A ''prestegjeld'' was a geographic and administrative area within the Church of Norway (''Den Norske Kirke'') roughly equivalent to a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

. This traditional designation was in use for centuries to divide the kingdom into ecclesiastical areas that were led by a parish priest. ''Prestegjelds'' began in the 1400s and were officially discontinued in 2012.

History

Prior to the discontinuation of the ''prestegjeld'', Norway was geographically divided into 11 dioceses (''bispedømme''). Each diocese was further divided into deaneries (''prosti''). Each of those deaneries were divided into several parishes (''prestegjeld''). Each parish was made up of one or more sub-parishes or congregations (''sogn'' or ''sokn''). Within a ''prestegjeld'', there were usually one or more clerical positions (

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

s) serving under the administration of a head minister (''sogneprest'' or ''sokneprest''). In 1838, the formannskapsdistrikt law was passed in Norway and it created civil municipalities that corresponded to the same borders as the ecclesiastical ''prestegjelds''. Prior to that time there was no local government in Norway apart from the church's parishes. Today's municipalities have changed some, but their roots are all based on the prestegjeld. Historically, the government employed all the priests working in all of the ''prestegjelds'' across Norway. In 1989, the law was changed so that each diocese employed the priests within its areas. Between 2004 and 2012, the ''prestegjeld'' was phased out of the Church of Norway. The new structure replaced the ''prestegjeld'' with the already-existing deanery (''prosti''). The ''sokn'' (sub-parishes or congregations) are the basic units of the church and all of the ''sokn'' within each municipality in Norway forms a governing church council for the municipality. The municipal church councils are part of a deanery and the deaneries are part of a diocese. Also in this reform, priests are now employed by the deaneries.

References

{{reflist Church of Norway