Orthodox Church of Finland
The Orthodox Church of Finland (Finnish. Suomen ortodoksinen kirkko , Swedish. Ortodoxa kyrkan i Finland ) is one of the two national churches of Finland alongside the Evangelical Lutheran Church . Orthodox Christianity has been rooted in Eastern Finland since the Middle Ages. Today the Orthodox Church with around 60,000 members (2003) has a share of around 1.1% of the population. It is autonomous and belongs to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople .
history
Christianity reached Finland in the Middle Ages from both the west and the east. Southwestern Finland was evangelized from Sweden , in Karelia and eastern Finland coming from Novgorod the Orthodox faith prevailed at the latest by the year 1200. The foundation of the Valamo Monastery (today Valaam ) on an island on Lake Ladoga in particular drove the spread of Orthodox Christianity in the 14th century. In the 15th century, the Orthodox Church had already reached the Arctic Coast with the establishment of the Petschenga (Petsamo) monastery .
The western parts of Karelia came under Swedish rule in the 16th and 17th centuries . The Orthodox population was subjected to reprisals there; many converted to the Lutheran faith, others emigrated to East Karelia and the Tver area . Nevertheless, an Orthodox minority has survived in North Karelia to this day . Ilomantsi , the easternmost municipality in the country, has the highest Orthodox population in Finland with 17.4%.
When Finland became a grand duchy under Russian rule in 1809 , the Russian rulers promoted the Orthodox Church in Finland. At this time, numerous Orthodox church buildings were built, around 1869 the Uspenski Cathedral in Helsinki , the largest Orthodox sacred building in the western world. During the Russian rule, with the influx of Russian officials and military, Orthodox communities also formed in the major cities of the country, whose descendants, the so-called "old Russians," now number around 3,000. Initially, the Orthodox of Finland were subordinate to the Metropolitan of Saint Petersburg , in 1892 the Orthodox Diocese of Finland was founded. Within the diocese, the Finnish or Karelian believers fought with the Russian about the liturgical language (Finnish or Old Church Slavonic ) and the position of the church.
After Finnish independence in 1917, the Orthodox Church of Finland was separated from the Russian Orthodox Church in 1921 and became an autonomous church under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople . It is the only Orthodox church that has completely changed its calendar to the Western Gregorian one , so it not only celebrates the fixed holidays, but also Easter on the western date. Since 1935 the Orthodox Church of Finland has been allowed to levy church taxes, as has the Evangelical Lutheran Church. When Finland had to cede large parts of Karelia to the Soviet Union after its defeat in World War II , tens of thousands of Orthodox Karelians were also resettled and scattered all over Finland. The monks of the island monastery Valamo in Lake Ladoga fled from the Soviet advance to the west and founded the monastery Uusi Valamo (“New Valaam”) in Heinävesi . Another Orthodox group that fled to the Finnish heartland in 1945 are the 400 or so Skolt seeds in the Inari community . Since 1990 the number of Orthodox Christians has increased significantly due to the immigration of "new Russians" from the successor states of the Soviet Union.
Organization and structure
Both pastors and lay people take part in church government. Its supreme executive body is the assembly of the Orthodox Church in Finland. The church is divided into three dioceses, which are headed by metropolitans . The current bishops of the Orthodox Church in Finland are Archbishop Leo of Helsinki and all of Finland (civil Leo Makkonen), Metropolitan Arseni of Kuopion and Karelia (Jorma Heikkinen) and Metropolitan Elia of Oulu (Matti Wallgren). The dioceses are divided into 21 parishes.
Dioceses and parishes of the Orthodox Church of Finland:
Diocese of Helsinki |
Diocese of Karelia |
Diocese of Oulu |
The number of Orthodox churches in Finland is around 140. The church also has two monasteries, Uusi-Valamo and the Lintula nunnery , both in Heinävesi parish. Approx. 140 Orthodox priests and around 40 cantors hold services in Finnish at all times in these rooms . Other languages, such as Swedish , English , Greek , Russian or Church Slavonic , are used rarely and only when necessary.
From 1918 to 1988 the clergy were trained first in Sortavala , then in Helsinki and finally in Kuopio . The Kuopio Seminary was closed in 1988 and studies were transferred to the University of Eastern Finland . A new, small seminar with its own library was built here near the university.
The Orthodox Church in Finland also has its own state-recognized knightly order , the Finnish Order of the Holy Lamb of God . It was donated in 1935 and its master is the incumbent archbishop.
literature
- Teuvo Laitila: Greek Orthodox Church. In: Olli Alho (ed.): Kulturlexikon Finland (= Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran toimituksia. 719). Finnish Literature Society, Helsinki 1998, ISBN 951-746-032-5 , p. 53 ff.
- Aappo Laitinen: The Orthodox Churches of Finland and Estonia. In: Thomas Bremer , Hacik Rafi Gazer , Christian Lange (ed.): The orthodox churches of the Byzantine tradition. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2013, ISBN 978-3-534-23816-3 , pp. 101-106.
- Mitro Repo : Ortodoksinen Suomi. In: Markku Löytönen, Laura Kolbe (Ed.): Suomi. Maa, kansa, kulttuurit (= Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran toimituksia. 753). Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Helsinki 1999, ISBN 951-746-041-4 , pp. 290-302 (Finnish).
Web links
- Website of the Orthodox Church of Finland ( Memento of December 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Finnish)
- Ortodoksi.net ( Memento from December 15, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
- Virtual Finland: Finnish Orthodox Church ( Memento December 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- Seminary
Individual evidence
- ^ Finnish Orthodox Church ( Memento from July 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Ilomantsi parish ( Memento of February 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Finnish)
- ^ National Minorities of Finland: The Old Russians ( Memento of October 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ The church today ( Memento from February 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), website of the Finnish Orthodox Church, accessed on June 6, 2010, in English
- ↑ http://tkk.joensuu.fi/avoin/opiskelu/verkko-opinnot/orthod/index.htm and Virtual Finland: Finnish Orthodox Church ( Memento from December 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive )