Orthodox Church of Finland

Holy Trinity Cathedral in Oulu, completed in 1957

The Diocese of Helsinki has the most members, over 28,000. The Diocese of Helsinki is the seat of the archbishop. The diocese is divided into three parishes, with 50 priests. The main church of the diocese is Uspenski Cathedral in Helsinki. Characteristic to the diocese is the large number of members who have recently immigrated to Finland, especially in the Helsinki parish where several churches also officiate at the service in foreign languages, including Russian, English, Greek and Romanian.

The current bishop is Archbishop Leo (Makkonen). He was appointed in 2018.[11]

The seat of the Bishop of Kuopio and Karelia is in Kuopio. The current bishop is Metropolitan Arseni (Heikkinen).

The Diocese of Karelia has 19,000 church members in 5 parishes. The number of priests in the diocese is about 45, and churches and chapels total over 80. The diocese also includes the only Orthodox monasteries in Finland.

The Orthodox Church Museum of Finland also operates in Kuopio.[12]

The small Diocese of Oulu has four parishes, the largest of which is Oulu. The head of the diocese since 2015 is Metropolitan Elia (Wallgrén).

The diocese was established in 1980 and it has 6,000 members. The cathedral of the diocese is the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Oulu. Traditionally, the Skolts, now a small minority of only 300 speakers, have been the earliest Orthodox Christians in the Finnish Lapland. Today, they live predominantly in the Inari parish.[13]

The Diocese of Oulu was founded as part of Archbishop Paul's (Olmari) plan to make the Finnish Orthodox Church autocephalous. However, the autocephaly plan has now been abandoned.

The Finnish Orthodox Church established its own missionary organization in 1977 known as the Ortodoksinen Lähetys ry (Orthodox Missions). It has mainly been active in eastern Africa.[20] It later merged with OrtAid and formed Filantropia.

After the Second World War, Finland had to cede land to the Soviet Union under Paris Peace Treaties. Almost all Orthodox churches and chapels remained on the Soviet side in Karelia and Petsamo. The Finnish state enacted a special reconstruction law, in which it financed the construction of 14 churches and 44 chapels for the Orthodox church. The churches and chapels were modern in architecture, lacking domes and other features typical to the Orthodox church architecture. This was mandated by the Finnish state which strictly selected the architects. Most reconstruction era churches and chapels are designed by Ilmari Ahonen and Toivo Paatela.

• 
  Church of Resurrection of Christ, Jyväskylä, built in 1954 and designed by Toivo Paatela
• 
  Chapel of Sts. Peter and Paul, Sukeva, Sonkajärvi, built in 1960 and designed by Ilmari Ahonen
• 
  Church of sts. Aleksander Nevsky and John Chrysostom in Hämeenlinna, built in 1962 and designed by Mika Erno
• 
  Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Rautalampi, built in 1960 and designed by Ilmari Ahonen
• 
  Church of Enlighteners of Karelia in Maaninka, Kuopio, built as a chapel 1960 and designed by Ilmari Ahonen, later consecrated as a church
• 
  Church of Transfiguration of Christ in Suonenjoki, designed by Ilmari Ahonen, built as a chapel 1958 and designed by Ilmari Ahonen, later consecrated as a church
• 
  Chapel of Holy apostles Peter and Paul and St. Arseny of Konevsky in Haukipudas, Oulu, designed by Ilmari Ahonen, built in 1962 and demolished in 2019
• 
  Church of St. Nicholas in Hoilola, Joensuu, built as a chapel in 1957 and consecrated as a church in 1993
• 
  Church of St. John the Baptist in Kemi, designed by Ilmari Ahonen, built as a chapel 1962 and designed by Ilmari Ahonen, later consecrated as a church

From the 1970s to the 1990s, Karelian-type log churches and chapels were built were built in Finland with some modern exceptions.

• 
  Church of St. Nektarios of Aegina, in Klaukkala, built in 1997 and designed by Ritva Westermark
• 
  Church of Our Lady of Kazan in Järvenpää, built in 1980
• 
  Chapel of Transfiguration of Christ in Viitasaari, built in 1989
• 
  Chapel of St. Andrew the Apostle in Liperi, built in 1973, designed by Vilho Suonmaa
• 
  Chapel of the Holy Cross in Joensuu Orthodox cemetery, built 1986
• 
  Chapel of All Saints in Lohja, built in 1995 and designed by Sakari Siitonen
• 
  Church of Holy Trinity and St. Tryphon of Pechenga in Nellim, Inari, built as a chapel in 1987 and consecrated as a church in 1988

From the 1990s, some contemporary churches have been built in large cities and towns.

