Porvoo community

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The Porvoo community

The Porvoo Community (English: The Porvoo Communion ) is a non-institutional union of originally ten, now 13 European churches of Anglican and Lutheran denominations . It was created through the Porvoo Declaration (“ Porvoo Declaration ”) contained in the Porvoo Common Statement , an agreement that was passed in 1992 in the city of Porvoo (Borgå) in Finland and the full church fellowship between the parties involved Churches.

The first 57 paragraphs of the Porvoo Common Statement describe the ecumenical situation, which urges more community in fulfilling the Christian mission, and the commonalities in faith and church order of the churches involved. The churches see themselves as part of the one Catholic and Apostolic Church, even if the Protestant Reformation is part of their church history. They see themselves united in the one faith of the early church, in the celebration of the sacraments according to scriptures and traditions, and in the historical episcopal office , which has always been preserved in their countries, even if not passed on continuously in all member churches ( Apostolic Succession ). Paragraph 58, the Porvoo Declaration , contains the mutual recognition of the sacraments and offices as well as the obligation for pastoral cooperation and further theological consultations.

The participating churches are the Anglican churches of the British Isles and the Lutheran churches of the Nordic countries and the Baltic States . Most of these churches ratified the declaration in 1994/95. Of the churches involved in the elaboration, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia has not yet joined, but has observer status. The Danish People's Church only joined the community in 2010. She had considered it unacceptable that the Church of England did not recognize female bishops and therefore did not want to see ordinations by women bishops as valid. This point of criticism was now considered to have been resolved; the Bishop of Copenhagen signed the instrument of accession on October 3, 2010. Later negotiations also resulted in the episcopal (Anglican) churches of the Iberian Peninsula joining the agreement. In 2013 the Lutheran Church in Great Britain and the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad , which had been involved with observer status since 2010, were accepted as full members.

The churches hold regular conferences and consultations and promote pastoral exchanges. The community is deepened through numerous parish partnerships.

Signatory of the Porvoo Agreement:

Churches with observer status:

literature

  • Together in Mission and Ministry, The Porvoo Common Statement with Essays on Church and Ministry in Northern Europe. London 1993.
  • Günther Gaßmann : The Porvoo Document as the Basis of Anglican-Lutheran Church Fellowship in Northern Europe. In: Ökumenische Rundschau 44, 1995, pp. 172-183.
  • Wilhelm Hüffmeier , Colin Podmore (eds.): Leuenberg, Meissen and Porvoo. Consultation between the churches of the Leuenberg Church Fellowship and the churches involved in the Meissen Declaration and the Porvoo Declaration. Lembeck, Frankfurt am Main 1996.
  • Ola Tjørhom: Apostolicity and Unity: Essays on the Porvoo Common Statement. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids 2002.
  • Risto Saarinen : Porvoo Common Statement. In: Erwin Fahlbusch u. a. (Ed.): The Encyclopedia of Christianity. Volume 4. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids 2005, pp. 290-293.
  • Porvoo Communion of Churches: Towards Closer Unity: Communion of the Porvoo Churches 20 Years. 2016 ( PDF file ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karen Schousboe: Folkekirken har underskrevet Porvoo-explain In Folkekirke.dk of October 3, 2010, accessed on October 4, 2010 (information from the Danish People's Church on joining the Porvoo community, Danish); the Danish People's Church issued a statement on this.
  2. ↑ a b The member churches of the Porvoo fellowship