The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has used religion in justifying the illegal war of aggression against Ukraine. Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, has also supported the military operations on religious grounds. As church leaders representing both Eastern and Western traditions, we find this deeply shocking, said Tapio Luoma, Archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and Archbishop Leo of the Orthodox Church of Finland. (Source: Orthodoxtimes) ...

The Orthodox cross procession has been added to Finland’s National Living Heritage list. A “cross procession” in Finland is a religious procession organized at various important feasts throughout the year. “Hundreds of Orthodox churches and monasteries organise cross processions throughout the year, sometimes over long distances. Torches, flags, icons and the Gospel are carried in the processions. Anyone can take part, regardless of religion,” according to the Finnish Ministry of Culture. We...

Angesichts der unfassbaren Bilder von Tod und Zerstörung in der Ukraine hat der orthodoxe Erzbischof von Finnland, Leo (Makkonen), an den Moskauer Patriarchen Kirill appelliert, endlich einzulenken. Die russischen Kriegsverbrechen, die dieser Tage sichtbar würden, seien unglaublich. Russland werde dafür zu gegebener Zeit zur Rechenschaft gezogen, so der Erzbischof. Doch jetzt sei es „höchste Zeit für die Kirche in Russland, zu erkennen, dass sie auf Abwege geraten ist“. Und direkt an den Patr...

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia will visit Finland next year in May, marking the first time a Russian Patriarch has visited the neighboring country since 1994, when His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II headed the Church. The Patriarch will visit at the joint invitation of the Finnish Orthodox Church, the Catholic church in Finland, and the Evangelical Lutheran church in Finland, which was presented to him during the visit of the heads of the Finnish churches in Moscow in 20...

Right after Russia attacked Ukraine, the organizations of priests and chanters of the Orthodox Church of Finland, along with the Orthodox Youth Association of Finland and lay organizations, made a joint appeal to the worshippers of the Church to collect funds for Ukrainian refugees through Filantropia ry, the international aid organization of the Orthodox Church of Finland. At the same time, the organizations appealed to the other dioceses of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for aid to the refugee...

On February 28, 2019, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with the head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, Archbishop Luoma of Turku and Finland, at the Patriarchal and Synodal Residence in the St. Daniel Monastery in Moscow. Participating in the meeting from the Russian Orthodox Church were Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations (DECR); Archbishop Amvrosy of Vereya, rector of Moscow the...