Jānis Vanags

Archbishop Jānis Vanags

Jānis Vanags (born May 25, 1958 in Liepāja ) is Archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia , which is part of the Lutheran World Federation .

biography

After finishing school, Jānis Vanags studied chemistry from 1976 to 1982 at the University of Latvia and from 1984 to 1989 at the theological seminar of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia in Riga . From 1982 to 1985 he worked as a chemistry teacher at the Vilis Lācis School (Rīgas 31. vidusskolā). He was ordained on December 1, 1985 and elected Archbishop of his church on August 29, 1993.

meaning

During his term of office, the reorganization of the Lutheran Church in Latvia fell after the collapse of the Soviet Union . In addition to the return of church buildings and their repair, Archbishop Vanags is pursuing a denominational Lutheran course of his church. This shows u. a. in the withdrawal of the ordination of women . When he was elected archbishop, he rejected the ordination of women on the grounds that it was inconsistent with the Bible and the Lutheran confessions and contradicted them. After the withdrawal of the ordination of women, funds were cut by the Lutheran regional churches in Germany. Vanags maintains close contacts with the Lutheran Church of the Missouri Synod and the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church . Full communion and communion has been established between the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia and the Missouri Synod.

criticism

Vanags is controversial in the liberal churches of the Lutheran World Federation (e.g. EKD - regional churches , Swedish church , Danish national church ), as he has spoken out clearly against the ordination of women and the liberal theology prevailing in the West. However, he rejects this criticism on the grounds that the Lutheran Church of Latvia is independent and takes care of its own affairs.

literature

• Johannes Junker (Ed.): What remains is what lives and sustains . Voices from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia (=  Lutheran contributions. Supplement . Volume 2 ). Verlag der Lutherischen Buchhandlung, Groß Oesingen 2000, ISBN 3-86147-204-X .

Web links

Commons : Jānis Vanags  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Interview with Archbishop Janis Vanags on the question of women's ordination, the theological direction of his church and church external relations ( memento from February 6, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) German
• Report in Welt-online from 1999
• CV Janis Vanags on the website of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia (Latvian)
• Message for Christmas 2009 (German) ( Memento from June 5, 2015 in the web archive archive.today )