Church of Scotland

Currently, about 42% of the population of Scotland consider themselves to be adherents of this church, and the official number of its parishioners is 600 thousand people (12% of Scots (data for 2001 )). The total number of clergymen of the church exceeds 1,400, the number of church parishes in Scotland is about 1,500, united in 43 presbytery .

Unlike the Church of England , the Church of Scotland is not subordinate to the state and, being national in nature, is not legally recognized as a “state church.” The monarch of Great Britain is not the head of the Scottish church, as well as the English one (although in the Church of England he is the supreme ruler, the main manager of property). At the coronation, the monarch is obliged to take an oath to protect the security of the Church of Scotland. At meetings of the General Assembly , the highest governing body of the Church of Scotland, the Queen is represented by the Lord High Commissioner , who, however, has purely representative functions.

Through the clergy system, the church ensures its presence in all the parishes of Scotland (usually one priest per parish). In addition to caring for the congregation, the church also undertakes to serve in the interests of all Scots, in particular, most of the cemeteries are run by the Church of Scotland. In addition, by redistributing funds from the rich parishes in the central part of the country, religious life is maintained in remote parts of Scotland. The church is also involved in ensuring the universality of education, with the goal, mainly, that everyone can read the Bible , but from the second half of the 19th century, schools were removed from the church. The Church of Scotland is also the largest institution for social support for various population groups in the country, including the elderly, alcohol and drug addicts, the mentally ill, and the homeless.

The Church of Scotland has historically always actively participated in the political life of the country. Currently, the church has a special committee on relations between the church and society. The church strongly opposes nuclear weapons programs, supports the transfer of part of the functions of the central administration of Great Britain to regional and local levels, and actively participated in the movement to expand Scottish autonomy, which led to the re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1997 .

• Abortions . The embryo is a human being from the moment of conception, and therefore artificial termination of pregnancy is possible only in case of a threat to the life of the mother. ( General Assembly Resolution 1996 )
• Adoption . The main principle: the interests of children first. The best conditions for the child can be created only in couples who have entered into marriage, however, the church also supports proposals for allowing joint adoption of children by non-marital couples, including persons of the same sex. ( Church Statement 2005 )
• ' Registered partnerships .: The question of performing church ceremonies with persons who have entered into partnerships (including same-sex ones) is at the discretion of parish clergymen. Performing church rituals related to the conclusion of a same-sex union is not a disciplinary offense by a priest, but at the same time, every priest has the right to refuse to perform them. ( General Assembly Resolution 2006 )
• Euthanasia . The Church of Scotland opposes any form of euthanasia. ( 2006 Church Statement )

Organizationally, the Church of Scotland is built on Presbyterian principles of church government . Recently the post of bishop is present in the Church. The lower level of the organization is the congregation, governed by church sessions ( Kirk Session ), which usually includes one clergyman ( minister ) and several authoritative parishioners - "elders" ( elder ), elected by the population for long periods. Church sessions are subordinate to regional collegial governing bodies - the presbytery , which are formed from representatives of the parishes in the region. Currently in the Church of Scotland are more than 40 presbytery. The highest governing body of the church is the general assembly , which meets annually in Edinburgh . In the modern structure of the church there are no synods as an intermediate link between the presbytery and the assembly, abolished in the early 1990s.

Each of the governing bodies of the Church of Scotland is headed by a moderator . In church sessions, the clergyman usually performs the functions of a moderator, and the presbytery and the general assembly elect a moderator from among their members for one year. The moderator performs representational and organizational functions, but does not have any special rights or privileges in church matters, and is not an official representative of the church. The headquarters of the Church of Scotland is located in Edinburgh in a building on 121 George Street, designed by Sydney Mitchell in 1909-1911 .

At the root of the organization of the Church of Scotland was the leader of the Scottish Reformation, John Knox . Arriving in the country in 1559 , Knox, as a student of Jean Calvin , led the movement of the Scottish nobility and citizens against the Catholic Church . Already in 1560 , the Reformation won: the Scottish Parliament approved the elimination of the jurisdiction of the Pope and the Protestant symbol of faith . The decisions of Parliament were ratified by King Jacob VI in 1572. For the next century, there was a struggle in Scotland between supporters and opponents of the abolition of the episcopate . The ideological leader of the fighters for pure Presbyterianism was Andrew Melville , whose views formed the basis of the modern Presbyterian system of church government . At the end of the 16th century, the General Assembly became the supreme body of the Scottish church. However, gradually the king was able to revive the role of bishops and reduce the influence of the collegial bodies of the church.

