Swedish Church

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Coat of arms of the Swedish Church

The Swedish Church ( Swedish Svenska kyrkan ) is the Evangelical Lutheran Church and former state church of Sweden . It has 5,817,634 members (as of 2019). That corresponds to 56.4% of the population.

history

Ansgar , a Franconian monk, came to Swedish territory for the first time as a missionary in 829. But even before that, Vikings came into contact with Christian teaching through their features. King Olof Skötkonung was baptized around 1000 . The diocese of Uppsala became the seat of an archbishop in 1164. In 1210, Erik Knutsson was the first king to be crowned by a bishop, which led to the connection between church and state.

King Christian II - the Nordic countries were united in the Kalmar Union - had two bishops executed in Stockholm in the course of the Stockholm blood bath in 1520 . This led to riot and ultimately to Sweden's independence in 1523.

Influenced by Martin Luther , Olaus Petri introduced the doctrine of the Reformation in Stockholm. The Diet of Västerås in 1527 confirmed the basic decision for the Reformation by appointing King Gustav I Wasa - instead of the Pope - as head of the Church of Sweden. A definitive break with Rome did not take place until 1531 with the election of Laurentius Petri as the first Protestant Archbishop of Uppsala. This accelerated the implementation of the Reformation somewhat, but many old orders were still retained. The king was head of the church, but never had such power as the German rulers. In 1541 the entire Bible was translated into Swedish , and services had been held in the national language since 1531. For a long time, other faiths were banned. King John III tended to a humanistic reform Catholic Christianity. Only after his death did the Uppsala Synod in 1593 adopt the Augsburg Confession as the inviolable norm of the Swedish Church. In the 17th century, Lutheran Orthodoxy became fully established, while Pietism took only few roots.

Only in 1784 was a public Catholic service held again in Stockholm. In the 18th and 19th centuries there were revival movements in the Swedish Church too, it was Laestadianism , Rosenianism and Schartauanism . As a result of tensions, free churches were founded. Time brought greater religious freedom , but it wasn't until 1951 that the law fully guaranteed it. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Young Church Movement ( Ungkyrkorörelsen ) tried to modernize the church.

Todays situation

Archbishop's Palace in Uppsala

The separation of church and state came into force on January 1, 2000; since then the Church of Sweden is no longer a state church . Remaining state demands that emerge from the law on the Swedish Church are, for example, that the Church of Sweden remains Evangelical-Lutheran and democratic and that it conducts its activities across Sweden. Today you only become a member of this church through baptism , but it still has various tasks and privileges, such as the administration of the cemeteries and various subsidies. Legal guardians can also register their children who have not been baptized as members.

The government of Sweden first advised the church in 1957 to introduce equal rights in the pastoral office, but the leading synod still rejected this. A year later, in 1958, there was a majority in favor of women's ordination . This started an ongoing process of liberalization within the Swedish Church, which was not least expressed in the introduction of a separate rite to bless homosexual couples. Until 1983 there was a transitional regulation for opponents of women's ordination. Attitude should not be a factor in ordination or episcopal ordination . In 1983 this so-called conscience clause was dropped (samvetsklausulen) . In 1997 the leading synod decided that every candidate must affirm in writing that they will work with all ordained (deacons, pastors and bishops) regardless of their gender. This liberalization was not supported by conservative groups, which led to the establishment of the Swedish Mission Province in 2003 . The first bishop of the Mission Province was the retired Swedish Church Pastor Arne Olsson. The Mission Province describes itself as a diocese within the Church of Sweden, but is referred to as a schismatic group by the official Church.

The Blessing of same-sex couples created tension with other churches. The Orthodox Churches broke off contact with the Church of Sweden. The three Lutheran bishops of the Baltic region saw the church and communion fellowship seriously endangered, whereas church representatives in Germany ( EKD ) and the Netherlands welcomed this step. In October 2009, the Church of Sweden allows the religious marriage of same sex couples.

The Church of Sweden is a member of the Porvoo Fellowship and has full communion with these churches . Since 2005 she has also held bilateral talks with the International Bishops' Conference of the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht. In 2013, a final report was presented in the dialogue process with the Old Catholic Church . On November 23, 2016, Archbishop Antje Jackelén for the Church of Sweden and Archbishop Joris Vercammen for the Union of Utrecht signed the agreement on church fellowship as part of the General Synod of the Swedish Church in Uppsala Cathedral.

