What do we believe?
Helsinki Cathedral is one of ten cathedral churches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. It is the main church of the Diocese of Helsinki and the Helsinki Cathedral Parish, but for many people it is also a symbol of all Helsinki. The Cathedral is a place of silence, a church where people come together for divine service, but it is also a venue for church concerts.
What do we believe?
Helsinki Cathedral is one of ten cathedral churches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. It is the main church of the Diocese of Helsinki and the Helsinki Cathedral Parish, but for many people it is also a symbol of all Helsinki. The Cathedral is a place of silence, a church where people come together for divine service, but it is also a venue for church concerts.
Christianity is faith in the living God. It is a belief that all living things receive their life from God the Father. Our own lives are gifts of God. Active in Creation and in history, God also encounters people on a personal level. Christianity is a belief in Jesus Christ and in His death on the cross. God announced himself by sending his Son into the world so that humanity could live in communion with God.
The Bible is God’s revelation and the key source of information about God.
All Lutheran teaching and guidelines are based on the Christian holy book, the Bible, which consists of the Old and New Testaments.
Christianity is faith in the Holy Spirit, which brings the goodness of God and the love of Christ among people. The Holy Spirit calls people and kindles the faith within them.
Measured by the number of adherents, Christianity is the largest religion in the world. The word ‘Christian’ comes from the Greek Christos, meaning ‘the anointed’, as used about Jesus in the Bible.
Lutheranism
The Lutheran Church is a Protestant Christian church with roots in a reform movement of the Catholic Church in Germany in the early sixteenth century. The reform, later known as the Protestant Reformation, was started by the Augustine monk Martin Luther.
The Lutheran faith came to Finland through the efforts of Finnish students at the University in Wittenberg, Germany, foremost among them Mikael Agricola (1510–1557). Agricola, who translated most of the Bible into Finnish, is also considered the Father of written Finnish and Finnish-language literature.
Helsinki Cathedral (Helsingin tuomiokirkko) is a Cathedral of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. The word ‘Evangelical’ is a reference to the Gospel about Jesus Christ as the basis of salvation through God’s mercy. The word ‘Lutheran’ is a reference to Martin Luther.
Some 70 per cent of the people in Finland are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The Lutheran Church confesses the Bible-based Christian faith that is expressed in the three Creeds of the ancient church and in the Confessions of the Lutheran Church. The Lutheran Church has two sacraments, baptism and communion.
The key teaching of the Bible is the love the Triune God has for humanity: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
The Divine Service
A church is unlike other buildings in that it is specifically a place for meeting the Triune God, for silent contemplation and prayer. According to the Church Order (Kirkkojärjestys) a church once consecrated can only be used for sacred purposes.
In Helsinki Cathedral at noon every weekday there is a prayer service, fifteen minutes of organ music, or a Eucharistic Service. On Saturdays, an Evening Service is held at 6 p.m. The highlight of each week is at 10 a.m. on Sundays, when the Day of the Resurrection is marked with a Sunday Eucharistic Service.
Ministers, church musicians and the liturgical staff in cooperation with choirs, Mass partners and other assistants are responsible for the preparation and celebration of services. The parish takes an active part in the liturgy, praying to God, hearing His word and the singing of hymns. Singing together is a characteristic of the Lutheran Church. Finnish hymnals date back to the sixteenth century. Divine Service is open to everyone.
The programme of services in the Cathedral has been translated into several languages, making it possible for non-Finnish speakers to take part.