I am a pastor of ELKRAS (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States - by which, with the exception of the Baltic states, the former Soviet Union is meant) in Krasnojarsk, Siberia. During my last sojourn in Germany and the United States, in various Lutheran and Catholic parishes that I visited, I was told with pride about partner congregations in Russia, and when I asked where these congregations would be located, the answer given to me was: that is the Orthodox congregation in ... I am happy that these large Orthodox sister churches receive so much support from the West, and with this help can restore their buildings and seminaries.

In the meetings in Germany and the USA, what has unsettled me very much is the fact that hardly anyone in the West has knowledge of a Lutheran Church in Russia, to say nothing of having contact with it. Yes, there were even a few voices who righteously attacked me and asked what the Lutherans had to seek there. Wasn't Russia still Orthodox, and perhaps we shouldn't support proselytizing, with which the Orthodox Church was contending. We should finally not be evangelical missionaries.

Also these "attacks" made it clear to me, that the Orthodox position is very well known in the West, but that ours is not yet accepted.

It is a couple months since the Lutheran church here celebrated the 420th anniversary of its founding. At that time the Czar permitted the first Lutheran congregation to erect its first church on the outskirts of Moscow. So through the centuries there have always been Lutheran congregations scattered through the whole Russian empire, with concentrations on the Volga, on the Black Sea, and in the large cities of the realm. In every large Siberian city, before the Revolution there was a Lutheran church. Ours in Krasnojarsk was then closed in 1930 and used as a warehouse. In 1963, in the context of urban redevelopment in the center of the city, it was torn down, so that we must now rent a hall in the Culture Palace Sunday after Sunday for our worship services. Through my broad search travels through the gigantic region around the Jenisee River, I regularly run into new groups of Lutheran congregation, who gather independently for worship. All of these people stem from the colonies on the Volga, and during the war were banished here to Siberia. Now these people rightly feel abandoned and forgotten, and I see it as a responsibility of the worldwide Lutheran church, to take these sisters and brothers in the faith under our arm in the rebuilding of their church. Mostly this has to do with the simplest things, like Bibles and hymnals. It is difficult to contemplate providing comprehensive pastoral care for these numerous congregations in the near future. However these people have also learned to wait and to be patient. Their thankfulness for a visit or for a joint worship service reminds me ever anew of the responsibility that we Lutherans have for them.