• 
  Church of St. John the Teologian in Pori, built 2002
• 
  Chapel of Birth of Theotokos in Nummela, built in 1997
• 
  Church of Ascencion of Christ in Tikkurila, Vantaa, built in 1997

In the middle of the 13th century the inevitable clash between the two expanding countries, Sweden and Novgorod, and the two forms of Christianity they represented, took place. The final border between western and eastern rulership was drawn in the Peace Treaty of Nöteborg, in 1323. Karelia was definitely ceded to Novgorod and E. Orthodoxy.[27]

Icon from the 19th century depicting St. Sergius and St. Herman and the old cathedral of Valaam Monastery

The main missionary work fell to the monasteries that cropped up in the wilderness of Karelia. Two monasteries were founded on islands in Lake Ladoga, which became famous some centuries later: the monasteries of Valaam (Finnish: Valamo) and Konevsky (Finnish: Konevitsa).

Karelian and Finnish forests were also populated by spiritually advanced hermits. Often around the hermit's hut or skete, there settled other fighters of the good fight of faith, and so a new monastery was founded. One of the most important examples of this process was St. Alexander of Svir (Finnish: Aleksanteri Syväriläinen) 1449–1533. He was a Karelian who fought the fight of faith for 13 years in Valaam monastery, but finally left it, and in the end founded a monastery at the river of Svir.[28]

A small chapel, tsasouna, built in the traditional Karelian style at the New Valamo Monastery.

The 17th century was a period of religious fanaticism and many religious wars as the newly emerged Protestant countries fought against countries that remained Catholic or Orthodox. At this time Sweden became a great force, expanding both southward and eastward. In Karelia the Swedish forces destroyed and burnt to the ground the monasteries of Valaam and Konevsky. Monks that did not flee, were killed. Many peasants met the same fate.

The Lutheran state church of Sweden tried to convert the Orthodox population. They were not allowed to obtain priests from Russia, which meant, in the long run, that they did not have priests at all. As Lutheranism was the only legal religion in Sweden, to be an Orthodox was a handicap in many ways. About two-thirds of the Orthodox population fled to Central Russia from under the oppression. They formed the population of Tver Karelia.[29] The Swedish state encouraged Lutheran Finns to occupy the deserted farms in Karelia. This massive flight of Orthodox Finns away from Finland meant that Eastern Orthodoxy was never again the main religion of any part of Finland. However, in the remoter areas of Eastern Finland and Karelia, like Ilomantsi, the Eastern Orthodox Christianity survived.[30]

The period of the grandiose expansion of Sweden met its limits in two wars: the Great Northern War which ended in the Treaty of Nystad in 1721 and the Hat's War (1741–43) with the Treaty of Turku in 1743. Sweden lost all its provinces in the Baltic region, and a portion of eastern Finland to Russia.[31]

The Valaam Monastery was re-established in Lake Ladoga, and a new main church was consecrated in 1719. Monks returned to Konevsky Monastery before 1716.[32] The Russian government favoured the activities of the religion they had professed for many centuries. The Emperors and Empresses paid for the reconstruction of burnt or otherwise demolished churches. The Orthodox population of Eastern Finland again had access to making pilgrimages to the monasteries of Solovetsk and Alexander-Svirsky.[33]

The Old Believers, a schismatic group of Russians who did not accept the religious reforms of patriarch Nikon in 1666–67, were excommunicated from the Orthodox Church and fled to the outskirts of Russia. They also moved into the remote areas of Finland building three small monasteries there. However, the activity of these monasteries stopped during the following century.[32]

Interior of the Uspenski Cathedral.

Uspenski Cathedral iconostasis.

When all of Finland became an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire in 1809, it already had an established Lutheran Church. Eastern Orthodox Christianity also gained a recognized status in Finland. The old Swedish constitution which Finns generally regarded as the constitution of the Grand Duchy, specifically required that the sovereign was Protestant, but this was overlooked regarding the Orthodox Emperors.

