page_title: Church of the Faroe Islands
section_title: Nationalist revival
hierarchical_section_title: Church of the Faroe Islands / History / Nationalist revival
context_page_description: The Church of the Faroe Islands is one of the smallest state churches in the world. Prior to becoming independent on 29 July 2007, it was a diocese of the Church of Denmark, a Lutheran church. As of 2019, 79.7% of the Faroe Islanders belonged to the state church.
  Other churches in the Faroe Islands include the Plymouth Brethren and the Roman Catholic Church.
context_section_description: See main articles: Faroese language conflict, Christmas Meeting of 1888
  When the Danish trade monopoly was lifted in 1856, Faroese society started to boom both economically and culturally. The restoration of long-suppressed Faroese culture also led to changes in Christianity on the islands. After great contention, Faroese was given the same status as Danish in hymns and preaching in 1924-25. The ecclesiastical rituals (christening, burial, marriage etc.) were introduced in Faroese in 1930, and in 1961, the authorised Faroese edition of the Bible was published. During the first half of the 20th century, dean Jákup Dahl had translated the New Testament from Greek, and published it in 1937. Dahl also translated the psalms from the Old Testament, and after his death in 1944, a vicar named Kristian Osvald Viderø continued to translate the rest of the Bible from Hebrew. In 1963, the first Faroese hymn book was published, and in the same year, the old title of dean was upgraded to deputy bishop. In 1977, the first female vicar was ordained, and in 1990, the Faroe Islands became an independent diocese with its own bishop within the Church of Denmark.
  In 2005, the Faroes signed a treaty with Denmark that allowed for the take over of most public institutions, including the Vágar Airport and the People's Church. On 29 July 2007, on the date of the national holiday - Ólavsøka, the Faroese Church became totally independent of the Church of Denmark.
caption: Faroese clergymen played a major part in the National awakening and language conflict, which was a conflict within Faroese society rather than with the Danish.
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