On Sunday, 9 February, the Archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia Abroad (LELBāL), Elmārs Ernsts Rozītis, will ordain LELBāL deaconess and board member of the Association of Latvian Lutheran Women Theologians (LLSTA), Ieva Puriņa, as a Lutheran pastor.
This will be a truly historic event. Ieva Puriņa will become the first woman pastor to serve as a pastor in Latvia after a 20-year interruption.
As is known, the ELCL de facto stopped ordaining women in the nineties, in contrast to the fact that the ELCL Constitution still provides for such rights for women.
Article 133 of the ELCL Constitution stipulates that anyone who is “called by God and prepared for the office of pastor” may be ordained as a pastor.
Please see the venue and time of Ieva Puriņa’s ordination here
For all of you who were baptized into Christ’s Name have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. /Gal. 3:27,28/
Photo: Riga Evangelical Congregation
Aļesja Lavrinoviča