The Organisation of the Reformed Church of Transylvania in the 16th Century (III.)

Subtitle
Pastoral Visitation of Congregation Members and the Visitation of Congregations by the Deans
Contributor

According to Wilhelm Zepper, church government has two distinctive responsibilities: the
meeting (synodus) and the inspection or control (visitatio). The visitation of the members of a
congregation (visitatio domestica) is the most useful and most important of all kinds of visitations
in the Church. The duty of the local minister is not only to preach from the pulpit once or twice
a week. He needs to know the members of his congregation personally. These personal meetings
also belong to the area of pastoral care. Some congregation members could be prohibited to
participate in the regular church service due to some kind of illness or weakness. They would,
nonetheless, need to be strengthened by the word of God considering their special condition.
The official visitation (visitatio specialis) of the inspector (dean) of the classis should take place at
least once a year. The dean inspecting the life of the church is accompanied during these
visitations by a few colleagues and the local state authority.

Tartalom bibliográfiai hivatkozása

Buzogány Dezső: The Organisation of the Reformed Church of Transylvania in the 16th Century (III.). Pastoral Visitation of Congregation Members and the Visitation of Congregations by the Deans. In: Református Szemle 115.1 (2022), 62--68