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18/08/2016. Representatives of Lutheran churches of Finno-Ugric countries gathered in Petrozavodsk to take part in a traditional meeting
The Finno-Ugric Theological Conference is a meeting of representatives of Lutheran churches of Hungary, Finland, Estonia, Russia and Romania. The conference is held once in 4 years in the participating countries in sequence. In 2016 the conference has taken place for the first time in Russia. The host of the conference is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria. It is symbolic that the Church of Ingria marks its 405 years in 2016.
XIII Finno-Ugric Theological Conference is held in Petrozavodsk on the 17th-21st of August 2016. Delegates from Hungary, Romania, Estonia, Finland and Russian hosts of the conference will discuss interchurch cooperation. Representatives of the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches were also invited to take part in the theological dialogue.
The opening ceremony of the conference was held in the National Library of Karelia. At the opening of the conference a presentation of a book Lutherans in Karelia: Historical Essays was held. The book is dedicated to the history of Evangelical Lutheran Church in Karelia. The edition was prepared in the framework of spiritual and educational project Lutherans among the Challenges of the Modern World with financial support from the Ministry of the Republic of Karelia for National Politics, Relations with Public and Religious Associations and Mass Media, the book was published according to the decision of the Academic Council of the Institute of Language, Literature and History of the Karelian Research Centre. The author, Candidate of Historical Sciences Svetlana Yalovitsyna presented a copy of the new edition to the National Library of Karelia as a gift. Seppo Häkkinen, the Bishop of the Diocese of Mikkeli, also gave a book “Four Centuries of the Church of Ingria. People, Culture, Identity” to the library. The book was published by Finnish Literature Society (SKS) and edited by Jouko Sihvo and Yrki Paakoski.
Photos by Nikolai Rappu
