The Diocese of Funen (

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

: ''Fyens Stift'') is a

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

within the

Evangelical Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

Church of Denmark The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark or National Church, sometimes called the Church of Denmark ( da, Folkekirken, literally: "The People's Church" or unofficially da, Den danske folkekirke, literally: "The Danish People's Church"; kl, ...

St. Canute's Cathedral St. Canute's Cathedral ( da, Odense Domkirke or Sankt Knuds Kirke), also known as Odense Cathedral, is named after the Danish king Canute the Saint ( da, Knud den Hellige), otherwise Canute IV. It is a fine example of Brick Gothic architecture. Th ...

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

serves as the seat of its bishop. Tine Lindhardt has been the bishop of the diocese since 2012.

History

The

Roman Catholic bishopric of Odense The former Diocese of Odense ( da, Odense Stift) was a Roman Catholic diocese in Denmark which included the islands of Funen, Langeland, Tåsinge, Lolland, Falster, Als, and Ærø. Its episcopal see was located in Odense at St. Canute's Cathedral ...

was established some time before 988. During the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

in 1536, the Catholic diocese dissolved and was replaced by the current Lutheran Diocese of Funen. The newly established diocese's first bishop was Jørgen Sadolin, a Protestant reformer who had preached in Odense before the Reformation. In 1803, the region of Lolland-Falster split off from the diocese to form the Diocese of Lolland-Falster. The islands of Als and

Ærø Ærø () is one of the Danish Baltic Sea islands, and part of the Southern Denmark Region. Since 1 January 2006 the whole of Ærø has constituted a single municipality, known as Ærø Kommune. Before that date, there were two municipalities ...

similarly split off in 1819 to form their own diocese, though this diocese was eventually dissolved. Æro came back under Funen's jurisdiction in 1864, while Als is now part of the

Diocese of Haderslev The Diocese of Haderslev ( Danish: ''Haderslev Stift'') is a diocese within the Church of Denmark The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark or National Church, sometimes called the Church of Denmark ( da, Folkekirken, literally: "The People ...

. Today, the Diocese of Funen consists of the islands of

Funen Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as of ...

Langeland Langeland (, ) is a Danish island located between the Great Belt and Bay of Kiel. The island measures 285 km2 (c. 110 square miles) and, as of 1 January 2018, has a population of 12,446.

, and

. As of 2020, the diocese consists of 11 subordinate deaneries (Danish: ''Provstier''): Assens, Bogense, Fåborg, Hjallese, Kerteminde, Langeland-Ærø, Middlefart, Nyborg, Odense Sankt Knuds, Midtfyn, and Svendborg. These deaneries are further divided into 234

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

es with a total of 251 individual churches.

List of Bishops

* Jørgen Sadolin, 1537–1559 * Jacob Madsen Vejle, 1587–1606 * Hans Knudsen Vejle, 1606–1616 * Laurids Jacobsen Hindsholm, 1651–1663 * Niels Hansen Bang, 1663–1676 *

Thomas Kingo Thomas Hansen Kingo (15 December 1634 – 14 October 1703 Odense) was a Danish bishop, poet and hymn-writer born at Slangerup, near Copenhagen. His work marked the high point of Danish baroque poetry. His father was a weaver of modest mean ...

, 1677–1703 * Christian Rudolf Müller, 1704–1712 * Christian Muus, 1712–1717 **''Vacant (1717–1732)'' * Jacob Ramus, 1763–1785 * Tønne Bloch, 1786–1803 * Peder Hansen, 1804–1810 * Fredrik Plum, 1811–1834 * Nicolai Faber, 1834–1848 **''Vacant (1848–1851)'' * Christian Thorning Engelsoft, 1851–1889 **''Vacant (1889–1900)'' * Hans Valdemar Sthyr, 1900–1903 * Laurits Nicolai Balslev, 1903–1922 **''Vacant (1922–1958)'' * Hans Øllgard, 1958 * Knud Christian Holm, 1958–1984 * Vincent Lind, 1984–1995 * Kresten Drejergaard, 1995–2012 * Tine Lindhardt, 2012–present

References

Church of Denmark dioceses Diocese of Funen 1536 establishments in Denmark {{Lutheran-stub