Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia

At the heart of the confession of the Church lies the doctrine that Jesus Christ is the true Son of God, who by His death on the cross redeemed mankind from sins. Then Jesus was resurrected, ascended to heaven, and then the Christian Church was established through the acts of the Holy Spirit .

The books of the Old and New Testament are considered the divinely inspired Word of God and have unrecoverable authority.

The church recognizes the three symbols of the Faith : the Apostolic, Nicene, and Afanasyevo. In addition, the Church proclaims loyalty to the evangelical religious texts included in the Book of Concord ^[1] .

ELCL - one of the few Lutheran churches in Europe, in which there is an increase in the number of parishioners. In 2006, about 580,000 people considered themselves its members. From 2004 to 2007, the Church increased by 24,500 new members ^[2] .

Lutheranism in the Livonian Confederation (until 1561)

The first Lutheran community in Riga was created as early as 1523 . In 1530, parts of the Bible were translated into Latvian by Nikolaus Ramm . In 1539, Riga became part of the Protestant cities. In 1561, the Livonian Confederation was divided into the Duchy of Courland, a vassal from Poland in which the Courland consistory was established, and the Zadvinsky Duchy, which was under Polish control and was subjected to counter-reform ^[3] .

As part of the Church of Sweden (1622–1710)

In 1622, after the accession of Livonia to Sweden, the first Superintendent was appointed, in 1633-1634. was the establishment of the Livonian Consistory with 6 non-consistories.

As part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Russia (1710–1922)

In 1710, Livonia was annexed to Russia. In 1734, the Riga Ober-Consistory was subordinated to the Consistorial Session of the Justits College of Livonia and Estland Affairs ^[4] , in 1795 the Courland Consistory was also subordinated to it, in 1832 it was subordinated to the General Evangelical-Lutheran Consistory , with Livonia and Courland provincial consistories Superintendent positions have been introduced ^[5] . Up to the 20th century, the Lutheran clergy of Latvia consisted mainly of Germans, and German prevailed in church life.

The First Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia (1922–1944)

After the formation of the Latvian state, 194 Latvian communities and 20 purely German-speaking communities belonged to Lutheranism, which united into a single Lutheran church. In 1922, the Swedish archbishop Nathan Söderblüm ordained the elected synod Karlis Irbe to become the archbishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia, and for the German minority a separate bishop was ordained Peter Harald Pölhau, the post of Livonian and Kurflyanist consistories and the general superinterant The Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church received the right to use the cathedral in Riga. With the support of the leadership of the Republic of Latvia, a theological faculty was created at the University of Latvia, by which more than 100 pastors had already been trained by 1934 ^[6] . In 1932, a new archbishop was elected - Theodors Greenberg.

Soviet period (1944-1989)

In 1944, Greenbergs and about 60% of pastors left the country. The church was headed by Karlis Irbe, but soon he and many other pastors were deported (as a result of deportations, the Church lost up to 80% of its clergy). In 1954, the activity of the Church was again legalized, and Gustavs Tours was elected the new archbishop. In 1967, there were about 90 pastors in the Church and about 400,000 people considered themselves to be parishioners, but church life was reduced to holding Sunday services.

The Modern Period (since 1989)

After Latvia gained independence in 1989, a change of leadership took place in the Church - former leaders accused of collaborating with the Soviet authorities were removed from church management, and the new archbishop Karlis Gailitis was elected. Over the following years, the ELCL became one of the most significant institutions of the Latvian state ^[7] .

The supreme body is the Synod ( Sinode ), the executive body is the Main Board ( Virsvalde ), the supreme organs of the parishes are the parish councils ( draudzes padome ), the executive bodies of the parishes are the parish governments ( draudzes valde ).

The head of the Church is the Archbishop of Riga. Since 2006, the Church has been organizationally divided into three dioceses: Riga, Liepaja and Daugavpils. In 2007, Pavilis Brouvers and Einars Alpe were respectively organized as heads of the dioceses. In total, there are about 300 parishes, 140 pastors and 40 evangelists in the ELCL ^[8] . Training is carried out at the Luther Academy (seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia) and at the theological faculty of the University of Latvia. In Riga there are two Russian parishes: St. Luke, headed by pastor Alexander Bitt, and the parish of the Epiphany at St. Nova Church. Gertrude , Pastor Pavel Levushkan.

• Daugavpils Diocese ;
• Liepaja Diocese .

List of the Archbishops of Riga

• Karlis Irbe (1920 - October 31, 1931);
• 1932-1944];
• Gustav Tours (1948-1968);
• Janis Matulis (1968-1985);
• Eric Mesters (1986-1989);
• Karlis Gailitis (April 1989 - November 22, 1992);
• Janis Vanags (August 29, 1993 - present).

On October 17, 2008, the Latvian Seym approved the draft ELTL Law in the second reading. The law determines the structure of the denomination, the procedure for its economic activity and the structure of the parishes ^[9] .

According to this law, the state assists the Church in the restoration of buildings recognized as architectural monuments. The state refuses to intervene in dogmatic disputes within the Church, including decisions on canonical issues cannot be challenged in secular courts.

The state guarantees the secret of confession . Pastors and theological students are exempt from military service in peacetime, and in the military - from service associated with the use of weapons.

Despite its membership in the Lutheran World Federation , the ELCL has a rather conservative approach to issues that have recently become topical among Lutherans. Such a conservative nature of the denomination allows it to be a partner of the Missouri Synod - the largest Lutheran conservative denomination ^[10] .

Women's ordination

Attitude to the ordination of women is one of the indicators of the confessional nature of the ELLC. However, some time ago, the ordination of women took place, however, it is now completely stopped.

The first ordination of women was made in 1975 by Archbishop Janis Matulis (6 women were ordained), which was perceived negatively by the clergy of the Church. The successor of Matulis Eric Mesters was personally opposed to such arrangements, but there was no clear position on this issue - women simply were not ordained.

The new post-Soviet head of the Church, Karlis Gailitis, was a strong supporter of the ordination of women, and within a few years of his leadership several women received pastoral rank. This led to numerous protests in the church environment, including some conservative communities announced the possibility of withdrawing from the ELCL if the successor of Gailitis continues such arrangements.

After the election of Janis Vanags as archbishop of Riga in 1993, the ordination of women was discontinued. It should be noted that, in addition to Vanags himself, 80% of the participants in the 1992 church synod agreed with a similar approach. Those women who were ordinated earlier retain the rank of pastor, but cannot be parish priests ^[11] .

Attitudes towards homosexuality

There is no “blessing of same-sex unions” in the ELCL and they do not ordain gay pastors. A wide resonance was defrauded in 2002 by Maris Sants , pastor of the Riga Church of Christ, after he openly announced his homosexuality in an interview with Radio Free Europe and accused the leadership of the Church of intolerant attitudes towards gays. Pastor Talis Redmanis, who participated in the same program, noted that the LELT resolution defines homosexuality as a sin, as a result the Church forbids open gays to hold any church office ^[12] .

As a result, representatives of non-traditional sexual orientation in Latvia are currently gathering for church services in the Anglican church ^[13] .

In July 2009, Janis Vanags commented on materials in the Latvian media that reported on the coming reunification of the Church of Latvia and the Roman Catholic Church. The bishop called these messages absurd and grotesque, although he did not deny the usefulness of cooperation with the Roman Catholics ^[14] .

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• Protestantism in Latvia