Paavo Heikki Ruotsalainen (; born Påhl Henrik; 9 July 1777 – 27 January 1852) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

farmer and lay preacher who became the leader of the revivalist Awakening religious movement in Finland.

Religious views

Born in Tölvänniemi (now a part of

Lapinlahti Lapinlahti (; sv, Lapinlahti, also ) is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Northern Savonia region, located north of the city of Kuopio. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The populati ...

) as the oldest son of plain farmers, he received his first

bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

at age six. At the time of his confirmation he had already read it three times. His preoccupation with the words of the bible gained him the nickname ''foolish Paavo''. When he heard about the lay pastor Jakob Högman in

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. It is located about 150 km north-east from Tampere, the third largest city in Finland; and about 270 km north from Helsinki, the capital of ...

, he immediately walked the 200 km to Jyväskylä in the winter of 1799. This visit laid the foundation of his religious life. Jakob Högman was known as an avid reader of a revivalist devotional booklet "Kallis Hunajan Pisara" ("The Choice Drop of Honey"). He gave Ruotsalainen a copy of the book which remained important to Paavo throughout his life. Högman illustrated to Paavo that there was one thing of utmost importance he was missing, so Högman said to Paavo:

Revivalist movement

Ruotsalainen became the leader of the revivalist movement called ''

herännäisyys The Awakening ( fi, herännäisyys or ) is a Lutheran religious movement in Finland which has found followers in the provinces of Savo and Ostrobothnia. The origins of the movement are in the 18th century. It has functioned inside the Evangelical ...

'' (Awakening) in Finland. He traveled around Finland to meet with other members of the movement, most notably the priests Jonas Lagus and Nils Gustav Malmberg in Ostrobothnia. It is estimated that he traveled 40,000 km altogether, most of it on foot. With the spreading of the movement, both church and state authorities became worried about it. In 1838-39 he was put on trial and fined, yet this could not stop the movement.

Death

Ruotsalainen died on 27 January 1852 in

Nilsiä Nilsiä is a former small town and a municipality of Finland. It joined the city of Kuopio at the beginning of year 2013. It is located in the Northern Savonia region. The town has a population of (31 December 2012) and covers an area of of whic ...

, aged 74.

In culture

In 1975, Ruotsalainen became the subject of ''

The Last Temptations ''The Last Temptations'' ( fi, Viimeiset kiusaukset) is an opera in two acts by Joonas Kokkonen to a libretto by Lauri Kokkonen. Along with Leevi Madetoja's ''Pohjalaisia'' and Aarre Merikanto's ''Juha'', it is considered one of the most import ...

'' (Viimeiset kiusaukset in Finnish language), an opera by

Joonas Kokkonen Joonas Kokkonen (; 13 November 1921 – 2 October 1996) was a Finnish composer. He was one of the most internationally famous Finnish composers of the 20th century after Sibelius; his opera ''The Last Temptations'' has received over 500 performance ...

, with a recording in the Deutsche Grammophon label. The libretto of the opera was written by Lauri Kokkonen who had earlier written a play with the same title.

Works

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruotsalainen, Paavo 1777 births 1852 deaths People from Lapinlahti Finnish Lutherans Finnish Christian religious leaders Finnish farmers Finnish Awakening