After several years of legal proceedings, the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine (NELCU) found a single spiritual and legally legitimate leader. This became known during a press conference on May 18 in the Odessa press center.
Authorities entered information in the State Register that the head of the Church Administration (Episcopate) of NELCU is Pavel Schwartz, who was elected to this position in accordance with the Church Constitution. His accession to the post of bishop was recognized by the World Lutheran Federation. Thus, Pavel Schwartz received legal authority to implement church-state relations.
"We have restored control over the Church Administration, the administrative center that helps Lutheran communities to function throughout Ukraine. The administration was created to serve, not to lead, communities. Literally last week, I entered the State Register as the head of the Church Administration, and this gives us the opportunity to finally use this potential to the maximum, - noted the Bishop of NELTS, Pavel Schwartz. "We will renew international relations with other Lutheran churches and revive life again, in particular in the Odesa Church and other communities."
Also, according to the bishop, now the new leadership will closely deal with painful problems, such as restoring trust in the church, as it was destroyed by some church officials during this difficult period.
"This also gives us the opportunity to conduct a financial audit of the Church administration in order to know how we can continue to effectively manage the Church for the benefit of all our communities. Of course, it is necessary to proceed with the repair, which, as we see, is already needed in the Odesa Church. We hope that with God's help and with the help of caring people, we will be able to revive spiritual and cultural life not only in Odessa, but also in other communities," emphasized the bishop of NELTS, Pavel Schwartz.
In turn, the president of the Synod of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine, Alexander Gross, said: "From the synodal commission of our church, that is, from the leadership of the church itself, I would like to assure you that all employees who currently work in the Church administration should not afraid of something We are waiting for a meeting with them, we are ready to discuss their work, talk about how we will cooperate further, discuss our development. This is very important, because at the moment people are scared. Our appointments and all our methods are legal, we are tolerant and always ready to cooperate."
As explained by the lawyer Artem Kartashov, the executive and judicial branches of the government of Ukraine recognized the right of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine to independently control the observance of the Church Charter and to supervise the Church administration. All legal obstacles for this have been removed.
At the same time, the former leadership of the church continues to cause confusion among the faithful and even now detains and does not allow legitimate leaders into the building of the Odesa Church, although a week has already passed since the official change of the Bishopric.
"Today, the Church has finally received a legal and legitimate leader. In this regard, we would like to make an announcement that all powers of attorney issued by the former management, all their powers, are now revoked. The church administration of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine does not intend to sell real estate, transfer any significant sums to third parties, sell cars for the benefit of third parties, and so on. Today, it is necessary first of all to conduct a quality audit, to return illegally withdrawn funds. Just yesterday, we learned that approximately 400 hryvnias were withdrawn from a bank account by the former management. That is, in this case, the pursuit of money by the former management still continues. We will resist this as much as possible, conduct an audit and try to restore the normal activity of the church. We are confident that justice has won, and the new leadership will continue to develop the church," the lawyer noted.
