Mission History

ELCA Companions in Russia and Other States

Lutheran congregations in Russia have three roots: (mostly German) immigrants from Europe to all the large cities of the Russian Empire, starting in the 16th century; indigenous Lutheran Christians who came under tsarist rule when Peter the Great conquered the areas around the Baltic Sea; and German farmers who were invited to settle along the Volga river and in the Black Sea region during the reign of Catherine the Great (starting in the 1760’s). Lutheran congregations in Russia remained close to their ethnic roots, since the law required that worship take place in a language other than Russian, and it was a criminal offense to change religions in the Russian Empire until 1905.

After World War I and the Russian Revolution, the Baltic territories of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became independent. Those Lutheran congregations that remained in the former Russian Empire remained for a time, but suffered persecution in the late 1920s and 1930s. This closed or destroyed many Lutheran church buildings and church structures. In the years leading up to World War II, many Lutherans were deported to Soviet Republics in central Asia and the Far East because they, as ethnic minorities, were seen as a threat to Soviet state security. The church survived, however, not as an organization, but as underground faith communities led by lay leaders.

Lutheran churches appeared once again in the Soviet Union during the (re-)occupation of the Baltic countries during WWII, but it was only in 1988 that Lutheran churches began functioning again in Russia. In 1989, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States (ELCROS) became a member of the Lutheran World Federation. When the Baltic States once again gained their independence, national Lutheran churches were formed in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. Today ELCROS consists of 7 member churches and a number of affiliated congregations and groups (For details see below: Regional Churches).

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia, with a Finnish background, also re-established itself in Russia with its own identity and traditions. ELCROS and the Church of Ingria are in ecumenical fellowship.