Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingermanland in Russia

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The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingermanland in Russia (ELKIR) is the second larger Lutheran church organization in Russia after the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Central Asia (ELKRAS) . It is based in Saint Petersburg .

history

Unlike before the Bolsheviks came to power in 1917, since perestroika there has been a fragmentation of Lutherans in Russia according to ethnic criteria: in the Russian Empire, Balts , Finns , Germans and other Lutheran believers were members of a single church, the "Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia" 1832, today there are different churches in different states - e.g. B. the Lutheran churches in the Baltic States - and also in Russia itself. The churches of the ELKRAS include mainly believers of German origin, while members of the congregation of Finnish origin gather in the ELKIR.

The core area of ​​ELKIR is Ingermanland around Saint Petersburg and Karelia, which is located north on the Russian-Finnish border . In addition, there are municipalities in individual large cities, e.g. B. Moscow , as well as in the deportation areas to which the Ingrians (Ingermanlanders) were brought under Stalin . The ELKIR also works in the areas of Russia inhabited by Finno-Ugric peoples: Udmurtia , Mari El , Mordovia, Komi and others. a.

Today the Church of Finland has become a multinational church in which 25 nations are represented and ten languages ​​are used.

In the early 1970s, the Finnish - as well as the Russian-German - Lutherans began to rally again after deportation and war. As early as 1970, parishes could be formed in Petrozavodsk ( Karelia ) and then in 1977 in Pushkin near Saint Petersburg.

In 1992 the ELKIR was officially founded. In 2019, the number of church members was 8,000. The faithful were looked after by more than 50 pastors and deacons, the majority of whom came from Finland.

The ELKIR maintains close relationships with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELK).

structure

Synod

The synod is the governing body of ELKIR . It makes the decisions under canon law.

bishop

The leading clergyman of the church is the bishop . Previous incumbents:

center

The Marienkirche in Saint Petersburg is the main church and pastoral center of the ELCIR.

Consistories

The ELKIR is divided into four consistories :

  • Karelia
  • Russia
  • St. Petersburg
  • West Ingermanland

Memberships

The ELCIR is part of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the International Lutheran Council and the Conference of European Churches (KEK / CEC).

Membership in the World Council of Churches (WCC) has not yet been entered into with the argument that the church is too small for that. The decisive factor, however, is the rather conservative orientation of the church, which in 1997 led to the establishment of a church fellowship with the Missouri Synod , which does not belong to the LWF and WCC , and which established close contacts with the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany .

literature

  • Georg Kretschmar , Heinrich Rathke : Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Central Asia (ELKRAS). The Messenger, St. Petersburg 1995.
  • Joseph Schnurr: The churches and the religious life of the Russian Germans (= home book of Germans from Russia. 1969/1972, ISSN  0438-9255 ). Country team of Germans from Russia, Stuttgart 1972.
  • Tuulikki Vilhunen: With confidence in the future. History and present of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingermanland. In: Lutheran Service. Volume 48, Issue 3, 2012, ISSN  2196-5978 , pp. 3-6.
  • Joachim Willems: Lutherans and Lutheran Congregations in Russia. An Empirical Study of Religion in the Post-Soviet Context. Martin-Luther-Verlag, Erlangen 2005, ISBN 3-87513-142-8 (Hamburg, University, evang. Theol. Dissertation, 2003).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ LWF Statistics - Russian federation The Lutheran World Federation