After assuming the throne of Scotland, Charles I in 1625 , the royal government launched an offensive against the independence of the church of Scotland. Charles I tried to introduce the Anglican liturgy into Presbyterian liturgy , which caused an uprising in Scotland in 1637 , which grew into a general movement in defense of the Presbyterian church. At the beginning of 1638 , the rebels signed the “ National Covenant ” , which laid the dogmatic basis of the Scottish church, and soon the General Assembly decided to abolish the episcopate . Attempts by the king to suppress the movement ended with the victory of the covenanters in the Episcopal Wars of 1639 - 1640 . The Scots went to an alliance with the English Parliament, and according to the results of the joint work of the theologians of both states, in 1647 the Church of Scotland approved the " Westminster Confession ", which until now is the main source of Presbyterian doctrine.

The post of bishop in the Scottish church was restored after the Restoration of 1660. The covenanter continued the struggle, but only after the Glorious Revolution , in 1690 , the Presbyterian system received the legislative guarantees of the state. At the same time, an independent Scottish Episcopal Church stood out.

Nevertheless, a serious contradiction between the independence of the Church of Scotland and Scottish civil law persisted in the country. Ordinary courts continued to intervene in church affairs, especially in the appointment of clergy. This caused a divergence of views between the various currents in the Scottish church, which in 1843 led to a split: supporters of complete autonomy of the church from the secular authorities formed the Free Church of Scotland . Several other religious organizations of the Presbyterian persuasion, which are in opposition to the official Church of Scotland, have been formed. Only in 1921 , when the Parliament of Great Britain adopted the “Law on the Church of Scotland”, which established the full sovereignty of the church in the religious sphere, conditions were created for the association of Presbyterian organizations. In 1929 , the United Free Church (established in 1900 from the United Presbyterian Church and the majority of the members of the Free Church) again became part of the Church of Scotland.

Some independent Presbyterian religious organizations continue to exist. These are, for example, the Free Church (based on the part that refused to merge in 1900), the United Free Church of Scotland, the Associated Presbyterian Churches.

As with all Christian churches, the bible is the dogmatic basis of the religion adopted by the Church of Scotland. The next most important document containing the general principles of the interpretation of the Holy Scripture is the “ Westminster Confession ” of 1647.

The Church of Scotland does not have an obligatory prayer book, but there are official books of church hymns and a “Guide to Public Worship,” which defines the procedure for carrying out church rites. Traditionally, the singing of psalms plays an important role in the Scottish church service, but recently the role of other types of church music has increased. Usually service in the Church of Scotland lasts about an hour and consists of alternating singing of hymns and prayers, and the climax occurs during the fifteen-minute sermon at the end of the service. Lunch in the Presbyterian Church is not used. At the same time, parish priests have a fairly wide freedom in choosing the style and method of worship, so services may sometimes look a little experimental. At present, in many parishes modern collections of church chants, reflecting the latest trends in church music. In addition, the participation of parishioners in the implementation of worship.

Being a Protestant church, Presbyterianism recognizes only two church sacraments : baptism and the Eucharist (communion). The Church of Scotland practices the baptism of both adult believers and children. Communion can take the adherent of any Christian denomination. The Church of Scotland takes the sacrament of holy communion very seriously, and most parish churches celebrate the Eucharist only three or four times a year.

Theologically, the Church of Scotland is one of the reformist churches of the Calvinist faith . However, since one of the fundamental principles of the church is “freedom of opinion on matters not related to the essence of dogma,” the Scottish church is quite tolerant of various religious and ethical views within the framework of the Calvinist doctrine.

The Church of Scotland is part of the “Joint Action of Churches in Scotland” organization and through its committee on church affairs interacts with other religious organizations in the country. The modern cooperation of Scottish Presbyterians with representatives of other faiths contrasts with the sharp hostility of the church to the Irish Catholics - immigrants in the early XX century . The Church of Scotland is also a member of the World Council of Churches and the Conference of European Churches .

The motto of the Church of Scotland is nec tamen consumebatur ( lat. ): “It has not yet burned” (paraphrase verse 3: 2 from the book of Exodus about a burning but burning bush).

Currently, the Church of Scotland is experiencing a number of serious problems. Since the 1950s. the number of parishioners is steadily decreasing, there are financial problems, and the unresolved legal status of old religious buildings. Until recently, the church lacked clerics, although in recent years the number of people willing to become priests began to grow. Also relevant is the problem of increasing the average age of church members.

Since 1958 , all positions in the Church of Scotland have been open to women on an equal footing with men. Currently, women constitute the majority of the clergy. However, it was only in 2004 that the woman was first elected as a moderator of the general assembly (Alison Elliot). She also became the first secular person elected to this post from the time of George Buchanan in the middle of the XVI century .

From the period of the Reformation, one of the main principles of the Church of Scotland is the statement that it is ecclesia reformata semper reformanda ( lat. - a reformed church, always in the process of reform). One of the last manifestations of the Reformed spirit of the Scottish church is the report of the 2001 General Assembly “A Church Without Walls”, in which the emphasis is not on the church institutions, but on the ordinary life of the parishioners.

• The official website of the Church of Scotland (eng.)
• The report "Church without walls" (English language)

• Protestantism in the UK