Russian Orthodox Church in Finland

Russian Orthodox Church in Finland
Ру́сская правосла́вная це́рковь в Финля́ндии
Interior of the St. Nikolaos Church, 1939.
ClassificationEastern Orthodox
PrimatePatriarch of Moscow and all Rus' Kirill
LanguageChurch Slavonic (worship), Finnish, Russian, Swedish
LiturgyByzantine Rite
HeadquartersPatriarchal: Moscow, Russia
Jurisdictional: Helsinki, Finland
TerritoryFinland
FounderFr. Grigory Svetlovsky
Fr. Nikolai Shchukin
Independence1926
Reunion1945
RecognitionSemi-autonomous
Separated fromOrthodox Church of Finland
Parishes2
Members4,200
Places of worship5
Other namesPatriarchal Parishes in Finland
(Патриа́ршие прихо́ды в Финля́ндии)
Official websitewww.finland.orthodoxy.ru
www.svt-nikolai.org/en/

The Russian Orthodox Church in Finland (Finnish: Venäjän ortodoksinen kirkko Suomessa, Russian: Ру́сская правосла́вная це́рковь в Финля́ндии) is a semi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church formed in 1926. An official headquarters of the Moscow Patriarchate, led by Archpriest Viktor Lioutik, was opened in Helsinki in 1999.

Founded in 1926 by Russian émigrés, the Russian Orthodox Church in Finland is organized into two parishes, the St. Nikolaos Orthodox Parish in Helsinki, and the Orthodox Pokrova congregation. They maintain a total of five churches, with three located in Helsinki, one in Pori, and one in Sastamala.

The total number of registered members in 2022 was 4,200, with the largest community being the St. Nikolaos Orthodox Parish with more than 3,700 members. The Spaso-Preobrazenskaja community in Tampere is under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, and is therefore administratively separate.

The Russian Orthodox Church in Finland does not have its own separate bishop and is formally subject directly to Patriarch Kirill. However, in practice, the church's parishes remain self-governing, with no direct intervention from Kirill.