On Sunday, 27 October, the chaplain of Iļģuciems women’s prison, evangelist, poet and president of the Latvian Lutheran Women Theologians’ Association Rudīte Losāne was ordained as a pastor of the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad (LELBāL).
LELBāL is the exile church of Latvia’s first independent republic, whose archbishop is the US-born clergywoman of Latvian descent Lauma Zušēvica.
The LELBāL archbishop, together with the deans of the Church’s governing body – Kārlis Žols and Gunārs Lazdiņš – ordained Rudīte Losāne into the office of pastor for ministry in Latvia. The ordination took place in the Cīrava Evangelical Lutheran Church – the place where Rudīte Losāne will serve as a fully fledged pastor.
Rudīte Losāne is the third LELBāL pastor ordained in Latvia.
In the spring of 2014, LELBāL archbishop Elmārs Rozītis ordained Ieva Puriņa as a pastor.
In the summer of 2018, the successor of Elmārs Rozītis, LELBāL archbishop Lauma Zušēvica, ordained as a pastor the dean of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Latvia and professor of the New Testament Dace Balode.
All three pastors have been and are actively involved in the Latvian Lutheran Women Theologians’ Association.
A short TV report about the ordination service can be watched both on the LSM replay website, and also on the Panorāma YouTube page.
LLSTA editorial team