Archdiocese of Turku
The Archdiocese of Turku ( Finnish Turun arkkihiippakunta ) is one of nine dioceses of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and at the same time its only archdiocese. The bishopric is Turku with the Turku Cathedral . The diocese includes the Finnish-speaking parishes in the south-western part of Finland . (The Swedish-speaking parishes across Finland belong to the Borgå diocese .)
history
The Archdiocese of Turku is the oldest diocese in Finland. After the Christianization of Finland, the starting date of which is traditionally the crusade of the Swedish King Erik the Holy , which was set for 1155 , a bishopric was initially in Nousiainen and from 1229 in Koroinen . 1259 a "Bishop of Turku" (episcopus Aboensis) is mentioned for the first time. The Turku Cathedral Chapter was founded in 1276 . Initially, the Diocese of Turku, which was subordinate to the Archdiocese of Uppsala , covered almost the entire area of what is now Finland. After the Reformation , the diocese of Turku, now an Evangelical Lutheran diocese, remained unchanged. In 1554 the eastern part of Finland was added to the newly founded diocese Viipuri , the forerunner of today's diocese of Tampere .
In 1809 Finland became a grand duchy under Russian rule. Tsar Alexander I confirmed the position of the Evangelical Lutheran Church at the Diet of Porvoo , so that the diocese of Turku continued to exist unchanged during the Russian period. To mark the 300th anniversary of the Reformation, the Bishop of Turku was raised to the rank of Archbishop in 1817. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the area of the Turku diocese was reduced by the establishment of new dioceses.
Diocese structure
The Archdiocese of Turku has 51 parishes, which are divided into 5 provosts:
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See also
Web links
- Archdiocese of Turku website (Finnish)