Gustavs Tūrs (24 May 1890 — 16 March 1973) was a Latvian prelate of the

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia (, or LELB) is a Lutheranism, Lutheran Protestant church in Latvia. Latvia's Lutheran heritage dates back to the Protestant Reformation, Reformation. Both the Nazi and communist regimes persecuted the c ...

and Archbishop of Riga from 1948 to 1968.

Biography

He was born on 24 May 1890 to Gustavs and Anna Tursa in Prauliena Parish "Silnieki". The family had eight children. He studied at the Lazdon Parish School (Gustavs'kola), at the Aleksander Boys' Gymnasium and St. Petersburg Alexei Gymnasium (1907-1910). He studied jurisprudence and later theology from 1910 to 1918 at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.

. On 20 June 1920 he was ordained to the priesthood in St James' Church in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

, when it was still a Lutheran church. For a short time he served as a pastor in

Latgale Latgale (; ; ; ; ; ; Belarusian Latin alphabet, Belarusian Latin: ''Łathalija''; ), also known as Latgalia or Latgallia, is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. It is the easternmost region of the country and lies north of the Daugava River. Wh ...

in the parishes of Sīķele, Borne, Kalupe, Preiļi and

Krāslava Krāslava (; , , , , ) is a town and the administrative centre of Krāslava Municipality. The town lies on the Daugava, upstream and to the east of the city of Daugavpils. Most of the town is situated on the right coast of the Daugava. As defined ...

. Since 1921 he has served as a teacher in Bauska and as a pastor in the Bauska parish, having been there for 24 years. He also served in areas surrounding Bauska such as Cod, Mezotne and Budberga. During and after World War II he was a pastor of St. John's Church, Riga and of Alūksne, Sātu and Zemītes. On 14 March 1948 he was elected Archbishop of the LELB however he was never consecrated due to ongoing political issues. In 1959,

Leipzig University Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

's Faculty of Theology bestowed him with an honorary doctorate. On 23 March 1968, at the 11th General Synod, Tūrs resigned from his post as Archbishop of Riga and Primate of the Church of Latvia. He died on 16 March 1973 in

. He was buried on 24 March 1973 in Forest Cemetery, Riga."Gustavs Tūrs (Turss)"
''LELB''. Retrieved on 22 December 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turs, Gustavs 1890 births 1973 deaths Latvian Lutheran clergy Latvian Lutheran bishops Lutheran archbishops of Riga 20th-century Lutheran archbishops Burials at Forest Cemetery, Riga