Hochkirchliche Vereinigung Augsburgischen Bekenntnisses

Hochkirchliche Vereinigung Augsburgischen Bekenntnisses (High Church Union of the Augsburg Confession) is a Lutheran High Church organisation in Germany. It was founded in Berlin, October 1918, inspired by High Church theses Stimuli et Clavi 1917 by Heinrich Hansen. Later it has been greatly influenced by Evangelical Catholic theology of professor Friedrich Heiler.

Hochkirchliche Vereinigung seeks not only to restore, but also carry through the full catholicity of Augsburg Confession, which has coherently never happened in the history of Lutheran Church. It has also been able to make many High Church practises legitimate in Evangelical Church in Germany and has been involved in Liturgical Movement.

Hochkirchliche Vereinigung considers episcopal polity essential to Church and seeks to restore apostolic succession through Hochkirchliche St. Johannes-Bruderschaft. Within Hochkirchliche Vereinigung exists also Lutheran Franciscan third order (Evangelische Franziskaner-Tertiaren).

External links

• Hochkirchliche Vereinigung Augsburgischen Bekenntnisses e.V.
• The Modern Liturgical Movement in Germany by Bernard E. Meland (JSTOR)
• The Ecumenical Vanguard - The History of the Una Sancta Movement by Leonard J. Swidler