Well dont tell the Lutherans, But! Ever since comming to this country and mingling with the "protestant" inhabitants they ceased to be confessional Lutherans.
Go to Europe and one will see the difference immediately. Lutheranism there is more like a catholic reform movement rather than other protestant communities.
Stephanos I

That's why I didn't get it. My identical cousin's wife. (Yes my cousin and I could be on the new Patty Duke show!) His wife said that when they split, ELCA and Missouri Synod, the ELCA to the Missouri Synod to "Go back to Rome!"

Which I'm sure was a pejorative!

May his memory be eternal!

In RE: ethnic origin: Dr. Pelikan was a Slovak, from a family of Slovak Lutheran pastors. He grew up in the Slovak Evangelican Lutheran Church, which merged with the LC-MS. Dr. Pelikan's brother, Theodore, was pastor of the ELCA church in Johnstown PA, right down the street from Christ the Saviour Orthodox Seminary. Pastor Pelikan and his Pani Farrarka, Elizabeth, became good friends of mine while I was living and working at the Seminary there.

In RE: the LC-MS becoming Baptist: There were two strictly confessional Lutheran Churches in the USA, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), which both adhered very strictly to the Augsburg Confessions and the other confessional documents of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. In the 1970s, the LC-MS had a convention that eventually caused a split in the denomination, and ushered in a fundamentalist Bible interpretation that sat uneasily with the traditional "catholic" sacramental interpretation of the Lutheran Confessions. It is to this split, and the change in the LC-MS, that Dr. Pelikan referred.

Prof. J. Michael Thompson
Byzantine Catholic Seminary
Pittsburgh, PA

http://www.elca.org/archives/chicagochurches/holy_trinityulcanw.html

A few Pelikans here ...

Memory eternal.

Memory Eternal!

Dr. Jaroslav Pelikan's funeral will be held at Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary in Crestwood, New York. The schedule of services in the seminary chapel is as follows:

Tuesday evening, May 16 7:00 pm
VIGIL (FUNERAL) SERVICE

Wednesday morning, May 17 9:00 am
MEMORIAL DIVINE LITURGY

Pelikan made St Vladimir’s his parish home upon his reception into the Orthodox Church along with his wife in 1998.

http://www.svots.edu/News/Recent/2006-0513-pelikan

Ray

I was talking to a woman convert at my church today, who had spent some time at St. Vladimir's Orthodox seminary (which is in my area) and had gotten to know Mr. Pelican somewhat well. She said that he suffered greatly this last week, so now he is at rest.

Again, may our Lord God have mercy on his soul.

Alice

Professor Michael,
According to the official OCA release, prior to his conversion into Orthodoxy, Dr. Pelikan was also an ordained Lutheran minister. He sounded like a really interesting person to know. Is there anyone on this list that had the pleasure of meeting him? What were your impressions?

Ray

Sorry Pavel, I saw only the Hungarian and German part of his last name as I was in a rush to get to church!

Alice

Pavel who has had his first coffee of the day says with a swelled head "I forgive you & dont do it again, until next time" . Rapid loss of concentration, so leaves to get more coffee....

ICXC
NIKA

May the Lord God grant to his departed servant +Yaroslav, blessed repose. Eternal memory!

Christ is Risen!


Dr. Pelikan gave the address at my college graduation. (1977) I remember it, and it was a good speech. I remember thinking at the time that he was the most catholic sounding lutheran I'd ever heard.

Doctor Pelikan came and spoke at our Cathedral here in San Francisco a few years ago. It was an unforgettable experience for those who attended.

Memory Eternal.

Manoli

Memory Eternal.

I am currently reading his "History of the Development of Christian Doctrine" (I'm on Volume 4 currently), and I have to say it is probably my favorite set of books I have ever read. His ability to be unbiased when recording history was remarkable.

It seems to me that he means that the Missouri Synod was becoming fundamentalist, and the ELCA was going the way of the mainline American Protestant denominations. With his knowledge of history, he probably understood better than most how outside of historic Christianity both options are.