Porvoo Communion
Encyclopedia
The Porvoo Communion is a communion
Communion
Communion may refer to:*Communion , the relationship between Christians as individuals or Churches*Full communion, a term used when two distinct Christian Churches say they are sharing the same communion...

 of 12 mainly northern European Anglican and Lutheran churches. It was established in 1992 by an agreement entitled the Porvoo Common Statement which establishes full communion
Full communion
In Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....

 between and among the churches. The agreement was negotiated in the town of Järvenpää
Järvenpää
Järvenpää is a town and municipality of Finland.-History:Järvenpää was separated from its parent community Tuusula in 1951. Järvenpää was granted the status of a market town after the separation. Neighbouring districts Kellokoski and Nummenkylä were not added to the municipality of Järvenpää and...

 in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, but the Communion's name comes from the city of Porvoo
Porvoo
Porvoo is a city and a municipality situated on the southern coast of Finland approximately east of Helsinki. Porvoo is one of the six medieval towns in Finland, first mentioned as a city in texts from 14th century...

 where there was a joint celebration of Holy Communion after the formal signing in Järvenpää.

In 1938, the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...

 invited the representatives of the Estonian Lutheran Church
Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church
The Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church is a Lutheran church in Estonia. EELC is member of the Lutheran World Federation...

 and Latvian Lutheran Church
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia is a Lutheran Protestant church in Latvia. Latvia's Lutheran heritage dates back to the Reformation. Both the Nazi and communist regimes persecuted the church harshly before religious freedom returned to Latvia in 1988.The Church is governed by a...

 to Lambeth Palace
Lambeth Palace
Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury in England. It is located in Lambeth, on the south bank of the River Thames a short distance upstream of the Palace of Westminster on the opposite shore. It was acquired by the archbishopric around 1200...

 in order to reach "altar and pulpit fellowship" between the Anglican and Baltic Lutheran churches. This process came to a formal conclusion with the establishment of the much wider Porvoo Communion in 1992. The churches involved are the Anglican churches of the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...

 and the Lutheran churches of the Northern Europe
Northern Europe
Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...

an countries. Later negotiations brought the Anglican churches of the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...

 into the agreement. These churches all share episcopal polity
Episcopal polity
Episcopal polity is a form of church governance that is hierarchical in structure with the chief authority over a local Christian church resting in a bishop...

.

The Porvoo Communion has no central office or overseer. Each member church has a contact person, and these contact persons form a contact group which meets every year. Two bishops, one Lutheran and the other Anglican, are co-moderators of the contact group, and there are two co-secretaries also drawn from both traditions. There are also conferences and meetings organized to discuss issues of concern to the entire Communion.

Participants

Signatories of the Porvoo Communion:

1994
  • The Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church
    Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church
    The Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church is a Lutheran church in Estonia. EELC is member of the Lutheran World Federation...

  • The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lithuania
    Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lithuania
    The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lithuania is a Lutheran church body comprising congregations in Lithuania. The ELCL is a member of the Porvoo Communion and the Lutheran World Federation....

  • The Church of Norway
    Church of Norway
    The Church of Norway is the state church of Norway, established after the Lutheran reformation in Denmark-Norway in 1536-1537 broke the ties to the Holy See. The church confesses the Lutheran Christian faith...

  • The Scottish Episcopal Church
    Scottish Episcopal Church
    The Scottish Episcopal Church is a Christian church in Scotland, consisting of seven dioceses. Since the 17th century, it has had an identity distinct from the presbyterian Church of Scotland....

  • The Church of Sweden
    Church of Sweden
    The Church of Sweden is the largest Christian church in Sweden. The church professes the Lutheran faith and is a member of the Porvoo Communion. With 6,589,769 baptized members, it is the largest Lutheran church in the world, although combined, there are more Lutherans in the member churches of...


1995
  • The Church of England
    Church of England
    The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

  • The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
    Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
    The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is the national church of Finland. The church professes the Lutheran branch of Christianity, and is a member of the Porvoo Communion....

  • The Church of Ireland
    Church of Ireland
    The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...

  • The Church of Iceland
    Church of Iceland
    The National Church of Iceland, or Þjóðkirkjan, formally called the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, is the state church in Iceland. Like the established churches in the other Nordic countries, the National Church of Iceland professes the Lutheran branch of Christianity. Its head is the...

  • The Church in Wales
    Church in Wales
    The Church in Wales is the Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses.As with the primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Archbishop of Wales serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The current archbishop is Barry Morgan, the Bishop of Llandaff.In contrast to the...


2001
  • The Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church
    Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church
    The Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church is the Anglican church in Portugal. Like all Anglican Communion churches, it recognises the primacy of the Archbishop of Canterbury...

     (Portugal)
  • The Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church
    Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church
    The Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church considers itself to be part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church established by Christ and his apostles; it maintains apostolic succession via the Church of England and the threefold ministry of bishops, priests and deacons; it keeps the three creeds...


2010
  • The Danish National Church


The Church of Denmark voted in December 2009 to join the Porvoo Communion as a full member and signed the Porvoo Declaration on October 3, 2010.

Other churches involved as observers:
  • The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia
    Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia
    The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia is a Lutheran Protestant church in Latvia. Latvia's Lutheran heritage dates back to the Reformation. Both the Nazi and communist regimes persecuted the church harshly before religious freedom returned to Latvia in 1988.The Church is governed by a...

     since 1994
  • The Latvian Evangelical Church Abroad since 2010
  • The Lutheran Church in Great Britain
    Lutheran Church in Great Britain
    Lutheran Church in Great Britain is a Lutheran church, operating in Great Britain ....

    since 2010

External links

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