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Quakers in Finland - a short history Antti Alhonsaari The Roots The Finnish Quaker movement has two roots: peace work and the relief work of American Friends after World War II. Between the World Wars there was a general European interest in peace work. Many enlightened and responsible persons joined the numerous societies which had a peace ideology. This was also reflected in Finland. There was also a group of people who worked for peace from a Christian perspective, and they formed the core of the future Quaker group in Finland. They participated in Nordic and European activities and through this work met the people called Friends. There were especially strong connections with other Nordic countries, and in particular with the Swedes. These first Finnish Quaker-minded people were Swedish-speaking Finns, so there were no language barriers when contacts were nurtured over the Gulf of Bothnia. A leading American Friend, Douglas Steere, was the most influential personality in the early history of Finnish Quakerism. He visited Finland for the first time in 1937. Peace work was interrupted when the war began. In Finland the first period of the war is called the Winter War, and it lasted 100 days from November 1939 to March 1940. After that there was a period of so-called peace, but life in Finland was not in any way back to normal. In the capital, Helsinki, men were flooding back from the front, many unemployed and physically or psychologically damaged. Since Finland had to cede some territory to the Soviet Union in the settlement, there were also immigrants from these areas coming to the capital. The situation was very difficult, almost chaotic. The people in the peace groups were now galvanised into action. They organised meetings and clubs for the homeless and the refugees. Donations were received and so money and food were distributed to those in need. The core of the activities was a Swedish speaking voluntary group which called itself the »Support Committee for Invalids and Refugees». The work increased rapidly. Almost everything was done by volunteers. It was still not a Quaker activity, but mainly connected with the other peace organisations. However, there were such active contacts with the Swedish Friends that many participants began to call themselves »friends of Friends». Eventually the support committee adopted the name »Quaker Support Committee». However, the period of relative peace was short. A new war had started in connection with the wider World War II. During the war itself the support committee had fewer opportunities to work, but some groups continued to meet and do what they could; but immediately after the war the support committee was able to become much more active. Donations were many and distribution of food and clothing was a central part of activities, together with organising meetings and clubs. The work included a regular summer camp for children and older people, an event which was run until the beginning of the fifties. All these activities were made possible by foreign aid, particularly through American Friends, and it was immediately distributed to those in need. Sweden also played an important part, both financially and by facilitating contacts with the United States. Immediately after the Peace Treaty, Swedish Friends announced that donations were waiting on the other side of the ocean. In general American aid was, as is well-known, directed to Germany, but Finland was not forgotten. An important part of the post-war relief was realised in the form of voluntary work camps. In the last phase of the war Lapland as well as north east Finland was very badly damaged. The work camps, mostly comprising young people, were able to achieve much, and are still remembered today. The young participants also had the opportunity to come into contact with Quaker ideas, and learned to start their day in silent worship. Of the Finnish volunteers, some learned to love the Quaker faith, and they joined the Helsinki Support Committee group, thus increasing the number of Finnish Quakers. Reading the archives and the documents concerning this social work in the war time and afterwards, one cannot avoid the feeling that here was something heroic. The responsibility and daily burden was carried by less than ten women, most of them over 50 years of age. The work was done during a time of great poverty and need, and part of this period was at the time of ongoing war. The question arises, where were the men? Only some three men were seen in the group, but at least two of them were convinced pacifists. At that time pacifists were not loved. Finland was in the middle of a war which seemed hopeless, and any hope to resist the overpowering Red Army presupposed that ordinary people made an effort to fight. It can be clearly seen that conscientious objectors were not understood at all, but it is more difficult to appreciate why they had to spend all the war-time in prison doing forced labour, and being treated roughly or even cruelly. So the Finnish Quakers, or future Quakers, could show heroism during the forties, and they gave the fledgling Quaker movement an honourable start. The start of the monthly meeting During the war there had been the beginning of silent Quaker Meetings for Worship. When the American Douglas Steere made one of his numerous visits to Finland, he also gave encouragement to the group to identify itself as a proper Friends Meeting. So in 1945 the group in Helsinki became a Monthly Meeting under the Swedish Yearly Meeting. The names of the first Friends are almost unknown in Finland now, but many of them deserve to be remembered. One of the conscientious objectors was Olof Rikberg. He had studied at Pendle Hill as a young man and was probably responsible for inviting Douglas Steere to Finland - an invitation which, as we know, had far-reaching consequences. He joined the Swedish Yearly Meeting in 1939, and was so the very first Finnish Quaker. He was a social worker and it was he who imported the Alcoholics Anonymous movement to Finland from America after the war. Another conscientious objector was Deryk Sivén. He was a well known figure in the Finnish peace movement all his life, and was a very early defender