Administrative division

Dioceses of the Church of Sweden (as of 2010)

The administrative structure of the Swedish Church with an archdiocese (arkestift) in Uppsala and 13 dioceses (monastery) , each led by a bishop (biskop) , goes back to the pre-Reformation period. The Archbishop of Uppsala is thus also the highest representative of the Church of Sweden. The so-called contracts are subordinate dioceses (by contract) , of which there are a total of 174th They are led by a provost (kontraktsprost) and are divided into several pastorates (pastorat) . These in turn each consist of one or more parishes (församlingar) .

Current dioceses

Diocese Seat Dom bishop Current bishop
Diocese of Uppsala Uppsala Uppsala Cathedral List of Archbishops of Uppsala Antje Jackelén ( Archbishop ),
Karin Johannesson (Bishop)
Diocese of Gothenburg Gothenburg Gothenburg Cathedral List of the Bishops of Gothenburg Susanne Rappmann
Diocese of Härnösand  Harnösand  Härnösand Cathedral  List of the bishops of Härnösand  Eva Nordung Byström
Diocese of Karlstad Karlstad Karlstad Cathedral List of the bishops of Karlstad Soeren Dalevi
Linköping Diocese Linkoping Linkoping Cathedral List of Linkoping Bishops Martin Modéus
Diocese of Luleå Luleå Luleå Cathedral List of the bishops of Luleå Åsa Nyström
Diocese of Lund Lund Lund Cathedral List of the bishops of Lund Johan Tyrberg
Diocese of Skara Skara Skara Cathedral List of the bishops of Skara Åke Bonnier the Younger
Stockholm diocese Stockholm  St. Nicolai List of the bishops of Stockholm Andreas Holmberg
Strängnäs diocese Strängnäs Strängnäs Cathedral List of the bishops of Strängnäs Johan Dalman
Diocese of Visby Visby Visby Cathedral List of the bishops of Visby Thomas Petersson
Diocese of Västerås Västerås Västerås Cathedral List of the bishops of Västerås  Mikael Mogren
Diocese of Växjö Vaxjo Växjö Cathedral List of the bishops of Växjö Fredrik Modéus

Former dioceses

Diocese Seat Dom bishop annotation
Kalmar diocese  Squid Kalmar Cathedral List of the bishops of Kalmar Existed 1678-1915; went in the Diocese of Växjö on
Superintendent Mariestad Mariestad  Mariestad Cathedral  List of superintendents of Mariestad  Existed as a superintendent 1580–1646; went in the diocese Karlstad on

Congregations abroad

Swedish Mission Vienna

The Church of Sweden has parishes abroad on all five continents.

  • In Switzerland, the Church of Sweden is represented by the parishes of Bern, Geneva, Lausanne and Zurich-Basel.
  • In Germany there are Swedish parishes in Berlin ( Swedish Church (Berlin) ), Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg and Munich. Gustaf Adolfskyrkan , consecrated in 1907, is in Hamburg .
  • The roots of the Swedish Church in Vienna go back to the 18th century. In 1982 the Swedish parish was founded in Vienna. The Swedish Israel Mission was located since 1922 in the later of the Protestant parish AB Alsergrund ( Messiah chapel used) house, moved in 1985 but in the free home of former Barnabitenklosters in the 18th district.

See also

Web links

Commons : Church of Sweden  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Number of members of the Church of Sweden 1972–2019
  2. About membership (Homepage of the Church of Sweden, Swedish)
  3. Queer: Church of Sweden supports marriage opening
  4. Queer: Church of Sweden trusts gays and lesbians
  5. ^ Report of the dialogue between the Old Catholic Churches and the Church of Sweden Homepage of the Old Catholic Church in Germany, accessed on March 14, 2015
  6. ^ Information from the Catholic Diocese of Old Catholics in Germany on the church fellowship with the Church of Sweden Homepage of the Old Catholic Church in Germany, accessed on November 23, 2016
  7. Hitta kyrkan utomlands . Church of Sweden website. Retrieved January 1, 2011.
  8. ^ Svenska kyrkan - Switzerland . Church of Sweden website. Retrieved January 1, 2011.
  9. ^ Europa - Svenska kyrkan - Utlandskyrkorna ( Memento from October 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). Church of Sweden website. Retrieved January 1, 2011.
  10. Welcome to the Swedish Church in Vienna! , svenskakyrkan.se (German)
  11. Histories om Svenska Kyrkan i Vienna . Church of Sweden website. Retrieved January 1, 2011.
  12. The Swedish Mission to Israel , Parish Alsergrund
  13. ^ Swedish Church in Vienna - Svenska Kyrkan parish center, Parish Messiaskapelle Alsergrund