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On November 19th former ELCROS bishop Georg Kretschmar died in Germany. He was 84.
Georg F.K. Kretschmar was born on August 31, 1925, into a family with a long tradition of serving as pastors in the Evangelical Church in Silesia (Poland). After finishing school in 1943 he was drafted into the army, during which time he was wounded. During his time in the army he visited an Orthodox church in Ukraine and from that moment on made it one of his goals to increase mutual understanding between the Western and Eastern churches.
Kretschmar began his theological studies in Tubingen in 1945, and continued his studies in Oxford and Heidelberg, where, in 1940, he defended his first thesis and became a teacher. He passed his second exam in the Wurtemburg church and did his internship there; in the beginning of 1953 he was ordained as a pastor in Tubingen, where he defended his doctoral dissertation later that year. After a few years there, he taught in the university of Hamburg until 1967, when he moved on to help found the new protestant theology department at the University of Munich. He worked there until 1990, and remained professor emeritus there until his passing.
Georg Kretschmar always understood his church service as an ecumenical service. He was involved in various working groups, and from 1959 to 1991 took part in 12 meeting between the Evangelical Church of Germany and the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1999 the Lutheran World Federation asked that he become a part of the worldwide Lutheran-Orthodox dialogues and lead the Lutheran delegation. This he did until 2004.
In 1989 the Bishop of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Soviet Union, Harold Kalinin, asked Kretschmar to organize educational programs for the church. He agreed and found the job so important than he left his former position at the university. Although he did much for education in the church, this was not his only duties. In 1992 he became the assistant Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States (the successor Lutheran church body founded after the breakup of the Soviet Union), and lived in St. Petersburg on a permanent basis starting in 1993. He was elected bishop of the church at the first General Assembly, and his title was changed to Archbishop after the new constitution was adopted in 1999. He was responsible for the largest (in terms of territory) Lutheran church in the world, with 7 regions churches and around 600 congregations in his care. In this period of great change congregations were re-organized and church buildings were re-claimed by the church or built anew in dozens of places. He remained Archbishop of ELCROS until health concerns forced him to retire in 2005.
Besides his work in the church itself, Georg Kretschmar did a tremendous amount of work in various academic fields, in particularly in the areas of church history and biblical theology.
Georg Kretschmar was the father of seven children, one of which has continued the family tradition of serving as a pastor in Bavaria.
Georg F.K. Kretschmar was born on August 31, 1925, into a family with a long tradition of serving as pastors in the Evangelical Church in Silesia (Poland). After finishing school in 1943 he was drafted into the army, during which time he was wounded. During his time in the army he visited an Orthodox church in Ukraine and from that moment on made it one of his goals to increase mutual understanding between the Western and Eastern churches.
Kretschmar began his theological studies in Tubingen in 1945, and continued his studies in Oxford and Heidelberg, where, in 1940, he defended his first thesis and became a teacher. He passed his second exam in the Wurtemburg church and did his internship there; in the beginning of 1953 he was ordained as a pastor in Tubingen, where he defended his doctoral dissertation later that year. After a few years there, he taught in the university of Hamburg until 1967, when he moved on to help found the new protestant theology department at the University of Munich. He worked there until 1990, and remained professor emeritus there until his passing.
Georg Kretschmar always understood his church service as an ecumenical service. He was involved in various working groups, and from 1959 to 1991 took part in 12 meeting between the Evangelical Church of Germany and the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1999 the Lutheran World Federation asked that he become a part of the worldwide Lutheran-Orthodox dialogues and lead the Lutheran delegation. This he did until 2004.
In 1989 the Bishop of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Soviet Union, Harold Kalinin, asked Kretschmar to organize educational programs for the church. He agreed and found the job so important than he left his former position at the university. Although he did much for education in the church, this was not his only duties. In 1992 he became the assistant Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States (the successor Lutheran church body founded after the breakup of the Soviet Union), and lived in St. Petersburg on a permanent basis starting in 1993. He was elected bishop of the church at the first General Assembly, and his title was changed to Archbishop after the new constitution was adopted in 1999. He was responsible for the largest (in terms of territory) Lutheran church in the world, with 7 regions churches and around 600 congregations in his care. In this period of great change congregations were re-organized and church buildings were re-claimed by the church or built anew in dozens of places. He remained Archbishop of ELCROS until health concerns forced him to retire in 2005.
Besides his work in the church itself, Georg Kretschmar did a tremendous amount of work in various academic fields, in particularly in the areas of church history and biblical theology.
Georg Kretschmar was the father of seven children, one of which has continued the family tradition of serving as a pastor in Bavaria.
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