The Church of Norway (Bokmål: Den norske kirke, Nynorsk: Den norske kyrkja, Northern Sami: Norgga girku, Southern Sami: Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway.

[2] Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020,[3] and was established as a separate church intimately integrated with the state as a result of the Lutheran reformation in Denmark–Norway which broke ties with the Holy See in 1536–1537; the Norwegian monarch was the church's titular head from 1537 to 2012.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Church of Norway gradually ceded most administrative functions to the secular civil service.

After the adoption of the 1845 Dissenter Act, the state church retained its legally privileged position, while minority religious congregations such as Catholics were allowed to establish themselves in Norway and were legally termed "dissenters" (i.e. from the government-sanctioned Lutheran state religion).

Municipalities are required by law to support activities of parishes and to maintain church buildings and churchyards.

that required six years of university studies, but from 2000 other equivalent degrees may also be accepted for certain applicants over the age of 35 with relevant experience.

The Norwegian monarch, although a layperson, was deemed the head of the church until 2012, although in practice the bishops remained the spiritual leaders.

The church professes to be "truly Catholic, truly Reformed, truly Evangelical" in the Evangelical Lutheran tradition of Western Christian faith, with its foundation on the Bible's Old and New Testaments and occasionally including the Apocrapha, along with the three historic creeds of faith in the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds, Luther's Small Catechism, Luther's Large Catechism, the Smalcald Articles and the Augsburg Confession of 1530, along with several other seminal documents in the Book of Concord: Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church published in 1580.

All Evangelical Lutheran clergy (bishops, priests/pastors, deacons and other ministers) are required to read and assent to the Book of Concord.

The Dissenter Act (Lov angaaende dem, der bekjende sig til den christelige Religion, uden at være medlemmer af Statskirken) was approved by the Storting on 16 July 1845 to allow the establishment of alternative religious (Christian) bodies.

[4] An act approved in 2016 created the Church of Norway as an independent legal entity, effective from 1 January 2017.

[22][23] The church has an episcopal-synodal structure, with 1,284 parishes, 106 deaneries, 11 dioceses and, since 2 October 2011, one area under the supervision of the Preses.

The church also convenes committees and councils both at the national level (such as the Doctrinal Commission (Den norske kirkes lærenemnd),[24] and at diocesan and local levels, addressing specific issues related to education, ecumenical matters, the Sami minority and youth.

The focus of church life is the Sunday High Mass (høymesse) where the Eucharist is celebrated.

The language is entirely Norwegian, apart from the Kyrie Eleison, and the singing of hymns accompanied by organ music is central.

This is a summary of the liturgy for High Mass:[25][26] (If there is a baptism it together with the Apostles' Creed may take place here or after the Sermon) (If there is no Communion, i.e., the Eucharist, the service concludes with the Lord's Prayer, an optional Offering, the Blessing and a moment of silent prayer) The Church of Norway traces its origins to the introduction of Christianity to Norway in the 9th century.

It took several hundred years to complete the Christianization, culminating on 29 July 1030 with the Battle of Stiklestad, when King Olaf II of Norway was killed.

Another site of medieval pilgrimage in Norway was the island of Selja on the northwest coast, with its memories of Saint Sunniva and its three monastery churches with Celtic influence, similar to Skellig Michael.

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.

In 1842, lay congregational meetings were accepted in church life, though initially with limited influence.

In following years, a number of large Christian organizations were created; they still serve as a "second line" in Church structure.

During World War II, after Vidkun Quisling became Minister President of Norway and introduced a number of controversial measures such as state-controlled education, the church's bishops and the vast majority of the clergy disassociated themselves from the government in the Foundations of the Church (Kirkens Grunn) declaration of Easter 1942, stating that they would function only as pastors for their congregations, not as civil servants.

The bishops were interned with deposed clergy and theological candidates from 1943, but congregational life continued more or less as usual.

Gallup poll), making Norway one of the most secular countries of the world (only in Estonia, Sweden and Denmark were the percentages of people who considered religion to be important lower), and only about 3% of the population attends church services or other religious meetings more than once a month.

[36] In 2007, a majority in the general synod voted in favour of accepting people living in same-sex relations into the priesthood.

The 2012 amendment implies that the church's own governing bodies, rather than the Council of State, appoints bishops.

The government and the parliament no longer have an oversight function with regard to day-to-day doctrinal issues, although the Constitution states that the church is to be Evangelical-Lutheran.