On 23 March, the Parish Council of the Turku Orthodox Parish took the decision to put into effect the following reform regarding the use of languages in the Sunday celebration of the Divine Liturgy in the St. Alexandra Church. The primary language of the parish is Finnish, but in addition to this, each Sunday we also will take into account other primary language groups in our parish, according to the following weekly rhythm: Each first Sunday of the month in addition of Finnish we will also use Slavonic and Ukrainian; On each second Sunday the languages will be Finnish and Greek; On each third Sunday the languages will be Finnish and Romanian; On each fourth Sunday the languages will be Finnish and English, and When there is a fifth Sunday in the month, the languages will be Finnish and Swedish. This rhythm is subject to change during the course of the church year; we will always announce such changes in the parish online calendar of church services (link). We will be following the following template for the liturgical use of languages : In the following paces in the service, both languages will be used: the gospel, Creed, Lord’s Prayer, and the Confession of Faith before Communion. The priest and choir will read and sing parts of the Liturgy in the other language when possible. In addition, the sermon will be given in both languages when possible. A booklet will be used for the people during services, where the parts to be sung or recited together are in two languages. If you would like to a copy of the booklet for yourself, it can be found as a free downloadable PDF file on the parish website. Orthodox Christian tradition has the practice of bringing koliva (specially prepared boiled wheat) to memorial services for the departed . It is requested that koliva be brought to be blessed to the general memorial service held on Saturdays at 16:30. This new monthly rhythm for celebrating services using the various languages represented in our parish will go into effect on 1 September 2026. We believe it will strengthen the multicultural liturgical life of our parish and free up space for other activities as our multilingual celebrations of the Liturgy shift from Saturdays to Sundays. The effects of these changes will be evaluated in the autumn of 2027. In other sanctuaries of the parish, other languages than Finnish will be used according to need.
