03.11.2005
Interim Leader for German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ukraine
Synod Bids Farewell to Bishop Edmund RatzODESSA, Ukraine/GENEVA, 3 November 2005 (LWI) - Dean Georg Güntsch was installed as interim leader of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ukraine (DELKU) October 5, initially for a one-year period. He succeeds Bishop Dr Edmund Ratz, who this year was elected archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States (ELCROS).
Güntsch, 64, recently retired as head of the Castell deanery, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria. The DELKU synod will decide on election of Güntsch as bishop in the second half of next year.
ELCROS Archbishop Ratz, assisted by Bavarian Bishop Dr Johannes Friedrich, presided over the installation ceremony in Odessa's church house, where the synod also bid farewell to Ratz, who served for five years.
An October 4 ceremony during the synod meeting marked the start to restoration of St Paul's Church in Odessa, which was destroyed by fire in 1976. Oberkirchenrat Dr Claus-Jürgen Roepke, president of the Martin Luther Federation, and representatives of major denominations in Odessa participated, as well as political and civic dignitaries.
The church, in ruin next to the church house, will be completely rebuilt during the next three years. The reconstruction is being financed by the Bavarian church, the Free State of Bavaria and the Federal Republic of Germany. The main nave will be reconstructed. In place of the destroyed chancel, an extension will be built to accommodate some of the agencies that have operated in Odessa for years, such as the Bavarian House, or the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) office, with the aim to constitute a "German Center." Income from rent would cover the running costs of St Paul's Church and the extension. Since 2004, the church house has covered its operating costs by renting out guest rooms.
St Paul's Church is one of the four largest ELCROS church buildings in Russia. Others include St Peter's Church in St Petersburg; the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Moscow; and the Church of the Holy Trinity in Marx on the Volga. An 1818 decree of the Russian Czar Alexander I made Odessa one of the first two consistorial districts of the Lutheran church in the Russian Empire, along with Satarow on the Volga. The first St Paul's Church, a neo-classical building, was consecrated as early as 1827. The present neo-Romanesque church was consecrated in 1897. Then the tallest building in the city, its tower was a landmark that guided ships to port. After the first almost complete reconstruction, its use as a sports' facility, then a concert hall, the building burned down in May 1976, allegedly due to arson.
With 40 congregations, DELKU is one of ELCROS' regional member churches. It has nearly 3,000 members, mostly of German origin. (465 words)
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