The Diocese of Borgå ( sv, Borgå stift, fi, Porvoon hiippakunta) is a diocese for the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland. It is a part of the

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland ( fi, Suomen evankelis-luterilainen kirkko; sv, Evangelisk-lutherska kyrkan i Finland) is a national church of Finland. It is part of the Lutheran branch of Christianity. The church has a legal positio ...

Porvoo Porvoo (; sv, Borgå ; la, Borgoa) is a city and a municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland, situated on the southern coast about east of the city border of Helsinki and about from the city centre. Porvoo was one of the six medieval to ...

(''Borgå'' in

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

) is also the old seat of the present-day (Finnish-speaking)

Diocese of Tampere The Diocese of Tampere (, ) is the second oldest and the largest diocese in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. It is divided into 69 parishes with a total population of over 595,000 people. The diocese is led by the Bishop of Tampere. H ...

. Unlike the other dioceses of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, the diocese is not formed on a geographical basis. All the Swedish-speaking parishes and dominantly Swedish-speaking bilingual parishes of the church belong to the diocese, regardless of their location. As a result of the geographical distribution of Swedish-speakers, the parishes of the diocese are mostly on the coast, the Swedish-speaking parish of

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

being the only inland parish. In addition, there are two ethnicity-based parishes in the diocese: The German parish of Finland and ''rikssvenska Olaus Petri församlingen'', the former Church of Sweden parish in Finland. The German parish (german: Deutsche ev.-luth. Gemeinde in Finnland) is the parish for the German-speaking minority of Finland, while the ''rikssvenska'' parish consists of Swedish citizens living in Finland. The diocese has some 234,000 parishioners.

Bishops of Borgå

* Max von Bonsdorff, 1923–1954 * Georg Olof Rosenqvist, 1954–1961 * Karl-Erik Forssell, 1961–1970 * John Vikström, 1970–1982 * Erik Vikström, 1983–2006 * Gustav Björkstrand, 2006–2009 * Björn Vikström 2009–2019 * Bo-Göran Åstrand 2019– Two of the three bishops Vikström are brothers, John (later archbishop of Turku/Åbo) and Erik, while Björn is a son of John Vikström.

Bishops of Borgå

See also