September 14, 2012
In some ways the final full day of the General Synod was anti-climactic. After dealing with difficult and unpredictable discussions the day before, the main item on the agenda for the last day was the elections. With the resignation of Archbishop Kruze, a new person needed to be named. In addition, a new President of the Synod Council (aka General Consistory) needed to be elected. Here, it is clear, the General Consistory had done much work ahead of time considering the best options for leadership positions in our church. They suggested that the best option for the present was that Bishop Dietrich Brauer of the ELCER become the acting Archbishop for the next two years, while Pastor Wladimar Bentzel from Yekaterinburg would be the President. Because Bishop Brauer will be busy enough in his duties in Moscow, Pastor Bentzel will need to take on a number of new responsibilities for the General Consistory to be able to work effectively in the period leading up to the next General Synod in two years time.
While elections were somewhat of a formality, there was an air of tension about them. In my mind this revealed a degree of distrust between the two Russian synods based on the old politics of ELCROS. Such tension between the Russian churches wasn't so noticeable before since this is the first general synod where really only the Russian voices count. In other words if at earlier general synods there were a number of different currents of piety and church politics flowing all at once (Central Asia, Ukraine, Georgia, Russia....), now all the political tension is packed into the relationship between these two churches. That said, the elections went by without any major problems, and I believe that the next years will be filled with productive and cooperative ministry, and this will build up the trust that has not thus far been strongly established.
The only other item of business for the day (other than once again confirming all the decisions that had been made up until that point) was to confirm the text of a letter to the press about recent vandalism in St. Paul's Church in Moscow. It is possible that you have already heard or read about the damage done to the organ there, but if you have not, I ask your prayers for Christ's peace to reign in that congregation that has suffered much at the hands of former leaders.
The day ended up being "heavier" than expected. But despite all our frustrations, we ended on a high note - a Holy Communion service at Petrikirche in St. Petersburg with commissioning of those with new responsibilities (photos below).
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| Bishop (and acting Archbishop) Dietrich Brauer with new President Bentzel and outgoing President Pivovarov. |
While elections were somewhat of a formality, there was an air of tension about them. In my mind this revealed a degree of distrust between the two Russian synods based on the old politics of ELCROS. Such tension between the Russian churches wasn't so noticeable before since this is the first general synod where really only the Russian voices count. In other words if at earlier general synods there were a number of different currents of piety and church politics flowing all at once (Central Asia, Ukraine, Georgia, Russia....), now all the political tension is packed into the relationship between these two churches. That said, the elections went by without any major problems, and I believe that the next years will be filled with productive and cooperative ministry, and this will build up the trust that has not thus far been strongly established.
The only other item of business for the day (other than once again confirming all the decisions that had been made up until that point) was to confirm the text of a letter to the press about recent vandalism in St. Paul's Church in Moscow. It is possible that you have already heard or read about the damage done to the organ there, but if you have not, I ask your prayers for Christ's peace to reign in that congregation that has suffered much at the hands of former leaders.
The day ended up being "heavier" than expected. But despite all our frustrations, we ended on a high note - a Holy Communion service at Petrikirche in St. Petersburg with commissioning of those with new responsibilities (photos below).
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