Documentary about Evangelical Lutheran church in Russia

[FireDragon76]

This documentary is a look into Evangelical Lutheranism in Russia, especially focusing on their archbishop, Dietrich Brauer. I have heard of Dietrich Brauer before, when he was only a pastor.

It seems to be a church that has managed to gain some official toleration; they are allowed to advertise their presence, and sizeable numbers of the members are ethnically Russian. But they are aligned with the theology and ethos of the Lutheran World Federation and western Protestantism. Bishop Brauer's vision for his religion is an enlightened Christianity and the emphasis on personal moral agency. And it seems that the church has difficulties being respected in Russia, with some churches continuing to be owned by government and poorly maintained, and the cemeteries being desecrated.

 

[HTacianas]

This documentary is a look into Evangelical Lutheranism in Russia, especially focusing on their archbishop, Dietrich Brauer. I have heard of Dietrich Brauer before, when he was only a pastor.

It seems to be a church that has managed to gain some official toleration; they are allowed to advertise their presence, and sizeable numbers of the members are ethnically Russian. But they are aligned with the theology and ethos of the Lutheran World Federation and western Protestantism. Bishop Brauer's vision for his religion is an enlightened Christianity and the emphasis on personal moral agency. And it seems that the church has difficulties being respected in Russia, with some churches continuing to be owned by government and poorly maintained, and the cemeteries being desecrated.

Russia is the domain of the Russian Orthodox Church and has no need for the Lutherans.

 

[FireDragon76]

Russia is the domain of the Russian Orthodox Church and has no need for the Lutherans.

Ethnic Germans have been part of Russian society for hundreds of years. They generally came as skilled laborers or farmers, many settling along the Volga. Later, Stalin sent many of them east of the Urals, into Siberia, Kazakstan, etc.

Bishop Brauer doesn't actively proselytize Orthodox Christians but he does believe in serving all Russians, and he is trying to get away from the perception that Lutheranism is a foreign religion.

My pastor was actually baptized as a child in a rural New Jersey church that was descended from Reformed Protestants in the Ukraine, because there were no specifically Lutheran churches nearby.

There was also an indigenous Lutheran movement in the early 20th century among formerly Byzantine Catholic, Ruthenian people in Poland and Ukraine, though many of those people became refugees that later came to the United States. The ELCA still has a few congregations that are made of Ukrainian-Americans who worship according to the Byzantine rite.

 

[Kalevalatar]

Russia is the domain of the Russian Orthodox Church and has no need for the Lutherans.

The Russian Federation is one of the most multicultural countries in the world: multiethnic, multilingual, and multireligious, a home to some 160 ethnic and indigenous groups who speak over 100 languages and of whom only some 60% identify as Orthodox Christian.

Karelia, for instance, is the historic home for Finnic people, who are Lutherans, and for a Swedish-speaking Lutheran minority dating back to the 14th Century, and neighbouring Ingrians are also Lutherans. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria is 400 years old. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Mary in Saint Petersburg is one of the oldest and largets historical protestant churches in Russia. The neighbouring Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Katarina and the German Lutheran Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul are both over 300 years old.

Lutheranism has a long and established history and tradition in Russia.

 

[grasping the after wind]

Russia is the domain of the Russian Orthodox Church and has no need for the Lutherans.

The Roman Empire had the same idea about Christians.

 

[Tigger45]

Russia is the domain of the Russian Orthodox Church and has no need for the Lutherans.

Hi @HTacianas & welcome to one of CF's Lutheran sub forums. We are happy to see you visit here but your posts must be in fellowship to our community.

 

[grasping the after wind]

Hi @HTacianas & welcome to one of CF's Lutheran sub forums. We are happy to see you visit here but your posts must be in fellowship to our community.

He is being as reasonable toward Lutherans in Russia as Andrew Cuomo is toward conservatives in New York State . They both see no need for the particular group in those places. Actually Cuomo went a little further as saying they don't belong in NYS is a bit more harsh than saying there was no need of them there. .

 

[ViaCrucis]

Russia is the domain of the Russian Orthodox Church and has no need for the Lutherans.

Fair point. We'll get the word out that Germany and the Scandinavian countries have no need for the Orthodox.

-CryptoLutheran