| Classification | Lutheran |
|---|---|
| Orientation | Evangelical Catholic |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Origin | 2004 |
| Branched from | The Lutheran Evangelical Protestant Church |
The Lutheran Orthodox Church is a very small Lutheran Church in Apostolic Succession. The Lutheran Orthodox Church does not consider itself a Protestant denomination, but rather an Evangelical Catholic denomination, in the same manner that Martin Luther considered himself and his followers. The denomination views itself as a Lutheran-rite Catholic church. However, the Vatican does not necessarily share this position.
The Lutheran Orthodox Church sprang from a controversy within the Lutheran Evangelical Protestant Church (LEPC) over the issue of Apostolic Succession, which has since been reconciled. The LEPC traces its roots to the Reformation in Germany in the 1500s. The immediate history of The Lutheran Orthodox Church began in 2004 when several Bishops of The Lutheran Evangelical Protestant Church—a member of the General Conference of Evangelical Protestant Churches (GCEPC)—were offered the opportunity to be consecrated in the Apostolic Succession by bishops of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican churches. The process began in January 2004 and culminated on July 11th, 2004 when LEPC Bishops Samuel Guido and Raymond W. Copp, both from Pennsylvania, as well as Bishop Tan Binh Phan Nguyen, an Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church bishop from Atlanta, Georgia, were consecrated as bishops in Apostolic Succession in a ceremony held in New York City. The main consecrator, Archbishop Bertil Persson, Primate of the Order of Corporate Reunion and Presiding Bishop of The Apostolic Episcopal Church (Holy Eastern Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox)—who was also serving as Missionary General Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church (ICAB) (for Scandinavia) and Missionary General of The Philippine Independent Catholic Church (for Scandinavia and all of Europe)—flew in from Sweden to conduct the ceremony, extending his lineage of Apostolic Succession to the Lutheran Evangelical Protestant Church. Co-Consecrators included the Most Reverend Irl A. Gladfelter, Metropolitan Archbishop of The Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church, from Kansas City; the Most Reverend Peter Paul Brennan, of the Ecumenical Catholic Diocese of New York; Archbishop Francis C. Spataro of the Apostolic Episcopal Church, from Queens, NY; Bishop Paget E. J. Mack of the African Orthodox Church; and Bishop Patrick E. Trujillo.
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