
of the Church is derived from state subsidies. In Greece "the dominant
religion ([Greek: Eh epikratousa threskeia]) is that of the Eastern
Orthodox Church of Christ"; and although toleration is otherwise
complete, no proselytism from the Church of Greece is allowed. The king
swears to protect it, but no powers pertain to him with regard to it
such as those which the tsar enjoys; the present king is not a member of
it, but his successors must be. In Sweden, Lutheranism was adopted as
the state religion by the synod of Upsala (_Upsala mote_) in 1593, and
the king must profess it. The "Lutheran Protestant Church" retains an
episcopal order, and is supported out of its own revenues. Archbishops
and bishops are chosen by the king out of those names submitted to him,
and he also nominates to royal peculiars. The ecclesiastical law
(_Kyrkolag_), first constituted in 1686, is part of the law of the
state, but may not be modified or abrogated without consent of a General
Synod; and although _ad interim_ interpretations of that law may be
given by the king on the advice of the Supreme Court, since 1866 these
have been subject to review and rejection by the next General Synod. In
Norway the "Evangelical-Lutheran" is the "official religion," but the
Church is supported by the state, its property having been secularized.
It is also more subject to the king, who by the constitution is to
"regulate all that concerns divine service and the clergy," and to see
that the prescribed order is carried out. It is much the same in
Denmark, where, however, the "Evangelical-Lutheran Church" has since the
fundamental constitutional law of the 5th of June 1849 been officially
described as the National Church (_Folkekirche_) instead of the State
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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