- published: 13 Apr 2014
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The Church of Norway (Den norske kirke in Bokmål or Den norske kyrkja in Nynorsk) is the largest church in Norway, established after the Lutheran reformation in Denmark–Norway in 1536–1537 broke ties with the Holy See. The Church confesses the Lutheran Christian faith, with its foundation on the Bible, the Apostles', Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, Luther's Small Catechism and the Augsburg Confession. The Church is a member of the Porvoo Communion with 12 other churches, among them the Anglican Churches of Europe. It has also signed some other ecumenical texts, including the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification with the Roman Catholic Church. Until May 21st 2012, it was the state church of Norway.
The constitutional head of the Church is the King of Norway, who is obliged to profess himself a Lutheran. The Church of Norway is subject to legislation, including its budgets, passed by the Storting, and its central administrative functions are carried out by the Royal Ministry of Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs.
Norway i/ˈnɔrweɪ/ (Norwegian: Norge (Bokmål) or Noreg (Nynorsk)), officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and the subantarctic Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres (148,747 sq mi) and a population of about 5 million. It is the second least densely populated country in Europe. The majority of the country shares a border to the east with Sweden; its northernmost region is bordered by Finland to the south and Russia to the east; in its south Norway borders the Skagerrak Strait across from Denmark. The capital city of Norway is Oslo. Norway's extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea, is home to its famous fjords.