WEB SERVICES
Information on Finnish Parishes
Information on Finnish Parishes is a database maintained by the Genealogical Society of Finland which contains information on the history, clergy and church archives of Finland's Lutheran and Orthodox churches. In addition to these the database includes Finland's border parishes in northern Sweden and Norway as well as Ingrian Lutheran parishes. In 2023 the new database will replace the old one that was in conjunction with HisKi.
The Database
The parish histories and the lists of the clergy presented in the Parish Database are mainly based on the two-part Pastoral Memorial of the Church of Finland edited by Bishop Otto Colliander (1910 & 1918), Adolf Neovius's Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church Register (1898) and its supplementary booklet (1908), and a register compiled by Porvoo's Bishop, Anders Horborg, in 1873 published in Ludvig Wennerström's book Statistical and Biographical Register of Evangelical Lutheran Churches and Clergy of Finland (1885). The information from these sources will be supplemented by information and notices from parish histories, municipal histories and church archives.
Updating Information
The database is in the process of being updated and new content is published every week. Updating the database is expected to finish at the end of 2023 after which information on about 600 parishes can be searched. You can view the progress of these updates by viewing the number of parishes shown on the homepage of the database.
The homepage of the new Parish Database
Search Instructions
You can search the database by using the names of parishes or municipalities. Searches can also be done by village or a priest's name. Additionally, with the help of tags, the database and its contents can be browsed and narrowed down, for example, according to church hierarchy, from parishes to dioceses, and according to the geographic location of parishes by province. The church hierarchy corresponds to the situation at the beginning of the 20th century. From the tags, you can also choose to browse, for example, all Lutheran or Orthodox churches.
Upkeep and Feedback
The Society's online service specialist is responsible for maintaining and updating the Society's database. You can send messages and development ideas related to the database to the administrator using the feedback form on the Database. The form can also be used to inform about corrections and to supply additions to the database. You can find the contact information of all members of the Society here.