wfn.org | UNESCO World Heritage List Church of Peace Marks 350th Anniversary

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

LWF President Krause: "Communal Will to a Communal Profession of
Faith Has Grown"

SWIDNICA, Poland/GENEVA, 26 September 2002 (LWI) - The 350th
anniversary of the Holy Trinity Church of Peace and its
inscription on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List was celebrated
during an ecumenical thanksgiving service in Swidnica, Poland.

In a September 8 sermon in the Church of Peace in Swidnica, the
President of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Bishop emeritus
Dr. Christian Krause, pointed out that although the 2001 inclusion
of the church as a world cultural heritage came rather late, just
as its first phase of renovation was being completed, the timing
was particularly appropriate to the start of a new millennium.

The Churches of Peace in Jawor, Poland and in the historic region
of Silesia are also on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Rev.
Waldemar Pytel of Swidnica noted that the two churches are the
first churches on the UNESCO list to be built by Protestant
Christians for Protestant Christians. They have remained under
Protestant ownership since their founding.

Rev. Janusz Jagucki, the presiding bishop of the Evangelical
Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland, said Krause's
participation in the celebrations was not only significant for the
church's position in the country, but also a great honor for the
Lutheran church in Poland.

In his sermon, Krause, said the history of Swidnica's Church of
Peace was also a history of uninhibited power and bitter
suffering, a story of oppression and senseless destruction." The
building permits for the churches in Swidnica, Jawor, and a third
church in Glogow, were issued on 13 August 1652, a few years after
the end of the Thirty Years' War.

Although permission to construct a building was subject to
stringent conditions, there was nevertheless reason for Protestant
Christians to have renewed hope, Krause said, "The persistent will
to a personal profession of faith and the loyalty to Protestantism
inspired great effort and achievement in building and creating
this church." The building sites were restricted to locations
outside the cities and churches could only be built from wood,
straw and clay. A church spire and bells were forbidden, and the
construction period was limited to only one year.

This is why the Church of Peace is Swidnica, with capacity for up
to 7,000 people, has four wooden galleries arranged one above the
other. The LWF president emphasized that history was irreversible,
"but its consequences, which we are prepared to accept for the
present day and for the future of our children, present us with a
new challenge." The former bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Brunswick, Germany, said that even in recent history,
the long path the city has taken from being Schweidnitz, a German
city, to Swidnica, today's Polish city, has been no less plagued
by the abuse of power, war, expulsion and ideological oppression.

It should be remembered with gratitude that after all the
resignation and fate of the past, a communal will to a communal
profession of faith has grown. In view of the signing of the Joint
Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification between the LWF and
Roman Catholic Church on 31 October 1999 in Augsburg, Germany,
Krause said that he hoped "for growing communion between our
churches."

The LWF president expressed deep gratitude for the enormous
efforts by many people from Poland and Germany towards the
churches' restoration. The Swidnica church, where Krause's father
was baptized in 1891 and later confirmed, can now be used again by
the congregation and serve its purpose-as a Church of Peace.

"If we wish to inherit the cultural achievements of our fathers
and mothers, we must comprehend that the living witness of Christ
and artistic creative power go hand in hand, as they do in the
Church of Peace in Swidnica," Krause said. He concluded his
sermon: "This is the only way for a culture of peace and
mercifulness to grow and emanate from us."

The Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland has
approximately 80,000 members. It has been an LWF member church
since 1947.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 136 member churches in 76 countries representing over 61.7
million of the 65.4 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human
rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and
development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted,
material presented does not represent positions or opinions of the
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