The formal rules of organised religion: a framework for empirical research

Figures & data

Table 1. Constitutionalism.

Country	Features	State constitution		Orthodox Church statute
Romania	Identity	“Romania is a national state … ” (1)		“The Romanian Orthodox Church is the community of … ” (1)
Romania	Enforcement	“ … observance of the Constitution … shall be mandatory” (1.5)		“ … compulsory for the entire Romanian Orthodox Church” (201)
Romania	Symbols	“Romania's flag is tricolor; it consists of three … ” (12.1)		“ … has its own flag described as follows … ” (195)
Romania	Government form	“The form of government … is the Republic” (1.2)		“ … is administrated … through her own representative bodies” (3.2)
Russia	Head selection	“ … not younger than 35 years of age” (81.2)		“ … not younger than 40 years old” (IV.15.e)
Russia	Power separation	“State power … shall be exercised by the President … the Federal Assembly … the Government … and the courts” (11.1)		“The supreme bodies … shall be the Local Council, the Bishops’ Council and the Holy Synod … ” (I.7)
Russia	Judiciary	“Justice in the Russian Federation shall be administered only by court” (118.1)		“Judicial authority … shall be exercised by the Ecclesiastical Courts” (IX.1)
Russia	Amendments	“ … may be submitted by the President of the Russian Federation, the Council of Federation … ” (134)		“The right to introduce amendments to the present Statute shall belong to the Bishops’ Council” (XXIII.3)
Serbia	Sovereignty	“No state body … may usurp the sovereignty from the citizens” (2)		“ … it shall govern … ecclesiastical affairs autonomously” (1)
Serbia	Indivisibility	“The territory … is inseparable and indivisible” (8)		“ … is one and inseparable autocephalous church” (1)

Source: Official translations of current state constitutions from the “Constitute” project web site and of current statutes from church web sites. Section/article number in parentheses. Original spelling preserved.

Table 2. Organisational structure: departments (selected).

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America	Generali Insurance Company
1. Archdiocese Administration	1. Board of Directors
2. Archdiocesan Council	2. Office of the CEO
3. Office of Internal Assessment & Evaluation	3. Office of the General Manager
4. Office of the Chancellor	4. Corporate Affairs
5. Office of Administration	5. Group Audit
6. Office of the Archbishop	6. Risk Office
7. Archives & Resource Center	7. HR & Organisation
8. Communications	8. Digital Office
9. Finance	9. Marketing & Customer Office
10. Telecommunications	10. Finance Office
11. Internet Ministries	11. Compliance Office
12. Office of Development	12. Communications & Public Affairs
13. Outreach & Evangelism	13. Life & Health Insurance
14. Press Office	14. Investor & Rating Agency Relations
15. Public Affairs	15. Strategy and Business Accelerator

Source: Official organisation charts.

Table 3. Cases.

Church (country, year in which document signed/revised)
Orthodox:	Serbian Orthodox Ch. (Serbia, 1957)
Belarusian Orthodox Ch. (Belarus, 1990)	Romanian Orthodox Ch. (Romania, 2007)
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (USA, 2003)	Polish Orthodox Ch. (Poland, 1995)
Russian Orthodox Ch. / Moscow Patriarchate (Russia, 2017)	Bulgarian Orthodox Ch. (Bulgaria, 2008)
Estonian Orthodox Ch., Moscow Patriarchate (Estonia, 2012)	Protestant:
Orthodox Ch. of the Czech Lands & Slovakia (Slovakia, 1999)	Evangelical Ch., Augsburg Confession (Austria, 2018)
Moldovan Orthodox Ch., Moscow Patriarchate (Moldova, 1993)	United Protestant Ch. (Belgium, 2016)
Orthodox Ch. of Albania (Albania, 2006)	Evangelical Ch. in Croatia (Croatia, 2012)
Montenegrin Orthodox Ch., CPC (Montenegro, 2009)	United Protestant Ch. of France (France, 2014)
Orthodox Ch. of Finland (Finland, 2006)	Reformed Ch. in Hungary (Hungary, 2016)
Georgian Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Ch. (Georgia, 1995)	Ch. of Ireland (Ireland, 2003)
Ch. of Cyprus (Cyprus, 2010)	Evangelical Lutheran Ch. in Italy (Italy, 2004)
Ukrainian Orthodox Ch., Kiev Patriarchate (Ukraine, 2016)	Evangelical Lutheran Ch. of Latvia (Latvia, 2016)
Ch. of Greece (Greece, 2018)	Protestant Ch. in the Netherlands (Netherlands, 2016)
Macedonian Orthodox Ch., Ohrid Archbishopric (N. Macedonia, 1994)	Ch. of Sweden (Sweden, 2019)

Figure 1. Statute length (composite).

Table 4. Summary statistics.

	Mean	Median	Std Dev	Min	Max
Length	0.00	0.06	1.00	−1.54	2.21
Independent	0.79	1.00	0.42	0.00	1.00
Orthodox	0.64	1.00	0.49	0.00	1.00
Size(lg)	13.94	14.05	1.97	9.62	18.45
Majority	0.36	0.00	0.49	0.00	1.00
Regulation	2.53	1.53	2.32	0.00	7.69
Constitution(lg)	9.57	9.51	0.43	8.50	10.63

N = 28

Table 5. A comparison of selected churches.

