The Preses of the

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church ...

is a

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox a ...

who leads the Bishops' Conference of the church as one who is

primus inter pares ''Primus inter pares'' is a Latin phrase meaning first among equals. It is typically used as an honorary title for someone who is formally equal to other members of their group but is accorded unofficial respect, traditionally owing to their se ...

(first, among equals). The name comes from the Latin word ''

Praeses ''Praeses'' (Latin ''praesides'') is a Latin word meaning "placed before" or "at the head". In antiquity, notably under the Roman Dominate, it was used to refer to Roman governors; it continues to see some use for various modern positions. ...

'' which means "placed before" or "at the head". In 2011, the office of Preses was changed by law to be a 12th permanent bishopric within the Church of Norway. Prior to 2011, it was an elected position from within the 11 diocesan bishops that made up the Bishops' Conference of the Church of Norway.

The first permanent Preses was Helga Haugland Byfuglien who was appointed to the position on 25 March 2011 by the

Cabinet of Norway The Council of State ( Norwegian: ''Statsrådet''), is a formal body composed of the most senior government ministers chosen by the Prime Minister, and functions as the collective decision-making organ constituting the executive branch of t ...

, and she officially took over on 2 October 2011 at the next meeting of the Bishops' Conference. She retired in 2020 and was replaced by

Olav Fykse Tveit Olav Fykse Tveit (born 24 November 1960) is a Norwegian Lutheran theologian and bishop, and the current Preses of the Bishops' Conference of the Church of Norway. He was elected to the post of general secretary of the World Council of Churches ...

. The Preses is a bishop, but is the only bishop in the Church of Norway who does not oversee a

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...

. Rather, this bishopric primarily oversees the work of the Bishops' Conference and the duties assigned to it by the conference. The Preses is based at the

Nidaros Cathedral Nidaros Cathedral ( no, Nidarosdomen / Nidaros Domkirke) is a Church of Norway cathedral located in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county. It is built over the burial site of King Olav II (c. 995–1030, reigned 1015–1028), who became t ...

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, an ...

, along with the Bishop of the

Diocese of Nidaros Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Trøndelag county in Central Norway and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. Since 10 September 2017, the Bishop of Nidaros is Herborg ...

. The Preses is also the dean of the Nidaros domprosti (

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or reside ...

) in central

History

The Preses of the Bishops' Conference ( no, Preses i Bispemøtet) was the official title of the elected leader of the Bishops' Conference since 1932. Before that time, the name was unofficially used along with "chairman" of the conference. Since 2011, the title is no longer elected, but a permanent bishopric. The Church of Norway separated from the

Church of Denmark The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark or National Church, sometimes called the Church of Denmark ( da, Folkekirken, literally: "The People's Church" or unofficially da, Den danske folkekirke, literally: "The Danish People's Church"; kl, ...

in 1814 when the union with Denmark ended. The Bishops of the Church of Norway met together rarely, with only minutes from 1877 and 1915 surviving. The Bishop of the Diocese of Kristiania served as the chairman of both meetings. This was a reflection of the fact that the royal court

order of precedence An order of precedence is a sequential hierarchy of nominal importance and can be applied to individuals, groups, or organizations. Most often it is used in the context of people by many organizations and governments, for very formal and state o ...

from 1817 until the 1920s ranked the Bishop of Kristiania (Oslo) firmly in front of the other bishops. In 1934, the Bishops' conference was formalized by the law that was adopted by

Johan Ludwig Mowinckel Johan Ludwig Mowinckel (22 October 1870 – 30 September 1943) was a Norwegian statesman, shipping magnate and philanthropist. He served as the 16th prime minister of Norway during three separate terms. Biography Johan Ludwig Mowinckel was born ...

's 3rd government such that the Bishop of Oslo was elected by the bishops as the Preses for each meeting. In 1984, the rules were adjusted so that the Preses was not elected for each individual meeting session, but rather they were elected for one year at a time. In 1998 the Bishop of Oslo,

Andreas Aarflot Andreas Aarflot (born 1 July 1928) is a Norwegian theologian and bishop emeritus in the Church of Norway. He was bishop of Oslo from 1977 to 1998. Early life Aarflot was born in Yiyang, China where his mother and father served the Norwegian Mi ...

