Karl Martin Lönnebo (27 February 1930 – 26 April 2023) was a Swedish clergyman who served as Bishop of the

diocese of Linköping The Diocese of Linköping () is a diocese within the Church of Sweden administering the Östergötland County, the north eastern part of Jönköping County and the northern part of Kalmar County. It comprises nine deaneries subdivided into 176 ...

from 1980 to 1994.Martin Lönnebo
entry in ''

Nationalencyklopedin (; "The National Encyclopedia" in English), abbreviated NE, is a comprehensive contemporary Swedish-language encyclopedia with several hundred thousand articles. It is available both online and via a printed version. History The project was ...

'' Lönnebo was born in Storkågeträsk in present-day

Skellefteå Municipality Skellefteå Municipality () is a municipality in Västerbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Skellefteå. History Most of the amalgamations leading to the present municipality took place in 1967 when the then "City of Skel ...

. He studied theology at

Johannelund theological seminary Johannelund is a city district with more than 5000 inhabitants in the south of Linköping. Johannelund is adjoining the districts Tannefors, Hackefors, Hjulsbro, Berga, Linköping, Berga, Ekholmen, Vimanshäll and Hejdegården. Johannelund consist ...

and was ordained within the

Swedish Evangelical Mission The Swedish Evangelical Mission (SEM) ( Swedish: 'Evangelical Homeland Foundation', EFS) is an independent, low-church, New Evangelical () movement within the Church of Sweden. Described as "middle-of-the-road" due to maintaining its independ ...

(''Evangeliska Fosterlands-Stitelsen, EFS'') in 1954. In 1964 he received a D.Th. degree on his doctoral dissertation ''Albert Schweitzers etisk-religiösa ideal''. He worked as a pastor and chaplain in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

for a number of years, and was appointed

Provost Provost may refer to: Officials Ecclesiastic * Provost (religion), a high-ranking church official * Prince-provost, a high-ranking church official Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent ...

(''domprost'') of

Härnösand Härnösand () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Härnösand Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 25,012 inhabitants in 2023. It is called "the gate to the High Coast" because of the world heritage landscape just ...

in 1977. In 1980 he was elected Bishop of Linköping, where he remained until his retirement. Lönnebo also wrote a number of books on religious life, many of them inspired by the spiritual traditions of northern Sweden, as well as by

Eastern Christianity Eastern Christianity comprises Christianity, Christian traditions and Christian denomination, church families that originally developed during Classical antiquity, classical and late antiquity in the Eastern Mediterranean region or locations fu ...

. In 1993 he was awarded an honorary doctorate (PhD) at

Linköping University Linköping University (LiU; ) is a public university, public research university based in Linköping, Sweden. Originally established in 1969, it was granted full university status in 1975 and is one of Sweden's largest academic institutions. T ...

. In 1995, Lönnebo created the Wreath of Christ, a set of non-denominational prayer beads with 18 pearls to be used for meditation and devotional practices. Lönnebo married Britt-Louise Ollikainen in 1958. They had three children. Lönnebo died in

Linköping Linköping ( , ) is a city in southern Sweden, with around 167,000 inhabitants as of 2024. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Chu ...

on 26 April 2023, at the age of 93.

References

1930 births 2023 deaths Lutheran bishops of Linköping Swedish-language writers People from Skellefteå Municipality {{Sweden-bio-stub