Editing Paavo Ruotsalainen

{{short description|Finnish lay preacher}}
{{Infobox person
|name          = Paavo Ruotsalainen
|image         = Paavo Ruotsalainen.jpg
|image_size    = 200px
|caption       = Paavo Ruotsalainen depicted in the book ''Suomen historia'' (3rd edition, 1926)
|birth_name    = Påhl Henrik Ruotsalainen
|birth_date    = {{birth date|1777|7|9|df=y}} 
|birth_place   = Tölvänniemi, [[Lapinlahti]], [[Finland]]
|death_date    = {{death date and age|1852|1|27|1777|7|9|df=y}}
|death_place   = [[Nilsiä]] (now part of [[Kuopio]]), [[Finland]]
|occupation    = Farmer, lay preacher, leader of revivalist [[Awakening (Finnish religious movement)|Awakening]] religious movement
}}

'''Paavo Heikki Ruotsalainen''' ({{IPA|fi|ˈpɑːʋo ˈhei̯kːi ˈruo̯tsɑlɑi̯nen}}; born '''Påhl Henrik'''; 9 July 1777 – 27 January 1852) was a [[Finns|Finnish]] farmer and [[lay preacher]] who became the leader of the revivalist [[Awakening (Finnish religious movement)|Awakening]] religious movement in Finland.

==Religious views==
Born in Tölvänniemi (now a part of [[Lapinlahti]]) as the oldest son of plain farmers, he received his first [[Bible]] 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]], he immediately walked the 200&nbsp;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").<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kirjasilta.net/wilcox/choice/choice.html|title=A Choice Drop of Honey|website=www.kirjasilta.net}}</ref> 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:{{quote|"One thing you lack, though, and with it everything else: the inner feeling of [[Christ]]."<ref>Teologinen Aikakauskirja  2012:1. (in Finnish)</ref>}}
[[Image:Paavon pirtti.JPG|thumb|250px| The original homestead of Paavo Ruotsalainen in Aholansaari, [[Nilsiä]]]]

==Revivalist movement==
{{unsourced|section|date=November 2017}}
Ruotsalainen became the leader of the revivalist movement called ''[[Awakening (Finnish religious movement)|herännäisyys]]'' (Awakening) in Finland. He traveled around Finland to meet with other members of the movement, most notably pastors Jonas Lagus and Nils Gustav Malmberg in [[Ostrobothnia (historical province)|Ostrobothnia]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Reformatio Baltica| isbn=9783110573558 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jEpADwAAQBAJ&dq=Paavo+Ruotsalainen+became+the+leader+of+the+revivalist+movement+called+her%C3%A4nn%C3%A4isyys+%28Awakening%29+in+Finland&pg=PA950| last1=Assel | first1=Heinrich | last2=Steiger | first2=Johann Anselm | last3=Walter | first3=Axel E. | date=20 November 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Reformatio Baltica| chapter=Reformatio Baltica: Kulturwirkungen der Reformation in den Metropolen des Ostseeraums | year=2017 | publisher=De Gruyter | doi=10.1515/9783110573558 | isbn=9783110573558 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110573558/html?lang=de| editor-last1=Assel | editor-last2=Steiger | editor-last3=Walter | editor-first1=Heinrich | editor-first2=Johann Anselm | editor-first3=Axel E }}</ref>

It is estimated that he traveled 40,000&nbsp;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]], aged 74.{{cn|date=November 2017}}

==In culture==
In 1975, Ruotsalainen became the subject of ''[[The Last Temptations]]'' (''Viimeiset kiusaukset'' in Finnish), an opera by [[Joonas Kokkonen]], 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Protest and after in the Finnish Theatre|jstor=40134485 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40134485|last1=Binham |first1=Philip |journal=World Literature Today |year=1980 |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=58–61 |doi=10.2307/40134485 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|chapter=The Last Temptations|doi=10.4324/9781351145961-6 |chapter-url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9781351145961-6/last-temptations-edward-jurkowski|title=The Music of Joonas Kokkonen |year=2018 |last1=Jurkowski |first1=Edward |pages=98–124 |isbn=9781351145961 }}</ref>

==Works==
*{{cite book|last=Ruotsalainen|first=Paavo|title=The Inward Knowledge of Christ: The Letters and Other Writings|year=1977|publisher=Luther-Agricola Society|isbn=978-951-99142-0-6}}

==References==

{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{commonscat-inline|Paavo Ruotsalainen}}
{{Confessional Lutheran Revivals}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruotsalainen, Paavo}}
[[Category:1777 births]]
[[Category:1852 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Lapinlahti]]
[[Category:Finnish Lutherans]]
[[Category:Finnish Christian religious leaders]]
[[Category:19th-century Finnish farmers]]
[[Category:Finnish Awakening]]