, resigned as bishop (and preses) and the other bishops decided that the rules should be changed and that the elections for Preses should be every four years rather than annually and that it would not have to be the Bishop of Oslo. Bishop

Odd Bondevik Odd Bondevik (20 June 1941 – 6 September 2014) was a Norwegian theologian who was the Bishop of the Diocese of Møre in the Church of Norway from 17 November 1991 until retirement in 2008. He also served as Preses of the Bishop's Conference o ...

, the Bishop of the Diocese of Møre was elected, the first time a non-Oslo bishop was elected. In 2011, the government of Norway changed the law to create a permanent Preses. The first permanent Preses was Helga Haugland Byfuglien. On 17 October 2019,

, the current General Secretary of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...

, was nominated to be the next Preses. He took office in 2020.

List of elected Preses

*1877:

Carl Peter Parelius Essendrop Carl Peter Parelius Essendrop (6 June 1818 – 18 October 1893) was a Norwegian Lutheran priest, educator and Bishop of Oslo. Biography Essendrop was born Christiania (now Oslo), Norway. He was the son of Peter Essendrop (1776-1819) an ...

, chairman because he was the highest ranking bishop (Oslo) *1915:

Jens Frølich Tandberg Jens Frølich Tandberg (May 13, 1852 – March 21, 1922) was the bishop of Oslo from 1912 to 1922. Tandberg was born in Hausvik, Norway. He was the son of Jørgen Tandberg, who served as the bishop of the Diocese of Kristiansand from 188 ...

, chairman because he was the highest ranking bishop (Oslo) *1917–1922:

, elected by bishops for each meeting *1922–1937:

Johan Lunde Johan Peter Lunde (25 December 1866 – 12 February 1938) was a Norwegian theologian and Bishop of the Diocese of Oslo. Biography Lunde was born at Lillehammer, Norway. He was the son of Knud Truls Wiel Lunde (1827–1915) and Mariane Sophie Br ...

, elected by bishops for each meeting *1937–1951:

Eivind Berggrav Eivind Josef Berggrav (25 October 1884 – 14 January 1959) was a Norwegian Lutheran bishop. As primate of the Church of Norway (Norwegian: ''Preses i Bispemøtet i Den norske kirke''), Berggrav became known for his unyielding resistance a ...

, elected by bishops for each meeting *1951–1968:

Johannes Smemo Johannes Smemo (31 July 1898–7 March 1973) was a Norwegian theologian, psalmist, and a long-time bishop in the Church of Norway. Theologically, he was a conservative, confessional Lutheran priest who lived during the time of great liberal- ...

, elected by bishops for each meeting *1968–1972: Fridtjov Birkeli, elected by bishops for each meeting *1973–1977: Kaare Støylen, elected by bishops for each meeting *1977–1998:

, elected by bishops for each meeting (1977–1984); elected by the bishops annually (1984–1998) *1998–2002:

, elected by the bishops for four years *2002–2006:

Finn Wagle Finn Wagle (born 19 June 1941) is a theologian and a former bishop of Nidaros in the Church of Norway. He was also the Preses (''Primus inter pares'', “first among equals”) and thus presided over the Bishop's Conference in the Church of Nor ...

, elected by the bishops for four years *2006–2010:

Olav Skjevesland Olav Skjevesland (31 May 19428 September 2019) was a Norwegian theologian and priest. He was the Bishop of the Diocese of Agder og Telemark from 1998 until his retirement in 2012, and since that time he was a Bishop Emeritus. He was also the ...

, elected by the bishops for four years *2010–2011: Helga Haugland Byfuglien, elected by the bishops until the new permanent Preses was in place

List of permanent Preses

*2011–2020: Helga Haugland Byfuglien *2020-present:

References

External links

Official Bispemøtet site
{{authority control Primates of the Church of Norway Church of Norway