wfn.org | ELCROS 'cannot welcome' Belarusian Independent Lutheran Church

[FRANKI@elca.org]

Archbishop Kretschmar: ELCROS 'cannot welcome' Belarusian Independent
Lutheran Church
An Obstacle to a joint Protestant Church in Belarus

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia/GENEVA, 20 March LWI - Archbishop D. Georg Kretschmar
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States (ELCROS), says
the creation of an independent "confessional" Lutheran church in Belarus
impedes the work of the Lutheran church in the republic.

The installation of Bishop Leonid Zwicki on March 11 is a further step in
the establishment of this church, Archbishop Kretschmar said in a statement
written for Lutheran World Information (LWI). ELCROS cannot welcome the
creation of this separate church.

The text of the ELCROS statement follows:

Statement by the Archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and
Other States (ELCROS) on the Installation of Bishop Leonid Zwicki,
Belarusian Evangelical Lutheran Church

On Reminiscere Sunday, 11 March 2001, the Rev. Leonid Zwicki was installed
as bishop of the newly established Belarusian Evangelical Lutheran Church
during a worship service in Vitebsk [or Viciebsk], Belarus. He was elected
on 2 December 2000 at a synod meeting in Vitebsk. The older Lutheran
congregations in Belarus originally joined ELCROS under Archbishop D. Georg
Kretschmar. Some of these, including a number of newly founded congregations
founded on December 2, a " confessional" Lutheran church, signifying that
they had consciously left the community of ELCROS and instead joined the
community of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

Bishop Leonid Zwicki's introduction into office is a further step in the
establishment of this separate church. The consecration was led by Bishop
Jonas Kalvanas Jr. from Lithuania, who had already ordained a number of
deacons in this church. He was assisted by Bishop Dr. Diethard Roth from the
Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church, Germany, and Bishop Aarre Kougappi
from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia.

Other Lutheran churches that are close to the Missouri Synod were also
represented at the worship service, among them Archbishop Janis Vanags from
Riga, Latvia. Most of the older congregations in Belarus have not joined the
new church. They requested that they continue to be served by ELCROS.
Preparations are being made to create a structure that could be registered
and legally recognized. A first step to support these congregations was
taken from March 12 to 16, when Rev. Godeke von Bremen (Novosaratovka)
organized a seminar in Minsk. There are plans to regularly hold similar
seminars.

The split of the Lutheran congregations in Belarus that occurred at the
December 2 synod meeting will weaken the work of the Lutheran church in the
republic. ELCROS will strive not to disappoint the congregations, who have
placed much hope in it.

This development impedes the creation of a joint Protestant church in
Belarus, which had been prepared for years and which would have included the
only Reformed congregation in the country. Archbishop Kretschmar had
entrusted Rev. Leonid Zwicki with the preparation of this synod. For ELCROS,
the decisive problem is not that there are congregations in Belarus that do
not want to organize as a Lutheran church within the overall framework of
ELCROS, but that the synod clearly condemned ELCROS and declared that it
rejected fellowship with churches that ordain women, that do not adhere to
"real presence"-meaning, most likely, membership in the Leuenberg
Agreement-and who make compromises on the Doctrine of
Justification-referring, probably, to the "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine
of Justification" by the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF).

All these are issues that were never discussed among the Belarusian
congregations, and probably no representative of any congregation really
understood at the December 2 synod what this formula of exclusion actually
means. For this reason, ELCROS cannot welcome the establishment of this
separate church.

St. Petersburg, 17 March 2001

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churches in 72 countries representing over 60.2 million of the nearly 64
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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
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Where the dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the material
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