The congregation of Holy Nikolai Orthodox Church consists of members from the entire country. We are approximately 1000 members of different national origin. Until presently, we were the only Orthodox congregation in Norway with permanent clergy. The liturgy is celebrated in Church-Slavonic and Norwegian on Sundays and on major feast days. (The first Sunday of the moth the liturgy is in Norwegian only).
Our congregation is actively working to consolidate a Norwegian basis for the many expressions of the Orthodox Church in such a way that it will continue to be a spiritual home from the descendants of the emigrants that established it. We have a sincere wish to communicate an intelligible testimony of the Orthodox belief outside our own little circle. In the last years there has been a substantial number of converts and we have therefore seen the necessity to introduce Norwegian without forgetting our origins. Among others we are using the old Julian calendar calculating the dates 13 days after the Gregorian, which is in use throughout the western hemisphere.
Holy Olav
In connection with the 1000 year anniversary of the Norwegian conversion to
Christianity, our parish applied and was granted recognition for venerating
Hl. Olav as an Orthodox saint.
The icon is created by the Norwegian icon-painter Ove Svele, member of Hl.
Nikolai Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church in Norway has been subordinated the archbishop for Russian congregation in Western Europe located in Paris since its establishment. However, from 2019 Holy Nikolai Orthodox Church in Norway is subordinated the Patriachate in Beograd. The Kingdom of Norway is a predominantly protestant country where the majority are members of the official Lutheran church. Our congregation - in the honour of Holy Nikolai - is a vivid and active part of the Christian communities in Norway and is acting as a link to the oldest, second largest Church in the world.