The Communion of Nordic Lutheran Dioceses are Lutheran dioceses that entered into

schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...

with their Scandinavian

national church A national church is a Christian church associated with a specific ethnic group or nation state. The idea was notably discussed during the 19th century, during the emergence of modern nationalism. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in a draft discussing ...

es in 2003 due to what they perceived as "the secularization of the national/state churches in their respective countries involving matters of both Christian doctrine and ethics". These dioceses are members of the

International Lutheran Council The International Lutheran Council (ILC) is a worldwide association of confessional Lutheran denominations. Member bodies of the ILC hold "an unconditional commitment to the Holy Scriptures as the inspired and infallible Word of God and to the Lu ...

, a body of

Confessional Lutheran Confessional Lutheranism is a name used by Lutherans to designate those who believe in the doctrines taught in the ''Book of Concord'' of 1580 (the Lutheran confessional documents) in their entirety. Confessional Lutherans maintain that faithfulne ...

s, they are in

full communion Full communion is a communion or relationship of full agreement among different Christian denominations that share certain essential principles of Christian theology. Views vary among denominations on exactly what constitutes full communion, but ...

with one another and include the

Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland The Mission Diocese, officially the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, ( fi, Suomen evankelisluterilainen lähetyshiippakunta, sv, Evangelisk-lutherska missionsstiftet i Finland) is an independent confessional Lutheran "ecclesial s ...

, Mission Province of the Church of Sweden, and the

Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of Norway Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of Norway ( no, Det evangelisk-lutherske stift i Norge) is a Lutheran diocese in Norway, founded in Kautokeino in 2013. Branched out from the " Church of Norway in Exile" (formerly the Deanery of Strandebarm), the bishop ...

. These dioceses entered into schism with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, Church of Sweden, and Church of Norway, respectively, though the Mission Province considers itself to be a non-territorial diocese within the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sw ...

. Their lines of

apostolic succession Apostolic succession is the method whereby the ministry of the Christian Church is held to be derived from the apostles by a continuous succession, which has usually been associated with a claim that the succession is through a series of bish ...

derive from other traditional Lutheran Churches, such as the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya ( sw, Kanisa la Kiinjili la Kilutheri Katika Kenya) is a Lutheran denomination in Kenya. It is a member of the Global Confessional and Missional Lutheran Forum, the Lutheran World Federation (which it join ...

; Walter Obare Omwanza, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya, assisted by bishops Leonid Zviki from Belarus, David Tswaedi from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Børre Knudsen Børre Arnold Knudsen (1937–2014) was a Norwegian Lutheran priest noted for his anti-abortion activism. Together with Ludvig Nessa, he staged protests at abortion clinics as well as other public stunts starting in the late 1980s, and he spent t ...

and Ulf Asp from Norway, consecrated

Arne Olsson Arne Olsson (born 1930) is a Swedish Lutheran bishop. He is the Bishop Ordinary of the Mission Province. Olsson is a retired pastor in the Lutheran Church of Sweden, having been e.g. the parish priest of Habo. On 5 February 2005 in Gothenburg, h ...

as the Ordinary for the Mission Province. The first bishop of the

Risto Soramies Risto Matti Soramies (born 13 December 1946 in Helsinki, Finland) is the first bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland The Mission Diocese, officially the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, ( fi, Suomen eva ...

, was then ordained by Matti Väisänen of the Mission Province of the Church of Sweden. These dioceses have an Evangelical Catholic churchmanship, reflective of the influence of High Church Lutheranism and

Pietist Lutheranism Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christian life, including a social concern for the needy and ...

in Scandinavia. As such, the Communion of Nordic Lutheran Dioceses affirms: In the view of the Communion of Nordic Lutheran Dioceses, "it has retained the historic teachings and practice that the politically selected church structure has abandoned, it is a believing remnant of those churches."

References

External links

Communion of Nordic Lutheran DiocesesMission Province of the Church of SwedenEvangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland
{{Authority control Lutheranism in Sweden Lutheranism in Norway Lutheranism in Finland Lutheranism in Kenya Lutheran organizations established in the 21st century