The Porvoo Communion is a communion of 15 predominantly northern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

and

Evangelical Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

churches, with a couple of far-southwestern European (in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

) church bodies of the same denomination. It was established in 1992 by a theological agreement entitled the ''

Porvoo Common Statement Porvoo (; sv, Borgå ; la, Borgoa) is a List of cities and towns in Finland, city and a Municipalities of Finland, municipality in the Uusimaa Regions of Finland, region of Finland, situated on the southern coast about east of the city borde ...

'' which establishes full communion between and among these churches. The agreement was negotiated in the town of

Järvenpää Järvenpää (; sv, Träskända) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located on the Helsinki–Riihimäki railway track in Uusimaa region, some north of Helsinki. Neighbouring municipalities are Tuusula, Sipoo and Mäntsälä. People ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, but the communion's name comes from the nearby city of

Porvoo Porvoo (; sv, Borgå ; la, Borgoa) is a city and a municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland, situated on the southern coast about east of the city border of Helsinki and about from the city centre. Porvoo was one of the six medieval to ...

, where a joint

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

(or Holy Communion) was celebrated in

Porvoo Cathedral Porvoo Cathedral ( fi, Porvoon tuomiokirkko; sv, Borgå domkyrka) is a cathedral of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland in Porvoo, Finland. It was built in the 15th century, although the oldest parts date from the 13th century. It is th ...

after the formal signing in Järvenpää.

Overview

The first seeds to the broader communion formed in 1992 were planted in 1922 when the Anglican Church and the Church of Sweden agreed to enter communion with each other. In 1938, the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

, symbolic head of the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, invited the representatives of the

Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church The Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELC; Estonian: ''Eesti Evangeelne Luterlik Kirik'', abbreviated EELK) is a Lutheran church in Estonia. EELC is member of the Lutheran World Federation and belongs to the Community of Protestant Church ...

and Latvian Lutheran Church to the

Lambeth Palace Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament, on the opposite ...

in order to reach "

altar and pulpit fellowship Altar and pulpit fellowship describes an ecumenical collaboration between two Christian organizations, and is a Lutheran term for full communion, or ''communio in sacris.'' ''Altar'' refers to the altar in Christian churches, which holds the sacram ...

" between the Anglican and Baltic Lutheran churches. This process came to a formal conclusion with the establishment of the much wider Porvoo Communion in 1992. The churches involved are the several Anglican churches of the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

(headed by the founding

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

) and the other Evangelical Lutheran churches of the

Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...

an countries. Later negotiations brought the small Anglican churches of the

(

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

) into the agreement. These churches all share

episcopal polity An episcopal polity is a Hierarchy, hierarchical form of Ecclesiastical polity, church governance ("ecclesiastical polity") in which the chief local authorities are called bishops. (The word "bishop" derives, via the British Latin and Vulgar ...

of church organization with the three-fold ministry of

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

s (or

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

s) and

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

s within the

historical episcopate The historic or historical episcopate comprises all episcopates, that is, it is the collective body of all the bishops of a church who are in valid apostolic succession. This succession is transmitted from each bishop to their successors by the r ...

with

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 ...

(only bishops

ordaining Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorization, authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominational ...

clergy or other bishops, priests and deacons). This is based on the original ministry of the early church. The Porvoo Communion has no central office or overseer. Each member church has a contact person and these form a contact group which meets each year. Two bishops, one Lutheran and the other Anglican, are co-moderators of the contact group, and there are two co-secretaries also drawn from each tradition. Both are members of the

Lutheran World Federation The Lutheran World Federation (LWF; german: Lutherischer Weltbund) is a global communion of national and regional Lutheran denominations headquartered in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish ...

and the Anglican Communion. There are also various conferences and meetings organized to discuss issues of concern to the entire Communion.

Participants

Signatories of the Porvoo Communion: ;1994 * Estonian_Evangelical_Lutheran_Church_arms

The

*The

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lithuania The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Evangelikų Liuteronų Bažnyčia, ELCL) is a Lutheran church body comprising congregations in Lithuania. The ELCL is a member of the Porvoo Communion and the Lutheran World Federation ...

The Church of Norway *The

Scottish Episcopal Church The Scottish Episcopal Church ( gd, Eaglais Easbaigeach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Episcopal(ian) Kirk) is the ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion in Scotland. A continuation of the Church of Scotland as intended by King James VI, and ...

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 ...

;1995 *

The

Coat_of_Arms_of_the_Evangelical_Lutheran_Church_of_Finland

The

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland ( fi, Suomen evankelis-luterilainen kirkko; sv, Evangelisk-lutherska kyrkan i Finland) is a national church of Finland. It is part of the Lutheran branch of Christianity. The church has a legal positio ...

*The

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the secon ...

*The

Church of Iceland The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland ( is, Hin evangelíska lúterska kirkja), also called the National Church ( is, Þjóðkirkjan), is the officially established Christian church in Iceland. The church professes the Lutheran faith an ...

The

Church in Wales The Church in Wales ( cy, Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is an Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The p ...

;2001 *The

Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church The Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church ( pt, Igreja Lusitana Católica Apostólica Evangélica) in Portugal is a member church of the Anglican Communion. Membership The church has around 5,000 members. Structure As an Episcopal den ...

(

) *

The

Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church , native_name_lang = , image = File:Sello-iere comunion784x1181.jpg , imagewidth = 150px , alt = , caption = Seal of Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church , abbreviation = SREC , ty ...

;2010 *The

Church of Denmark The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark or National Church, sometimes called the Church of Denmark ( da, Folkekirken, literally: "The People's Church" or unofficially da, Den danske folkekirke, literally: "The Danish People's Church"; kl, ...

– The Church of Denmark voted in December 2009 to join the Porvoo Communion as a full member and signed the "Porvoo Common Statement" declaration on October 3, 2010. ;2014 *The Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Worldwide * The

Lutheran Church in Great Britain The Lutheran Church in Great Britain (LCiGB) is a small Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. The LCiGB is a member church of the Lutheran World Federation and of The Lutheran Council of Great Britain, the umbrella organisation f ...

;Observers: * Lelb

The

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Evaņģēliski luteriskā baznīca, or LELB) is a Lutheran Protestant church in Latvia. Latvia's Lutheran heritage dates back to the Reformation. Both the Nazi and communist regimes pers ...

, since 1994

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Protestant ecumenism Porvoo History of Lutheranism Anglican ecumenism Church of England Church of Ireland Church in Wales Scottish Episcopal Church Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland Church of Norway Church of Sweden Protestantism in Europe Christian ecumenical organizations 1992 establishments in Europe Christian organizations established in 1992 1992 in Christianity 1992 in Finland

Overview

Participants

See also

References

Further reading

External links