A Finland Diary
A Journey into the Religious Past & Present of Finland
by Jim Forest
Friday, May 8, 1998 / New Valaam Monastery: There’s thunder in the distance and a waterfall-like roar all around the building. I’ve opened the window—three layers of glass—just to better hear and feel it. It’s cool outside but not freezing, though there is snow here and there on the ground and the adjacent lake is still under ice. I’m a lot farther north than I was when I put on my spring jacket and flew out of Holland this morning. This is the Finnish part of Karelia. The nearest city with an airport is Finland’s easternmost city, Joensuu, 375 kilometers northeast of Helsinki and 65 kilometers west of the Russian border. Ten years ago I was on the other side of the border not far from here.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
subscription options
Order
Print/Online Subscription
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Order
Online Only
Subscription
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more from the online archives
28.6—Nov/Dec 2015
on the Deepest Longings of the Restless & the Lonely by William Graddy
31.6—November/December 2018
on Futility & the Open Door to Deliverance by Patrick Henry Reardon
28.2—March/April 2015
Why Scientism's Cherished Progress Narrative Fails by Jonathan Witt
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
