Annual Report 2001: Finland
By the Rev Dr Jaakko Rusama
National Correspondent
General
Apart from the Anglican-Lutheran Society activities
this report includes also some activities in which the Society was
only indirectly involved but which may be helpful in understanding
the context.
The Anglican-Lutheran Society has taken its place
alongside other Anglican-Lutheran contacts in Finland. Since 1929
there has been a series of Anglo-Scandinavian (now
Anglo-Nordic-Baltic) Theological Conferences and from the 1970s a
series of Anglo-Scandinavian Pastoral Conferences which also include
a Baltic dimension. Apart from these ongoing programmes many other
links exist between the Finnish Lutheran Church and not only the
Church of England but also the Church of Ireland, the Church in Wales
and the Scottish Episcopal Church.
Anglican-Lutheran Society
In 2001 the most important form of activities of the Anglican-Lutheran Society in Finland was the planning work for the Porvoo Day which will be held on October 11-13, 2002. The conference will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Porvoo Agreement. The first Porvoo Day was held in 1999. The Porvoo Day working group which was chaired by the Bishop of Porvoo, Dr Erik Vikström, prepared the programme (enclosed) and sent invitations e.g. to all the heads of the Porvoo Communion churches and the Porvoo Contact Group members.
A report was prepared of a conference, co-organised by
the Anglican-Lutheran Society, which was held in November 2000 on
Anglican and Lutheran worship services and liturgical questions. A
trilingual (Finnish, Swedish, English) report will come out in spring 2002.
Anglicans in Finland
The Anglican Church in Finland is a chaplaincy within the Church of England Diocese in Europe. With about 100 members it is an active member in the National Council of Churches, called the Finnish Ecumenical Council and is widely seen as a sister church to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. There is only one full-time Anglican priest in Finland, the Rev Rupert Moreton. The services are held every Sunday in Mikael Agricola Church, Helsinki and the Old Church in Tampere (some 100 miles north of Helsinki) and a few times of the year in other cities.
On the basis of the Porvoo Agreement three Finnish
Lutheran pastors received in 1996 a Permission to officiate as
priests in the Church of England. They are all members of the
Anglican-Lutheran Society: the Rev Dr Heikki Kotila, the Rev
Dr Jaakko Rusama and the Rev Dr Henrik Smedjebacka.
Today there are altogether five Lutheran pastors with
a similar permission. They have regularly assisted in and taken
Anglican services in Helsinki and in Tampere.
Anglican Christmas Carol Services in English were held
in many parts of the country in the Lutheran Churches. A joint
service was also held together with the Thomas Mass group in Agricola
Church, Helsinki.
The Porvoo process
The Finnish Lutheran Church is represented in the Porvoo Communion Contact Group. In addition, there is in the Finnish Lutheran Church a monitoring group for the Porvoo process.
The Lutheran Bishops discussed the question of
Anglican-Lutheran concelebration at their meeting in spring. The
theological and liturgical work on the issue continues.
Changes which were required in the church law were
approved by the Finnish Parliament in December.
The consecration on the Epiphany, 6 January, of the
new Bishop of Oulu of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church, Dr Samuel
Salmi, was attended by a number of foreign bishops, including
the Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Rev Christopher Mayfield,
from the Church of England. He took part in the laying on of hands at
the service. Also the representatives of the Anglican chaplaincy in
Finland were invited to the consecration.
The Universities
There are three Theological Faculties in Finland, one in Helsinki University, one in Åbo Akademi University (Swedish-speaking) and a new one in Joensuu University which has two Departments, one on Western and the other on Eastern theology.
At Åbo Akademi University Prof Hans-Olof Kvist
and Dr Jaakko Rusama lead an Anglican theology research
project which has five post graduate students from Åbo Akademi
University and Helsinki University. All of them are working for a
doctoral thesis. Their themes are:
- "Truly Ordained by the Chief Shepherd" - The Church of England on the Validity of its Orders vis-à-vis Apostolicae Curae by Pope Leo XIII
- The Church of England and socio-ethical challenges to the welfare state in the 1980s
- George Carey implementing the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the missionary task of the Church in the 1990s
- The Perception an Influence of Martin Luther's Theology and Lutheran Symbols on the Formation of Anglican Theology as expressed by Richard Hooker
- The contacts between the Church of England and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland during the Archiepiscopate of Dr Aleksi Lehtonen 1945-1951
In addition at least three other doctoral studies were conducted on Anglican or Anglican-related themes in Åbo Akademi University, on the Porvoo Common Statement and Declaration, on Catholicity in the thinking of Michael Ramsey, and on Dr David Jenkins and the WCC Humanum Studies Programme.
The Window
The newsletter, The Window, has been a helpful instrument in informing about Anglican-Lutheran relations world wide and of the activities of the Society. Apart from the members of the Society, the newsletter was also sent to a number of key people in the church and the media.
Members in Finland
By the end of 2001 there were some 25 members in Finland. Out of nine Lutheran Bishops two Bishops, including the President, Dr Erik Vikström, are members of the Society. Efforts have been made to bring more members to the Society.
Helsinki, 7 March, 2002
Jaakko Rusama