Skevikarna

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They first left for Copenhagen, Denmark, but were not welcomed. So, a sailing ship was bought, and the whole community went aboard. At that time their movement had grown to about 90 persons, some coming over from Sweden and Finland, others joining in Denmark. Then for several years, they had to stay on the ship, sailing up and down the coasts of Denmark and Norway, very seldom allowed to anchor at any harbour. At one time they were being shot at from a town. Another time a woman needed to go ashore to get help to give birth to her child, which she was denied. At winter, they had to anchor outside a desolate coast and dig caves on the shore for the elderly to live in, because of the coldness aboard the ship. Finally, they came to Altona (then belonging to Denmark), a town where many Pietists and Mennonites were living, and could settle there. But not for long. They were too radical even for Altona, and had to leave, not finding a resting place anywhere. So they went to the Netherlands, and had about the same story there.

The Skevik period

After 11 years of exile hardships living as strangers and pilgrims, they were allowed to return to Sweden in 1745. A wealthy

With the end of the Skevikare community around 1830, the Radical Pietistic movement in Sweden ceased.[1]^{[citation needed]}

Practices

By the locals they were known also as the Främlingarna ('Strangers'), which they also called themselves, and were described as "hermits" wearing hodden coats and having long, loose hanging hair spread over their shoulders. When members of their community had died, they usually came to one of Stockholm's graveyards at night, leaving the body on the ground inside the church area's outer wall. Then the priest would bury the corpse the next day. This practice lead to the people of Stockholm beginning to tell ghost stories about that place at nights.

Legacy

There is also a large cave-like formation on Värmdö island, where the Skevikarna used to gather for prayer and meditation. This cave was used in a scene in Ingmar Bergman's movie The Seventh Seal (1957).

After the movement's demise, the farm was handed over to the local authorities, and the memory of the Skevikarna faded away. However, about half a century later, a newly arrived priest to the island was handed an old handwritten journal by a parishioner. When the priest sat down at home later in the evening, to read the book, he found that the Skevikarna had recorded their exile story, and he later made it into a small booklet.^[2]

Much of their handwritten literature is preserved at the

• Radical Pietism
• Ephrata Community

References

• Alfred Kämpe, "Främlingarna på Skevik" (1924)