Middle Ages While some Swedish areas had Christian minorities in the 9th century, Sweden was, because of its geographical location in northernmost
Europe, not
Christianized until around AD 1000, around the same time as the other
Nordic countries, when the Swedish King
Olof was baptized. This left only a modest gap between the Christianization of Scandinavia and the
Great Schism, however there are some Scandinavian/Swedish saints who are venerated eagerly by many
Orthodox Christians, such as
St. Olaf. However,
Norse paganism and other pre-Christian religious systems survived in the territory of what is now Sweden later than that; for instance the important religious center known as the
Temple at Uppsala at
Gamla Uppsala was evidently still in use in the late 11th century, while there was little effort to introduce the
Sámi of
Lapland to Christianity until considerably after that. The Christian church in Scandinavia was originally governed by the
archdiocese of Bremen. In 1104, an archbishop for all Scandinavia was installed in
Lund. Uppsala was made
Sweden's archdiocese in 1164, and remains so today. The papal diplomat
William of Modena attended a church meeting in
Skänninge in March 1248, where the ties to the Catholic Church were strengthened. The most cherished national Catholic
saints were the 12th-century King
Eric the Saint and the 14th-century
visionary Bridget, but other regional heroes also had a local cult following, including
Saint Botvid and
Saint Eskil in
Södermanland, Saint
Helena of Skövde, and Saint
Sigfrid in
Småland. In their names,
miracles were performed and churches were named.
Reformation Shortly after seizing power in 1523,
Gustav Vasa addressed the
Pope in Rome with a request for the confirmation of
Johannes Magnus as
Archbishop of Sweden, in the place of
Gustav Trolle who had been formally deposed and exiled by the
Riksdag of the Estates. Gustav promised to be an obedient son of the Church, if the pope would confirm the elections of his bishops. But the pope requested Trolle to be re-instated. King Gustav protested by promoting the Swedish reformers, the brothers
Olaus and
Laurentius Petri, and
Laurentius Andreae. The king supported the printing of reformation texts, with the Petri brothers as the major instructors on the texts. In 1526, all Catholic printing presses were suppressed, and two-thirds of the Church's
tithes were appropriated for the payment of the national debt. A final breach was made with the traditions of the old religion at the
Riksdag called by the king at
Västerås in 1544. Other changes of the Reformation included the abolition of some Catholic rituals. However, the changes were not as drastic as in
Germany; as in Germany, Swedish churches kept not only
crosses and
crucifixes, but also icons and the traditional liturgical vestments which in Germany were usually discarded in favor of the black
preaching gown and
stole used until recent times. Many holy days, based on
saints' days, were not removed from the calendar until the late 18th century due to strong resistance from the population. After the death of Gustav Vasa, Sweden was ruled by
John III, who had Catholicizing tendencies, and then by his more openly Catholic son,
Sigismund, who was also ruler of Catholic
Poland. The latter was eventually deposed from the Swedish throne by his uncle, who acceded to the throne as
Charles IX, and used the Lutheran church as an instrument in his power struggle against his nephew. He is known to have had
Calvinist leanings. The New Testament was translated into Swedish in 1526 and the entire Bible in 1541. Revised translations were published in 1618 and 1703. New official translations were adopted in 1917 and 2000. Many hymns were written by Swedish church reformers and several by
Martin Luther were translated. A semi-official hymnal appeared in the 1640s. Official hymnals of the Church of Sweden () were adopted in 1695,
1819, 1937 and
1986. The last of these is
ecumenical, and combines traditional hymns with songs from other Christian denominations, including
Seventh-day Adventist, Baptist, Catholic,
Mission Covenant, Methodist, Pentecostal, and the
Salvation Army. In October 2013, the Church of Sweden elected
Antje Jackelén as Sweden's first female archbishop.
Emigration aspects In the 1800s–1900s, the Church of Sweden supported the Swedish government by opposing both emigration and preachers' efforts recommending sobriety (
alcoholic beverages are sold in Sweden by a government monopoly). This escalated to a point where its ministers were even persecuted by the church for preaching sobriety, and the reactions of many congregation members to that contributed to the desire to leave the country (which, however, was against the law until 1840).
Lutheran orthodoxy Coat of arms The 19th century coat of arms is based on that of the
Archdiocese of Uppsala. It is blazoned
Or on a cross Gules an open crown of the field and thus features a gold/yellow field with a red cross on which there is a gold/yellow crown. The crown is called the victory crown of
Christ, based on the royal crowns used in
medieval times and corresponds in form to the crowns in the
Swedish coat of arms and to that resting on the head of Saint Eric in the coat of arms of
Stockholm. == Synodical structure ==