Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lithuania
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lithuania ( Lithuanian Lietuvos evangelikų liuteronų Bažnyčia , abbreviated LELB ) is the national Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lithuania . It only represents a religious minority in Lithuania, which is predominantly Catholic .
history
Reformation time
The history of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lithuania goes back to the Reformation . Already at the beginning of the 16th century, the followers of Martin Luther's teaching were supported by Ulrich Hosse , Mayor of Vilna . He and his son Johann Hosius, also mayor of Vilnius, donated bricks to build a church when the citizens of Kaunas in Lithuania adopted the Augsburg confession in 1550 .
The Reformation was promoted by Prussian Lithuania Minor , where Lutheran teaching began to gain acceptance among the Lithuanian population as early as 1525. Here, under the protection of the Prussian Duke Albrecht, the first book printed in Lithuanian was created , the Lutheran Catechism in Simple Words ( Catechismusa Prasty Szadei ) from 1547 , written by Martynas Mažvydas . In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, on the other hand, the strict Catholic attitude and later the Counter Reformation prevented the spread of Protestantism. The translation of the Luther Bible, completed by Johannes Bretke in 1590, could not be printed until the 18th century.
20th century
The number of Lutherans in Lithuania rose through the military occupation (10 to 16 January 1923) and subsequent annexation (24 January 1923) of the Memel sharply, as most of its inhabitants were Lutheran, but their parishes to the old Prussian ecclesiastical province of East Prussia were . Since there was actually a League of Nations mandate for the Memel area , against whose de facto cancellation by Lithuania the guarantee powers France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom were unable to intervene, they negotiated at least one treaty with Lithuania (Memel Convention of May 8, 1924), which granted the Memel countries extensive autonomy.
The Memelländische Landesdirektorium (state government) elected within the framework of the autonomy, led by state director Viktoras Gailius, and the Evangelical Church of the Old Prussian Union (APU), headed by President Johann Friedrich Winckler , concluded the agreement on July 31, 1925 regarding the Evangelical Church of the Memel area , according to which the evangelical parishes of the Memelland left the church province of East Prussia and formed the own regional synodal association of the Memel area with its own consistory within the APU. After church elections in 1926, the evangelical consistory in Memel began its work in 1927 and the spiritual head in the Memelland was initially general superintendent Franz Gregor, previously superintendent of the Memel church district, and from 1933 Otto Obereigner , previously superintendent of the Pogegen church district.
At the end of the Second World War there were around 80 Protestant Lutheran parishes and 72 Lutheran pastors looked after around 12,000 church members in Lithuania. During the Second World War, many Lutheran church members, especially Memel countries, fled, emigrated or were killed. Between 1945 and 1990 the Church went through difficult decades in the Soviet Union . Only in 1990 with the independence of Lithuania was the church able to regain its strength and got back many former church buildings that had been expropriated in the Soviet Union.
Theological orientation
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lithuania is committed to the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions . At the beginning of the 1990s, the theological faculty of Klaipeda University discussed the introduction of women's ordination and the adoption of liberal theology and supported them. The then incumbent bishop and many pastors rejected this new interpretation. Resistance developed, led on the one hand by traditional theology and the church leadership and theological faculty on the other. In 1995 two women applied for ordination. They were supported by a representative of the German North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church and some members of the Lithuanian church leadership. To this day, this church has not ordained women.
The 2000 Synodal Conference also dealt with the blessing of same-sex partnerships, which is practiced, for example, in some of the Protestant churches in Germany and is being discussed further in the context of the churches that belong to the Evangelical Churches in Germany (EKD). The synod spoke out against the blessing of same-sex couples . However, no formal decision was made.
With regard to the historical-critical Bible exegesis , the church leadership decided in 2000 that the church should stick to the traditional interpretation of scriptures and reject historical criticism.
At the same time, contacts were established with the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod from the USA and with the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany. In 2000, the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lithuania sought full church and altar fellowship with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod on. These efforts met with criticism from representatives of the Lutheran class of the Lippe Regional Church in Germany and the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church there . The Synod 2000 decided to establish church and communion fellowship with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The synod also decided to measure its external church relations against the following declaration ( Lietuvos evanglicu kelias . 2001-2002.10)
- We reject these false doctrines and profess the full authority of the Bible and its teachings as it is properly and immutably set forth in the Book of Concords. We have full communion with the churches who share faith and doctrine with us, who neither practice nor promote women's ordination, do not approve of homosexual practice, do not compromise on the doctrine of justification, and profess that every communicant in the Lord's Supper is among the Sign of the bread and wine the true body and blood of the Lord is given and he also receives it.
organization
The church order is synodal and episcopal. The synod includes all clergymen and lay representatives from the congregations. It meets every three years. She is responsible for the elections to the office of bishop, all church officials and the elections to the church leadership. However, it is not up to the Synod to make decisions on questions of faith. The church is administered by the church administration under the supervision and direction of the bishop. The bishop ordains all parishioners, exercises the teaching office through the pastors, represents the church internationally and interdenominationally. The church leadership consists of eleven members, the bishop, pastors and lay people.
Church external relations
The church is a member of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Anglican Lutheran Porvoo Community . It is in full church and communion fellowship with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and has entered into a contractually regulated partnership with the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany. Since 1992 there has been an official partnership between the Lutheran Church in Lithuania and the Lutheran Class of the Lippe Regional Church .
Bishops
- 1976–1995: Jonas Viktoras Kalvanas Sen.
- 1995–2003: Jonas Viktoras Kalvanas Jun.
- since 2004: Mindaugas Sabutis
statistics
- Members: approx. 20,000
- Parishes: 54
- Parish size: 50–200 parishioners
- Attendance at church service: 25-30%
- Bishop: 1
- Pastor: 18
- Churches: 44
- Houses of prayer: 7
- Diaconal Centers: 6
- Organists: 34
- Choir director: 24
- Church choirs: 34
literature
- Darius Petkunas: Re- consecrated . The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lithuania, in: Lutheran Contributions, Supplement No. 6, Groß Oesingen 2007
See also
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Ernst Rudolf Huber , Treaties between State and Church in the German Empire , Breslau: Marcus, 1930, (= treatises from constitutional and administrative law as well as from international law, Siegfried Brie , Max Fleischmann and Friedrich Giese (eds.), H. 44 ), P. 82.
- ↑ The Memelland Evangelical Church thus enjoyed the status of an ecclesiastical province within the APU, like the regional synodal association of the Free City of Danzig , without even using the term ecclesiastical province in its official name.
- ↑ See Albertas Juška, The Church in Little Lithuania .
- ↑ Lithuania partnership
- ↑ 2010 World Lutheran Membership Details; Lutheran World Information 1/2011 ( Memento from September 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive )