Martin Luther and his legacy

The Lutheran Church is a Protestant Christian denomination. Its roots can be traced back to a movement in Germany in the early 1500s to reform the Catholic Church. The movement was initiated through the actions of an Augustinian monk, Martin Luther. The movement was not merely a local one: it got not only a European but global dimensions as well. This movement spread rapidly already in the 16th century all the way to Finland, which at the time formed part of the kingdom of Sweden. Today over 400 million Protestants all over the world share their spiritual and religious existence with the events of the Reformation. The Lutheran Church is the Church of the majority in all Nordic countries. Around 65 per cent of Finns belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church.