Church in:	Independent	Size(lg)	Majority religion	Regulation	Constitution(lg)	Statute length
Sweden	yes	15.67	yes	0.28	9.52	2.21
Ireland	yes	11.81	no	0.00	9.68	2.08
Austria	yes	13.13	no	1.11	10.63	1.28
Bulgaria^#	yes	15.62	yes	6.67	9.52	1.06
Russia^#	yes	18.45	yes	5.19	9.47	0.89
…	…	…	…	…	…	…
Estonia^#	no	12.04	no	0.00	9.34	−1.00
USA^#	no	14.22	no	0.00	8.96	−1.14
Croatia	yes	9.62	no	0.93	9.30	−1.16
Netherlands	yes	14.85	no	0.00	9.08	−1.34
Belarus^#	no	15.34	no	7.68	9.49	−1.54

Note: The table refers to the five longest (+) and the five shortest (−) statutes, respectively.

# Tradition = Orthodox

Table 6. Bivariate correlations (N = 28).

	Statute length
Independent	0.36*
Orthodox	−0.17
Size(lg)	0.36*
Majority religion	0.48***
Regulation	0.16
Constitution(lg)	0.31*

***p ≤ 0.01 **p ≤ 0.05 *p ≤ 0.10

Table A1. Document titles.

Church (document title)
Orthodox	Serbian Orthodox Ch. (УСТАВ)
Belarusian Orthodox Ch. (УСТАВ)	Romanian Orthodox Ch. (STATUTUL)
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (Official Charter)	Polish Orthodox Ch. (Statut)
Russian Orthodox Ch. / Moscow Patriarchate (УСТАВ)	Bulgarian Orthodox Ch. (УСТАВ)
Estonian Orthodox Ch., Moscow Patriarchate (УСТАВ)	Protestant
Orthodox Ch. of the Czech Lands & Slovakia (Ústava)	Evangelical Ch. of Augsburg Confession (Verfassung)
Moldovan Orthodox Ch., Moscow Patriarchate (STATUTUL)	United Protestant Ch. (Constitution)
Orthodox Ch. of Albania (STATUTI)	Evangelical Ch. in Croatia (USTAV)
Montenegrin Orthodox Ch., CPC (УСТАВ)	United Protestant Ch. of France (Constitution)
Orthodox Ch. of Finland (Kirkkojärjestys)	Reformed Ch. in Hungary (TÖRVÉNY)
Georgian Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Ch. (დებულება)	Ch. of Ireland (Constitution)
Ch. of Cyprus (Καταστατικός Χάρτης)	Evangelical Lutheran Ch. in Italy (Statuto)
Ukrainian Orthodox Ch., Kiev Patriarchate (СТАТУТ)	Evangelical Lutheran Ch. of Latvia (Satversme)
Ch. of Greece (Καταστατικός Χάρτης)	Protestant Ch. in the Netherlands (KERKORDE)
Macedonian Orthodox Ch., Ohrid Archbishopric (Constitution)	Ch. of Sweden (Kyrkoordning)

Table A2. Length measures.

Church in	Words (count)	Sentences (full stops)	Articles (numbered)	Statute Length
Sweden	54817	3177	1425	2.21
Ireland	82294	3217	582	2.08
Austria	31976	3378	127	1.28
Bulgaria	21906	1779	274	1.06
Russia	15601	1079	435	0.89
Romania	24472	1136	205	0.82
Serbia	18034	940	269	0.78
N. Macedonia	16544	825	205	0.55
Hungary	11144	1158	173	0.52
Greece	15942	1539	75	0.45
Ukraine	9636	669	271	0.36
Latvia	7525	814	156	0.23
Cyprus	13620	806	92	0.19
Georgia	5404	841	187	0.15
Finland	6855	468	143	−0.03
France	16982	580	36	−0.14
Montenegro	6466	404	68	−0.41
Italy	5598	447	43	−0.63
Albania	5869	250	70	−0.71
Moldova	3953	249	105	−0.75
Belgium	5223	345	41	−0.80
Slovakia	3786	205	29	−0.94
Poland	2880	297	48	−0.98
Estonia	5182	629	7	−1.00
USA	4497	227	25	−1.14
Croatia	2686	199	47	−1.16
Netherlands	3855	225	19	−1.34
Belarus	2288	108	41	−1.54

Note: Statute length provides regression-based factor values via principal component analysis, using logs of the three textual variables.

Table A3. Linear regressions of statute length, with country-level controls.

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)
Independent	0.36*	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -
Orthodox	- -	−0.17	- -	- -	- -	- -
Size(lg)	- -	- -	0.56**	- -	- -	- -
Majority religion	- -	- -	- -	0.64***	- -	- -
Regulation	- -	- -	- -	- -	0.31	- -
Constitution(lg)	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	0.33*
GDPpc(lg)	0.11	0.04	0.34*	0.39**	0.29	0.13
Surface	0.07	0.08	−0.22	−0.09	−0.01	0.10
[Obs]	28	28	28	28	28	28
[R^2]	0.15	0.04	0.24	0.36	0.09	0.13

Note: Main cell entries are standardised regression coefficients. GDPpc(lg): Logged GDP per capita, PPP, of host country (World Bank 2017). Surface: Land area of host country in km² (World Bank 2017). Constant included. All Variance Inflation Factors are below 1.5.

***p ≤ 0.01 **p ≤ 0.05 *p ≤ 0.10