§ 123. The Present-Day Parish Organization
The parish organization and the manner of appointing parish superiors is today regulated by particular legal ordinances in the individual autocephalous churches.
1. In all the Eastern autocephalous churches the parishes are very extensive. In every parish (ἐνορία) there is one principal church, at which, with few exceptions, there are at least three priests and one deacon, and of these priests one is the parish priest (προεστώς). He conducts the official correspondence of the parish, and likewise the parish registers; he alone is responsible before the authority for the parish. He is appointed by the diocesan bishop, after the bishop has first heard the opinion of the people regarding the person concerned. The parish priest recognizes no other superior save his own bishop, on whom he stands in immediate dependence. The other two priests, or more if there are more, and likewise the deacon, are chosen by the parish priest together with representatives of the people of the parish concerned, and are confirmed by the diocesan bishop. These priests (ἐφημέριοι) perform the pastoral office in the parish in turn, and the eldest among them by years, who is called πνευματικός, performs the office of confessor for the whole parish, and he ordinarily alone has the right to hear confession. Besides the stole fees (τὰ τυχηρά), all the sacred and other persons who are in the service of the parish church receive their maintenance from the church community.[1]
2. In the Kingdom of Greece the parishes are organized by the law of 8 June 1856. They are divided into three classes: rural, market-town, and city. The smallest are of 25 families, the largest of 400 families. According to the number of families there is at every parish from one to three priests, and in the larger parishes there is always also a deacon of its own. The bishop of the diocese appoints the parish priests, and likewise the deacons.[2]
3. In the Kingdom of Serbia the parishes regularly have from 300 to 400 households.[3] The diocesan bishop appoints the parish priest in person, after the person concerned has been chosen for the parish in question by competition.[4] The maintenance of the parish priest comes from the tax [bir] which the competent civil authority collects and delivers into the priest’s house,[5] and from the stole fees.[6]
4. In Russia the right to establish new parishes belongs to the diocesan bishop, with the approval of the synod. At every parish that has fewer than 700 male souls there is a priest and a psalomshchik [reader/chanter]; where there are more than 700, there is also a deacon.[7] The appointment of the parish priest, and likewise of the other staff at the parish churches, belongs to the diocesan bishop, on the proposal of the consistory.[8]
5. In the Bulgarian Exarchate the parishes consist of 150 to 300 households.[9] The parish priest is elected by the general assembly of all the parishioners together with the clergy of the parish concerned, under the presidency of the district church overseer (district protopresbyter), and is confirmed by the diocesan bishop, after he has first heard the opinion of the consistory (diocesan council).[10] Besides the stole fees,[11] every parish priest in the villages receives a supplementary stipend of 480 leva, and in the towns from 600 to 720 leva; and this stipend they regularly receive in three installments a year through the district church overseers.[12]
6. In the Metropolitanate of Karlovci the parish organization is regulated by the Rescript of 1868. Usually one parish consists on average of 2,000 souls with its own particular parish priest, and where there are 2–4,000 souls, the parish priest is given one appointed assistant, where there are more than 4–6,000, two, more than 6,000, three, and, as the service requires, even four.[13] Every church community may also have a deacon, if it shows that it is able to maintain him.[14] The appointment of the parish priest, and likewise of the appointed assistants and deacons, takes place upon a competition announced by the consistory. The consistory examines the applications of the competitors, and those who possess the prescribed qualities it refers to the community, that is, to the local church assembly, which then carries out the election in the presence of a representative of the consistory. Confirmation of the election belongs to the consistory.[15] Candidates for the parish office undergo an examination, from which only professors of theology, if they have taught excellently for three years, and catechists of secondary schools, if they have served excellently for five years, are exempt. These examinations are held regularly once a year at the see of the diocesan bishop, for all who aspire to obtain a parish office. The examining board is appointed by the diocesan bishop from among the priestly members of the consistory, a professor of theology (in the archdiocese), and from among actual parish priests.[16] The annual clerical remuneration consists of an allotment of land, or compensation for it, and of an annual salary in money in place of the tax [bir] and of the stole fees. This pay is fixed in permanent sums divided into grades, and accordingly the parishes and parish-assistantships are divided into six classes with pay from 400 to 1,000 forints, while deacons receive at least 400 forints a year. Parish priests also have their own particular residence, and likewise receive fuel. For the various pastoral duties performed at the request of parishioners, the priest is paid according to the established fee schedule.[17]
7. In the Metropolitanate of Sibiu the parish organization is similar to that in the Metropolitanate of Karlovci, and is regulated by the Organic Statute of 1869. Parish priests, chaplains, and deacons are elected by the parish assembly under the presidency of the district protopresbyter. A candidate for parish priest is anyone who has passed the prescribed examination with good success before the special examining board at the see of the diocesan bishop. The record of the election by the assembly is submitted by the protopresbyter to the consistory, which, when it finds everything in order, proposes him to the diocesan bishop for final decision. The bishop then appoints the person concerned as parish priest and issues him the corresponding letter of institution.[18]
8. The parish organization in the Bukovina-Dalmatian Metropolitanate is regulated separately for Bukovina and separately for the Dalmatian dioceses.
a) In Bukovina the organization of parishes followed in the year 1843, on the basis of which, with subsequent additions, today’s organization exists. At every parish church there is an independent parish priest, whom the diocesan bishop appoints, after hearing the opinion of the consistory,[19] and after the prescribed examination has been passed.[20] There likewise exists, as in the Russian Church, a permanent psalomshchik, who, besides assisting at divine worship, also assists the parish priest in the conduct of the official parish business.[21] At larger parishes there is also a parish assistant, who is, moreover, in every respect dependent on the parish priest.[22] At smaller churches, in place of a parish priest, administrators are appointed. The parish clergy receive their maintenance from the Orthodox Bukovinian Religious Fund.[23]
b) In the dioceses of Dalmatia and Boka Kotorska the parishes were organized in 1853. The diocesan bishop appoints the parish priest, after hearing the opinion of the consistory, and after the priest concerned has passed the prescribed examination.[24] A provisional institution for the remuneration of the parish clergy was issued in December 1887. According to this institution, parishes are divided into three classes, and the parish priests receive the corresponding supplement to their congrua from the state treasury, as likewise do the administrators of parishes and the chaplains.[25]
9. In the Kingdom of Romania the parishes are organized by the law of 1893. In every principal parish there is, besides the parish priest, also a deacon. The parish priests are appointed by the diocesan bishop in agreement with the Minister of Church Affairs. Preference among the candidates for parish posts is given to doctors and licentiates of theology. Besides the stole fees, every parish priest receives 200 francs a month if he is a doctor or licentiate of theology, 100 francs a month if he has completed the ordinary seminary course. Deacons who serve at the principal churches receive the same remuneration. After every ten years of service every parish priest receives a 20 percent increase of his original salary.[26]
10. In Montenegro the parishes have been organized in more recent times, and each has from 150 to 300 households. The diocesan bishop appoints the parish priests in agreement with the princely government. The remuneration of the parish clergy was regulated in 1900.[27]