In the post-war years there was an acute shortage of pastors. Several women theologians who had studied at the University of Latvia Faculty of Theology remained in Latvia. Responding to the situation, in the post-war years of Soviet power the office of deaconess was introduced into the Constitution of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia. E. Ķiploks names the deaconesses Milija Roze (née Freimane), Klāra Znotiņa-Pūliņa, Elīna Ozoliņa, Johanna Ose, and Jūlija Lapiņa as holders of this spiritual office.
For example, when in 1951 Leopolds Roze, pastor of the Sāti and Zemīte congregations (Kandava provostry), died, his place was immediately taken by his wife Milija Roze, who from 1921 to 1925 had studied at the University of Latvia Faculty of Theology but had not completed her studies. For 25 years she tended both congregations until her own death in 1976. In accordance with the Church Constitution, the Consistory confirmed her as a deaconess. M. Roze worked under the direction of Ustrups, the pastor of the Tukums congregation. (Edgars Ķiploks, “Latvian Women Theologians”, Go and Tell! ed. I. Bērziņš (Ogre: Ogre Evangelical Lutheran congregation, 1995,) p. 14.) Even now (in 2010), a photograph of Milija Roze and her husband is placed in a place of honour in the congregation house “Šuvas” of the Sāti church. This wonderful story has been preserved in the congregation’s memory.
Also especially worthy of mention is the deaconess Johanna Ose, who was regarded as one of the “best evangelist pastors”. She was an outstanding preacher. She finished the University of Latvia Faculty of Theology in 1936. The year 1941 is given as the start of her service. In 1945 she is mentioned in the list of workers of the Riga Pāvils congregation as a congregation sister, and she assisted pastor L. Taivāns in the Jēzus congregation and also in the Mežaparks congregation. In the first post-war years, the acting archbishop Kārlis Irbe offered her ordination, but received a refusal, since J. Ose thought that, by becoming the first woman pastor, she would be overcome by pride. (Dr. Valdis Tēraudkalns “The Path to the Ordination of Lutheran Women in Latvia”, University of Latvia Faculty of Theology journal Ceļš No. 57, 2005, pp. 35-37; Edgars Ķiploks, “Latvian Women Theologians”, Go and Tell! ed. I. Bērziņš (Ogre: Ogre Evangelical Lutheran congregation, 1995,) p. 14.)
It is known that Klāra Znotiņa-Pūliņa, a deaconess, lived in Talsi, but the places of her service have not been researched. She too was a graduate of the University of Latvia Faculty of Theology (1929). (Edgars Ķiploks, “Latvian Women Theologians”, Go and Tell! ed. I. Bērziņš (Ogre: Ogre Evangelical Lutheran congregation, 1995,) p. 14)
The deaconess Elīna Ozoliņa served in both post-war Jelgava congregations – the St. Anna congregation and the Jānis congregation. She graduated from the University of Latvia Faculty of Theology at the same time as Klāra Znotiņa-Pūliņa, in 1929. (Edgars Ķiploks, “Latvian Women Theologians”, Go and Tell! ed. I. Bērziņš (Ogre: Ogre Evangelical Lutheran congregation, 1995,) p. 14.) During the time of the First Republic, Elīna Ozoliņa had been active in the society “The Evangelical Brethren Congregation of Latvia” as a lecturer in the courses for spiritual workers, teaching practical theology, and had preached at services held in the meeting houses. (Dr. Valdis Tēraudkalns “The Path to the Ordination of Lutheran Women in Latvia”, University of Latvia Faculty of Theology journal Ceļš No. 57, 2005, p. 35)
Photograph of the deaconess Jūlija Lapiņa (1960s).
State Archives of Latvia, fonds “Commissioner of the Council for Religious Affairs of the Council of Ministers of the USSR
for the Latvian SSR”, file: State Archives of Latvia, fonds 1419, inv. 2, file 15, leaf 55 reverse
From 1910, the deaconess Jūlija Lapiņa worked at the Christian Society’s shelter for poor children in Bauska. When, after the First World War, the society resumed its activities, J. Lapiņa became its spiritual leader. Afterwards she was active in the pietistically oriented Riga Atdzimšana congregation, the Reformed Brethren congregation, and later – the Jēzus congregation. (Dr. Valdis Tēraudkalns “The Path to the Ordination of Lutheran Women in Latvia”, University of Latvia Faculty of Theology journal Ceļš No. 57, 2005, p. 32) She was born on 3 October 1888, and became acquainted with spiritual work in Bukovina, Romania (unfortunately that is all that is known about her education). For the last ten years before her death in 1976, she served in the Riga Jēzus church, in the care of both Latvians and Germans. (Edgars Ķiploks, “Latvian Women Theologians”, Go and Tell! ed. I. Bērziņš (Ogre: Ogre Evangelical Lutheran congregation, 1995,) p. 14)