Orthodoxy in Norway - History of The Orthodox Church in Norway

History of The Orthodox Church in Norway

Since the Viking era Scandinavians and specifically Norwegians came into contact with both the Byzantine Empire and their neighbors, the Russians. Several of the Viking chiefs and kings not only resided in Novgorod but also helped to make Kiev an important medival center. At some point during the late ninth or early tenth century Kiev fell under the rule of Varangians and became the nucleus of the Rus' polity. In a number of contemporary sources it is in fact the Scandinavavians whom were known as "Rus", another term was used for the numerous Slavic tribes.

In the 16th century a Russian missionary, St. Tryphon of Pechenga, evangalized some of the Sami population of Norway and built an Orthodox chapel along the Neiden River. Following the socialist revolution in 1917, a number of Orthodox refugees from Russia fled to Scandinavia, first to Sweden and eventually to Norway. The Orthodox Church in Russia organized pastoral work among them through the church in Stockholm, founded in 1617. In 1931, St. Nikolai church was established in Oslo. This congregation of Russian tradition sorts under the Patriarchate of Constantinople and was the first modern Orthodox congregation established in Norway. The 1960s and 1970s saw in influx of Orthodox from Greece in addition to the first known conversions of Norwegians in modern times. Through immigration from both Russia, the former Yugoslavia and other Eastern European countries the number of Orthodox Chritians in Norway has increased significantly since 1990. The past decade has also seen the more permanent establishment of Orthodox communities of Serbian, Bulgarian and Romanian tradition, the priests of these communities sorting under their corresponding juridstrictions.