Church of Finland
The Church of Finland is an official state church of Finland. Before the introduction of religious freedom membership was compulsory and the mebership subscription rate among the Finnish population remains at very high level, at 84.8 percent. The Church of Finland is a Lutheran Church and sucessor to the Church of Sweden of which it was a part until 1809, when Finland became a part of the Russian Empire.Today the Church of Finland shares its distinction as a state church with the Finnish Orthodox Church, the successor to the Russian Ortodox Church. The head of the church is the Archbishop of Turku, currently Jukka Paarma.
See also: Mikael Agricola, Treaty of Fredrikshamn
