Eelis Gideon Gulin also known as Pinomaa or Gulin-Pinomaa (29 December 1893 - 4 August 1975) was Professor of New Testament at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

from 1933 to 1945 and Bishop of Tampere from 1945 to 1966.

Biography

Gulin was born on 29 December 1893 in

Mikkeli Mikkeli (; sv, S:t Michel; la, Michaelia) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located in what used to be the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Etelä-Savo region. The municipality has a population of () (around 34,000 i ...

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecessor ...

in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, the son of Arthur Lorenz Pinomaa Gulin and Bertha Kristina Christina Sarlin. In 1915 he graduated with a bachelor's degree and commenced studies in Eastern languages, Greek, Latin and theoretical philosophy, after which he intended to begin researching the Old Testament. In 1918 he graduated in theology and earned a bachelor's degree one year later. He was ordained priest in January 1920. That same year he married Helmi Forsman. After spending time as a parish priest he became and Assistant Professor of Biblical Languages at the

in 1927. In 1930 he became Professor of scripture at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

, where he stayed until 1933 when he became Professor of New Testament at the

. Gulin was also involved in ecumenical work, especially in 1934 when he was involved in the negotiations with the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

to establish full communion. He was appointed Bishop of Tampere in the summer of 1945 and was consecrated by his predecessor in Tampere, the then Archbishop Aleksi Lehtonen in

Tampere Cathedral Tampere Cathedral ( fi, Tampereen tuomiokirkko, sv, Tammerfors domkyrka; originally known as St. John's Church) is a Lutheran church in Tampere, Finland, and the seat of the Diocese of Tampere. The building was designed in the National Romantic s ...

. Through Lehtonen's consecration of Gulin, the historic apostolic succession was retained in the Finnish church, since Lehtonen was consecrated in 1934 by the Archbishop of Uppsala, among others. In turn, Gulin was one of the bishops who consecrated

Martti Simojoki Martti Ilmari Simojoki, previously Simelius (September 17, 1908 in Uusikaupunki – April 25, 1999 in Helsinki) was the Archbishop of Turku, and the spiritual head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland between 1964 and 1978. Simojoki becam ...

in 1951, who later became Archbishop of Turku. Hence the apostolic succession was further disseminated in 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 ...

. Gulin retired in 1966 and died on 4 August 1975."Gulin, Eelis (1893 - 1975)"
''Kansallisbiografia''. Retrieved on 27 May 2019.

References

Finnish Lutheran bishops Finnish Lutheran theologians Academic staff of the University of Helsinki 1893 births 1975 deaths {{Finland-reli-bio-stub