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The Korpela movement, or Siikavaara sect, was a religious sect started by Laestadian preacher Toivo Korpela in Sweden during the 1920s. It saw its decline later during the next decade as its practices involved heavy drinking and unconventional sexual activities toward the end of its existence, which subsequently led to the conviction of 60 of its followers.
The grounds for the Korpela movement were laid in 1928 when Toivo Korpela, a self-proclaimed Laestadian preacher who had been rejected from his congregation in western Finland, started to travel around the Torne Valley to preach. The mainstream of the Laestadian movement were troubled by his activities and in 1931, it was openly suggested that Korpela could have "succumbed to vice" and that "the authority of the word of god was endangered" unless he changed his view on important matters of faith. When Korpela stopped preaching in 1934 due to his conflicting views with the Swedish Laestadian church, the movement survived without his leadership and new leaders emerged from inside the community.
One of the new leaders of the cult was Sigurd Siikavaara, who officially started the movement following Korpela's exile (thus the alternative name of the movement). More unorthodox elements such as apocalyptic beliefs and ecstatic rituals were introduced following the change of leadership. These beliefs and practices were later denounced by Korpela himself in an interview given in 1935. Following the involvement of Swedish authorities, Siikavaara was institutionalised in an asylum for 67 days, and upon his release the practices of the movement took a turn towards sexual rituals, which would ultimately lead to its demise. [1]
Following the radical change in practices, the Swedish government involved itself further, previously being tolerant toward religion, now targeting the sexual rituals, especially with concern for the involvement of minors. In 1939, police arrested 60 people, [1] leading to the end of the movement, which at its peak had gained an estimated total of 600 followers. [2]
The spiritual beliefs of the movement were initially similar to those of Laestadianism, although apparently not accepted by the Laestadian community as a whole, hence Korpela's initial reaction from central Finland. [3]
Following the exile of Korpela, his two closest preachers, Sigurd Siikavaara and Arthur Niemi began to introduce the belief that a flying ark would bring 666 true believers to Palestine and that the last 1,335 days of the world had begun, one date set for the arrival of the ark that was reported by newspapers at the time was March 14, 1935. It was later taught that the ark would not be an actual physical ark, but the spirit of Christ, granted to the followers of the Korpela movement. All claims and beliefs were more or less loosely based on interpretations of an old version of the Bible, as the new translation of the Bible at the time was preached as an abomination. [3]
Following Siikavaara and Niemi's brief confinement to mental asylums the beliefs and practices changed focus; Siikavaara claimed to have been invested with the spirit of the prophets and Christ, essentially proclaiming divine status, and gave the followers of the movement forgiveness for their sins, thus enabling them to engage in swearing, drinking, gambling and hitherto-prohibited sexual rituals. Upon his arrest in 1939, Siikavaara was an alcoholic and had allegedly engaged in sexual intercourse with 30 women other than his wife. [3]
These facts have been questioned by relatives of Siikavaara who say that there actually were not any sexual rituals. Said rituals were merely rumours created by Laestadians, imagining the worst possible sins.[ citation needed ]
A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political, or philosophical belief system, typically emerging as an offshoot of a larger organization. Originally, the term referred specifically to religious groups that had separated from a main body, but it can now apply to any group that diverges from a larger organization to follow a distinct set of beliefs and practices. Sects often form when there is a perception of heresy either within the subgroup or from the larger group.
The Khlysts or Khlysty were an underground Spiritual Christian sect which emerged in Russia in the 17th century.
Laestadianism, also known as Laestadian Lutheranism and Apostolic Lutheranism, is a pietistic Lutheran revival movement started in Sápmi in the middle of the 19th century. Named after Swedish Lutheran state church administrator and temperance movement leader Lars Levi Laestadius, it is the biggest pietistic revivalist movement in the Nordic countries. It has members mainly in Finland, Northern America, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. There are also smaller congregations in Africa, South America, and Central Europe. In addition Laestadian Lutherans have missionaries in 23 countries. The number of Laestadians worldwide is estimated to be between 144,000 and 219,000.
Pietism, also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christian life.
The Laestadian Lutheran Church (LLC) is a religious Christian movement, with teachings based from the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions. From June 9, 1973, the organisation was named the Association of American Laestadian Congregations (AALC), before the association changed its name in 1994 in order better to convey its spiritual heritage. As of 2016, the Laestadian Lutheran Church has 33 member congregations in the United States and Canada, with highest concentrations of members in Minnesota, Washington, Arizona, Michigan in the United States and in Saskatchewan, Canada; the congregations are served by about 90 ministers, nearly all of them lay preachers.
Ähtäri is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the South Ostrobothnia region. The town has a population of 5,221 and covers an area of 910.87 square kilometres (351.69 sq mi) of which 105 km2 (41 sq mi) is water. The population density is 6.48 inhabitants per square kilometre (16.8/sq mi). Ähtäri is located 83 kilometres (52 mi) southeast of Seinäjoki.
Tornedalians are an ethnic minority native to the Torne Valley (Meänmaa) region in northern Sweden and Finland. Tornedalians are since year 2000 a recognized national minority in Sweden. Tornedalians generally divide themselves into three distinct groups: Tornedalians, Kvens, and Lantalaiset.
