New Orthodox Immigration in Finland

The Finnish Orthodox Church is the second largest religious organization in Finland with ca. 57,000 members. During the last 15 years its membership has grown 7% because of international migration. The migrants are mainly from the former Soviet Union (e.g. Estonia, Russia and Ukraine), but there are also small groups from, e.g., Greece, Ethiopia and Romania. The article is a case study of the immigrant activities in two Orthodox parishes that are located in Helsinki and Turku. Issues such as organizational support, religious education and transnational connections are presented. Based on contemporary research on religion and immigration, the article aims to highlight the speci? c role of language in immigrant organizations, and it argues that more attention should be given to it as a speci? c factor