Anglicans and Nordic Lutherans on Verge of Communion
Episcopal News Service. December 8, 1993 [93125A_Z]
A dozen Anglican and Lutheran churches in northern Europe have signed an unprecedented agreement laying out plans for entering into full communion with one another. In a statement signed in Finland in midNovember, the Anglican churches of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales will join the Lutheran churches of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to form a new communion of 50 million members. If approved by the churches, clergy will be able to move among the churches, on invitation, and church members will be welcomed at the Eucharist of all the churches. The Porvoo Common Statement, named for the Finnish cathedral city, would be communion at "the highest possible level, short of integration." According to the participants, the goal is "to move forward from our existing piecemeal agreements towards the goal of visible unity. We found that we had similar histories and faced similar challenges in contemporary society, and that there were no essential differences between us in the fields of faith, sacramental life or ministry."