Lars Levi Laestadius was a Swedish Sami writer, ecologist, mythologist, and ethnographer as well as a pastor and administrator of the Swedish state Lutheran church in Lapland who founded the Laestadian pietist revival movement to help his largely Sami congregations, who were being ravaged by alcoholism. Laestadius himself became a teetotaller in the 1840s, when he began successfully talking his Sami parishioners out of alcoholism. Laestadius was also a noted botanist and an author.
Pajala is a locality and the seat of Pajala Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden, with 1,958 inhabitants in 2010. It is located in Swedish Lapland.
English Dissenters or English Separatists were Protestants who separated from the Church of England in the 17th and 18th centuries. English Dissenters opposed state interference in religious matters and founded their own churches, educational establishments and communities. They tended to see the established church as too Catholic, but did not agree on what should be done about it.
The Laestadian church arrived in North America with Nordic immigrants in the latter half of the 19th century, many of whom came to work in the copper mines of the Keweenaw Peninsula. Some of these new immigrants found themselves in conflict with older, established immigrants from the same countries, being generally poorer and less established, and hewing to the new, fundamentalist teachings of Lars Levi Laestadius, a Swedish-Sami preacher and botanist born in Arjeplog, Sweden. Laestadian congregations separate from the extant Scandinavian Lutheran churches were formed in Cokato, Minnesota, in 1872 and in Calumet, Michigan, in 1873.
The Apostolic Lutheran Church of America (ALCA) is a Laestadian Lutheran church denomination established by Finnish American and Norwegian immigrants in the 1800s. They came mainly from northern Finland and northern Norway where they had been members of the state churches. Most or all members had ties from their home countries to the Laestadian revival movement named after Swedish state church administrator and pastor Lars Levi Laestadius of Pajala, Sweden. Eventually, there were too many arguments between this denomination and the other American Laestadians, and some of the followers of Laestadius were excluded from the sacrament of holy communion. Under the lead of Salomon Korteniemi, the excluded members formed a congregation of their own in December 1872, under the name the Salomon Korteniemi Lutheran Society. In 1879 this name was changed to the Finnish Apostolic Lutheran Congregation. As other congregations of Finns in Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and Oregon were organized on the same basis, they came into fellowship with this body under the name the Finnish Apostolic Lutheran Church, or, as it is usually called, the Apostolic Lutheran Church.
Conservative Laestadianism is the largest branch of the Lutheran revival movement Laestadianism. It has spread to 16 countries. As of 2012 there were about 115,000 Conservative Laestadians, most of them in Finland, the United States, Norway, and Sweden. The movement and this denomination attribute their teachings to the Bible and the Lutheran Book of Concord.
Zionist churches are a group of Christian denominations that derive from the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church, which was founded by John Alexander Dowie in Zion, Illinois, at the end of the 19th century. Missionaries from the church came to South Africa in 1904 and among their first recruits were Pieter Louis Le Roux and Daniel Nkonyane of Wakkerstroom who continued to evangelize after the Zionist missionaries left in 1908.
Nirankari is a sect of Sikhism. It was a reform movement founded by Baba Dyal Das in northwest Punjab in 1851. He sought to restore the practices and beliefs of Sikhs back to what he believed were prevalent when Guru Nanak was alive. This movement emerged in the aftermath of the end of Sikh Empire and the Sikh history after Ranjit Singh's death.
The Old Apostolic Lutheran Church of America (OALC) is a Firstborn Laestadian church in North America. Firstborn Laestadians are a subgroup within Laestadianism. The Old Apostolic Lutheran Church originated in the 1890s. In the Nordic Firstborn Laestadian revival, the movement works within the official Church of Sweden, which is also called the "Lutheran Folk Church". The Church of Sweden has for a long time recognized the Laestadian movement and has allowed them to hold their own services in the state churches, both before and after the separation of church and state. Even in America it still has a relationship with the Church of Sweden.
Milla Clementsdotter (also known as, Milla Clemensdotter, Maria of Lappland was a Swedish Southern Sámi woman who is remembered for guiding Lars Levi Laestadius in questions of Christian faith. She belonged to a revival movement marked by Pietistic and Moravian influences, a member of a group known as "Readers", a background shared by Laestadius' mother.
The Christianization of the Sámi people in Norway, Sweden, and Finland took place in stages during a several centuries-long process. The Sámi were Christianized in a similar way in Norway, Sweden, and Finland.
Läsare or the Reader movement was a Swedish Pietistic Christian revival movement of people who stressed the importance of reading, that is, reading the Bible and other Christian literature. It was influenced by both the Herrnhuters and the Methodists and has been described by scholar George M. Stephenson as a "second religious reformation in Sweden".
Ushkovayzet were an Evangelical group of Orthodox Christian Baltic Finns in Russia. The missionary activity of the Laestadians had significant influence on its formation. Like the Laestadians, the Ushkovayzet did not leave their original Christian communities. Supporters of the movement often stayed within existing Orthodox congregations. However, their focus was largely on Evangelical methods such as lay-preaching, translating the Gospel into the vernacular, and so on.