In areas where Orthodox faith was not indigenous as in the towns of Helsinki, Tampere and Viipuri and the Karelian Isthmus, Orthodoxy was especially associated with the Russians, most of whom were Russian troops permanently stationed in Finland. The birth of Helsinki's Orthodox Church is generally associated with the construction of the Holy Trinity Church, Helsinki in 1827.[34][35] Generally most ecclesiastical activity outside Karelia centered on the garrison churches. There were also a growing number of Russian emigrants, most of whom were merchants or craftsmen. These started to identify themselves with the Swedish-speaking bourgeoisie, and so a Swedish-speaking branch of the Finnish Orthodox Church was born.

The 19th century was also a period of active building of new churches, the Uspenski Cathedral being the most important of them. The garrisons needed Orthodox churches and so did the new emigrants to the towns. A good examples are the Orthodox church of Tampere and Turku.

Church of the Holy Martyr Empress Alexandra in Turku, consecrated 9 September 1845.

In the rural countryside of Karelia, the local form of Orthodox faith remained somewhat primitive, incorporating many features of older religious praxis. Literacy among the Orthodox population was low. In 1900 it was estimated that of all persons over the age of 15 in East Finland, 32 percent were illiterate.[36] The Orthodox population knew very little of their faith except the outer forms. The priests were generally Russians who seldom knew Finnish. As Karelia and its arable land was poor, it did not attract first class priests. The language of the services was Church Slavonic, a form of old Bulgarian. A Russian could understand some parts of the services, a Finnish-speaking person nothing.[37]

A separate Finnish episcopate with a leading archbishop was established in 1892 under the Russian Orthodox Church. It was stationed in Vyborg, with the Russian Antoniy as its first bishop.

When Russia at the end of the 19th century tried to retract the autonomy of Finland, the Lutheran Finns started to associate the Orthodox Church with the imperial Russian rule, labeled as the ryssän kirkko.[38] The cultural gap between the two churches remained significant.

Shortly after Finland declared independence from Russia in 1917, the Orthodox Church of Finland declared its autonomy from the Russian Church. Finland's first constitution (1919) granted the Orthodox Church an equal status with the (Lutheran) Church of Finland.[39]

Formerly an Orthodox church, the Suomenlinna Church was turned to Lutheran in 1918.[40]

In 1923, the Orthodox Church of Finland completely separated from the Russian Church, becoming an autonomous church affiliated with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. At the same time the Gregorian Calendar was adopted. Other reforms introduced after independence include changing the language of the liturgy from Church Slavonic to Finnish and the transfer of the Archiepiscopal seat from Viipuri to Sortavala.

Until World War II, the majority of Orthodox Christians in Finland were located in Karelia. As a consequence of the war, residents of the areas ceded to the Soviet Union were evacuated to other parts of the country. The monastery of Valamo was evacuated in 1940 and the monastery of New Valamo was founded in 1941 at Heinävesi, on the Finnish side of the new border. Later, the monks from Konevsky and Petsamo monasteries also joined the New Valamo monastery. The nunnery of Lintula (now Ogonki) near Kivennapa (Karelian Isthmus) was also evacuated, and re-established at Heinävesi in 1946.

New Valamo Monastery of Transfiguration of Christ in 2006.

A new parish network was established, and many new churches were built in the 1950s. After the cities of Sortavala and Viipuri were lost to the Soviet Union (Viipuri is now Vyborg, Russia), the archiepiscopal seat was moved to Kuopio and the diocesan seat of Viipuri was moved to Helsinki. A third diocese was established in Oulu in 1979.

After the Second World War the membership of the Orthodox Church in Finland decreased slowly, as the Karelian evacuees were settled far from their roots among the Lutheran majority of Finland. Mixed marriages became common and the children were often baptized into the religion of the majority. But quite unexpectedly a "romantic" movement arose in Finland beginning in the 1970s onward glorifying Orthodoxy, its "mystical" and visually beautiful services and icons (religious paintings) and its deeper view of Christianity than that of the Lutheran Church. For these reasons, similar to Catholicism in England, conversion to the Orthodox Church became almost a fad, and its membership started to grow.

At the same time Archbishop Paavali of Karelia and All Finland (1960–1987) made liturgical changes to the services, that gave the laity a more active role in the church services, and made the services more open (earlier the clergy stayed behind a curtain for part of the services) and intelligible. Archbishop Paavali also stressed the importance of partaking in the Eucharist as often as possible.

In the 2010s, church membership has begun to decrease due to membership resignations and the declining number of baptisms. Compared to the membership trends of the Finnish Lutheran Church, members who resign from the Orthodox Church are on average slightly older and more likely to be female than those resigning from the Lutheran Church.[41]