of the principle of peaceful co-existance between east and west. He was convinced we should work for friendship between the Soviet Union and Finland, despite being former enemies. Far from being a communist he simply thought it was morally right. Very important were the three sisters whose father had earlier been a general in the Russian army. Greta Langenskjöld was the head of a girls' school and a well-known activist in peace groups. Above all she was a poet. In her beautiful and simple religious verses one can discern the Quaker background. Her sister Agnes Langenskjöld was a well-known literary critic and essayist. The third sister, Olga Heickell was the first clerk, serving for over twenty years. Responsible for the unbelievably effective social work of the early years was Elisabet Lindeman. Another Friend describes her in a letter »?..it was her faith in our projects and her trust in God's guidance which has supported us in our work which has often seemed hopeless and heavy. Her unrelenting belief in miracles sometimes came true.» Viittakivi International Centre When the Americans were about to conclude attending work camps, one of the last things they did was to initiate a study centre. It was founded in 1951, a free boarding school, in one of the most beautiful parts of Finland. It does not belong to the Quaker movement, but there have always been connections. The first director, Elvi Saari, was a Quaker, who got to know Quakers when working as the general secretary of the Finnish work camp movement. The central activity of Quakers, as elsewhere, is the First Day (Sunday) Meeting for Worship. In Finland it started in Helsinki during the war, but the location has been changed several times. From the beginning there were annual retreats, mostly held at Viittakivi during Whitsuntide. There have also been discussion groups and bible study groups held in Helsinki at various times. In Finland many Friends have retained their membership in the national Lutheran Church. Leaving the church in Finland has generally had the feeling of strong protest, and the Quakers have felt no need to protest. At the beginning practically all the members belonged to the Swedish speaking language minority. The archives show that the Quaker language for years was Swedish, but over the years the language changed. There have always been English speaking people associated with the meeting, either visitors, or people living in Finland, and in seventies and eighties it was customary that in both Meeting for Worship and business meetings, three languages were used. The Yearly Meeting The question of whether Finnish Friends could be an independent Yearly Meeting was already raised in the fifties. At that time the meeting was not considered mature enough. Among the advocates of independence there was some disagreement about which pattern to follow. In Finnish law it is possible to be »An Independent Religious Community», which is comparable to any church. However within the law it is stipulated the minimum number of members who, in addition, are not allowed to belong to more than one church. In Finland there were not enough members, and many of those were not willing to resign from the Lutheran Church. In the late eighties the question of independence was resolved, and the Finnish Quakers created an independent yearly meeting by founding a formal civil association with the name »Ystävien uskonnollinen seura kveekarit». the Quakers or Religious Society of Friends. The new society was »born» in 1992. When separating from the Swedish Yearly Meeting a considerable sum of money was received as a gift from Swedish Friends. The money was used to buy a Meeting room in Helsinki, which has formed the centre for Finnish Friends, and enabled them to »put down roots». The process of separation was not without problems, and in the end some of the Finnish Friends chose to remain in the Swedish Yearly Meeting, and not to join the new Yearly Meeting. It is true that most of those remaining in the Swedish YM were Swedish speaking, but more important perhaps was a differing view of a Quaker community, whether it should be more like a church or whether it is possible to have a religious community based on an association. There were heated feelings at the time, but nowadays members of each group find no difficulties in attending Meeting for Worship together. Today and Tomorrow At the beginning of this century there were 21 members of Finland YM and a little under 10 members belonged to Sweden YM. In addition there are about 30 people who are considered friends of Friends. The most important activity is the weekly Meeting for Worship held in Helsinki. There is also an annual weekend gathering in the summer which is called the yearly meeting, even though the business of the association is carried out in the Spring. The Lutheran Church has revitalised its interest in silent weekend retreats, and Quakers have joined this movement by organising their own silent weekends. These differ from the church retreats in having no liturgical worship, but replacing this with silence. Through the retreats participants can get to know something about Quaker life and thinking, and for many it is the first time that they have met Quakers. From the 1980s onwards a small Quaker bulletin was published. There are also a few leaflets and brochures for enquirers available in Finnish. Since we are such a small group our connections to other yearly meetings and to the central organisations remain vitally important, and most especially to the other Nordic yearly meetings. We have difficulties due to our numbers and physical distance from each other. However, we are deeply convinced that our simple silent meetings provide moments where God Himself can speak to us. *** Antti Alhonsaari has been a member of FYM since 1996. He also belongs to the Lutheran Church and is an ordained pastor. He has written, among his other works, a book on Quakers in Finnish. hem |
Kväkarna, Vännernas samfund Kväkarna tror att det finns något av Gud i varje människa. Därför vänder vi oss mot alla former av våld, och tolerans är mycket viktigt för oss. Den stilla andakten står i centrum av kväkarnas andliga liv. Den firas utan predikan eller fastställt program. info@kvakare.se | |||