The lunatic lars levi laestadius biography

Laestadianism, also known as Laestadian Lutheranism and Apostolic Lutheranism, is a conservative Lutheran revival movement started in Sapmi in the middle of the 19th century.

Lars Levi Laestadius (1800-1861) was a prominent revivalist and botanist with a Sámi background from northern Sweden.

Since the 19th century, Laestadianism has been a well-known religious movement in northern Sweden, Finland and Norway.

The Laestadian movement started in Sweden after the spiritual reorientation of Lars Levi Laestadius, which occurred when he had been a minister of the National Lutheran Swedish Church for almost 20 years.

According to the legend, the spiritual awakening is connected with Laestadius’ encounter with a young Sámi woman, Milla Clementsdotter, often called Maria.

Today, while being most prominent in Finland, it has members in the Scandinavian and Baltic countries as well as in Russia and North America and smaller congregations around the world.

There are estimated 200 000 Laes