Oldest Churches in Europe-Bergen Norway-Mariakirken(1130)

Video Title :	Oldest Churches in Europe-Bergen Norway-Mariakirken(1130)
Description :	My footage of the oldest church in Bergen,Mariakirken. The Church of Norway traces its origins to the introduction of Christianity to Norway in the 800s. Norway was christianized partly as a result of individual conversions, partly by force. Still, it took several hundred years to convert Norway to Christianity, culminating in 1030 with the Battle of Stiklestad. The Nordic churches were initially subordinate to the archbishop of Bremen, until a Nordic archdiocese of Lund was established in 1103. The separate Norwegian archdiocese of Nidaros (in today's Trondheim) was created in 1152, and by the end of the 1100s covered all of Norway, parts of present Sweden, Iceland, Greenland, the Isle of Man, the Orkney Islands, the Shetland Islands, the Faroe Islands, and the Hebrides. The Reformation in Norway was accomplished in 1537 when Christian III of Denmark and Norway decreed Lutheranism as the official religion of Norway and Denmark. Monastic orders were suppressed, and the crown took over church property, while some redundant churches were destroyed or abandoned. The archdiocese was abolished, and bishops (initially called superintendents) were appointed by the king. This created the integration between church and state that today's arrangement reflects. After the introduction of absolute monarchy in 1660 all clerics were civil servants appointed by the king, but theological issues were left to the hierarchy of bishops and other clergy. When Norway regained national independence in 1814, the Norwegian Constitution recognized the Lutheran church as the State Church. The pietistic movement in Norway (embodied to a great extent by Hans Nielsen Hauge) served to reduce the distance between lay and clergy in Norway, which persists to this day. In 1873 lay congregational meetings were accepted in church life, though initially with limited influence. Unofficial plenary sessions took place every other year, and after 1982 these became official parts of church life. After Vidkun Quisling was made head of state by the Nazi occupiers during World War II, the vast majority of Norwegian clergy and all Norwegian bishops disassociated themselves from the government, stating that they would only function as pastors for their congregations. The bishops were interned for the duration of the war, but congregational life continued more or less as usual. Since World War II, a number of structural changes have taken place within the Church of Norway, mostly to institutionalize lay participation in the life of the church. Current issues There is continuous discussion about separating church and state in Norway, and currently it appears there is a majority both within Stortinget and the public to separate it. Currently, the possibility of holding a referendum about the separation is being debated. While most Norwegians use the church only for lifecycle events, a great many appreciate the tradition and institutions of the church. Although 83% of the Norwegian population belongs to the state church, only about 3% attend church services or other religious meetings more than once a month. Baptism of newborns fell from 96.8% in 1960 to 75.9% in 2005. The proportion of young people to enter into confirmation fell from 93% in 1960 to 66.2% in 2005. The proportion of all weddings to be conducted through the Church of Norway fell from 85,2% in 1960 to 45.5% in 2005. Only the proportion of funerals has remained on a high level, in 2005 93.4% of all funerals took place in the Church of Norway. It has recently been revealed that due to a poor quality of the membership register, around 75,000 Norwegians who are members of other religious or humanist organisations have wrongfully been registered as members of the church. An equally large number of persons who are not members of any faith-based organisation might also be registered as members of the church without their knowledge, as a result the official membership numbers are slightly inflated compared to the real figures. Although there is no indication that this has been a conscious policy of the church, the inaccurate membership register has led to the church possibly receiving unlawfully hundreds of millions of Norwegian Crowns (NOK) over the last decade, as the Norwegian state contributes between 500 and 600 NOK to religious and humanist organisations for each registered member. Naturally, this has led to stark criticism from organisations that might have lost income due to the inaccuracy of the membership register of the Norwegian church.
Views :	585
Rating :	4.83
Keywords, Tags :	religeon museum christianity old protestant nordic bremen reformation lutheranism culture wikipedia georgia azerbaidjan
Video Length :	8 : 28

Comments :

Nicely filmed. I love old churches and their history. Thanks for this.

You are doing significant job Franco, thank you.

Great!! I`ve been in Norway and visited Stave churches,they are medival churches and are the oldest ones.The Norwegian goverment try to save all Stavechurches,the oldest Stavechurch was established in the place Gol! Yes, Azerbaycan has 1st century church holy St. Yelysee was our holy priest and Georgian churches are similar to our Caucasian Albanian churches. Thank you francotenelli !!