Latvian Lutheran Church Forbids Ordination of Women

The Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church (LELB/ELCL), member of both the Lutheran World Federation and the International Lutheran Council, has just altered its constitution to officially ban the ordination of women. This was accomplished despite media opposition in the run-up to the vote.

No women have been ordained in Latvia since Archbishop Janis Vanags banned their ordination shortly after his election in early 1994. Prior to his election, only nine women were ordained.

From the Baltic Times: Latvian Lutheran church officially bans women's ordination

The Synod, the highest governing body of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia (ELCL) meeting every three years, on Friday amended the church rules, officially establishing that only men can seek ordination as priests.

According to BNS sources, the Synod approved amendments with 77 per cent of votes, only slightly above the 75 per cent threshold for such important decision.

The church rules used to say that "anyone who according to the regulations set by the ELCL is called by God and trained for ministry can seek ordination" but now they have been amended and state that "any male candidate, who according to the regulations set by the ELCL is called by God and trained for the ministry, can seek ordination."

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia, however, has not been ordaining women for years already, and the adoption of the amendments will not change the existing situation.

The Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad, which functions outside Latvia, has been ordaining women as priests and criticised the proposed amendments to the ELCL rules that would exclude women from church offices.

As the last paragraph of the Baltic Times article notes, the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad (LELBĀL/LELCA) never ceased ordaining women. On November 3, 2014, Lauma Lagzdins Zušēvica, the denomination's first full-time American female pastor, was elected archbishop of the LELBĀL, to which position she was installed on April 19, 2015.

Updates, 6-6-16:

Update 1: According to the Rev. Ivo Pavlovics (via Twitter), the amendment passed with 201 votes for, 59 against, and 22 abstentions.

Update 2: Within two days of the vote, one congregation voted to leave the ELCL and join the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad.

From the Baltic Times: Congregation splits from Latvian Lutheran Church over ban on women's ordination

A congregation in the southwestern Latvian diocese of Liepaja has voted in a general meeting to split from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia (ELCL) and join the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad (LELCA) after the ELCL Sinod last week voted to ban the ordination of women for church ministry. 

The Rev. Martins Urdze had said already earlier that if the Sinod wrote the ban on women's ordination in the ELCL constitution he will tender resignation and join the LELCA. The Cross Congregation, led by Urdze, overwhelmingly voted to leave the ELCL and join the LELCA.

Urdze said he found the ban on women's ordination due to their gender unacceptable. Prior to this formal decision, more than 20 women theologians had to emigrate to foreign churches as Archbishop Janis Vanags, the leader of the ELCL, has been refusing ordination to women since 1993. Those women who have remained in Latvia could serve as evangelists at best, Urdze said.