Ecclesiastical Ordinances

The Ecclesiastical Ordinances were the foundational laws introduced by John Calvin in Geneva in 1541 to organize the structure and discipline of the Reformed church.^[1] This had been requested by the Genevan authorities after he had been called back from exile, and were strongly influenced by his stay in Martin Bucer's Strasbourg.^[2] They defined four church ministries — pastors, doctors, elders, and deacons — and established the Company of Pastors and the Consistory to regulate doctrine, morality, and church governance in cooperation with the civil authorities in the city council. ^[3]

Calvin insisted on the Ordinances being accepted as a condition of his return to Geneva.^[4] They were revised in 1561.^[5]

References

1. Kingdon 2003.
2. MacCulloch 2009, pp. 632–633.
3. "The ecclesiastical ordinances (1541)". Musée virtuel du protestantisme. Musée protestant. Retrieved 6 September 2025.
4. "Ecclesiastical Ordinances (1541)". Luther Seminary.
5. Schaff 1910.

Bibliography

• Kingdon, Robert M (2003). "CALVIN, JOHN (1509–1564)" (PDF). In Hillerbrand, Hans (ed.). Encyclopedia of Protestantism. Routledge. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-12-28.
• MacCulloch, Diarmaid (2009). A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-7139-9869-6.
• Schaff, Philip (1910). "105. The Venerable Company and the Consistory.". History of the Christian Church, Volume VIII: Modern Christianity. The Swiss Reformation. Charles Scribner's Sons.