![Lutheran Church of Saint Mary St Petersburg Russia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Lutheran_Church_of_Saint_Mary_St_Petersburg_Russia.JPG)
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria (russian: Евангелическо-лютеранская церковь Ингрии, ''Yevangelichesko-lyuteranskaya tserkov Ingriyi''; fi, Inkerin evankelis-luterilainen kirkko; also the Church of Ingria) is a
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
church in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. It is the second largest Lutheran church in Russia, with 75 congregations and 8,000 members, and is mostly active in
Ingria
Ingria is a historical region in what is now northwestern European Russia. It lies along the southeastern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordered by Lake Ladoga on the Karelian Isthmus in the north and by the River Narva on the border with Esto ...
and
Karelia. The church was established in 1992, following the separation from 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 ...
, though the first Lutheran parish in Ingria was founded in 1611, and the church recognises this date as the date of its original foundation.
The history of the church is deeply connected with the history of the
Ingrian Finns
The Ingrians ( fi, inkeriläiset, ; russian: Ингерманландцы, translit=Ingermanlandts'i), sometimes called Ingrian Finns, are the Finnish population of Ingria (now the central part of Leningrad Oblast in Russia), descending from Lu ...
, and the church follows the Nordic Lutheran tradition, though being more conservative. It is a member of both 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
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 ...
.
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria at the International Lutheran Council Website
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Provostships
The church is organised in seven provostships: Western Ingria, Saint Petersburg, Karelia, Moscow, Volga, Ural, and Siberia.
See also
*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 ...
*
*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 ...
*Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church
The Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church (Сибирская Евангелическо-Лютеранская Церковь) is a Russian Lutheran church whose bishop is Vsevolod Lytkin. It was officially founded in 2003, and participates in the ...
References
External links
Official website
{{Authority control
Lutheran denominations
Ingria
International Lutheran Council members
Lutheran World Federation members
Ingria
Ingria is a historical region in what is now northwestern European Russia. It lies along the southeastern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordered by Lake Ladoga on the Karelian Isthmus in the north and by the River Narva on the border with Esto ...