[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Volhynia - Pastor Peter Stelz

[Jerry Frank]

At 11:18 AM 01/05/2006, Christopher Menke wrote:
>Hello All,
>   I am truly amazed at this guy! In almost all of the records for 
> Volhynia I am looking at, Pastor Peter Stelz was the Pastor. He 
> must have been EXTREMELY busy. Does anyone have any information 
> about him, his work, or his churches?
>   Thanks,
>   Chris Menke



You will find general info (not a lot of detail) about the Volhynian 
Lutheran churches at 
http://www.sggee.org/parish_histories/VolhyniaDioceseHistory.html

If you follow how the individual parishes evolved, you will see that 
pastors prior to Stelz had an even bigger territory to cover.  Keep 
in mind that the pastors were assisted immensely by local 
Kantors.  The local Kantor, often a school teacher, would lead 
regular worship services in the Betshaus.  He would perform baptisms 
and conduct funeral services.  The pastor would travel a circuit 
several times a year.  During his stay of a few days, he would 
perform marriages, serve communion, and conduct the confirmation 
rite.  If you look at marriage records, you will see how there were 
often numerous marriages performed on a single day.  The pastor would 
also transfer records from the Kantor books into his Parish book and 
then again into the Consistory book.  It is the latter which we know 
as the St. Petersburg records.  In the case of the baptism, you will 
usually find the name of the Kantor who performed the baptism in one 
of the columns.





Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca