The Debrecen consistorium (church council, presbytery) came into existence in 1739. It convened in a building situated in the southern corner of the present-day Bishop’s Office, near the lycium tree. (17 Kálvin square) The cashier’s office was situated on the ground floor, while the archives used to be on the first floor. When Maria Theresa forbid the city to financially support the Reformed church and the College, she speeded up the strengthening of the Consistorium, but, at the same time, the “secret” council of the Reformed senators was considered highly suspicious by Vienna. As the position of the chief justice entailed that of the congregation’s lay curator, and the newly elected political leaders automatically became members of the consistorium even as late as 1849, the city and the church was governed by the same persons for a long time.
Apart from the organizational issues of church, the consistorium dealt with the theoretical and practical questions concerning the primary, secondary and higher levels of education, and made decisions about foreign scholarships, the printing house and its publications.