More than 13,000 people have left Finland's Lutheran Church in three days in a row over gay marriage after an archbishop said he "rejoiced" that it could soon be legal.
Archbishop Kari Makinen said he "rejoiced from the bottom of his heart" on Friday at parliament's vote approving a people's petition that paves the way for a same-sex marriage law.
However, high-level Lutheran official Jukka Keskitalo said on Sunday the vote "doesn't change (the church's) idea of marriage", which remains the union between a man and a woman.
The conflicting comments managed to enrage both conservative and liberal wings of the church in the last Nordic country where gay marriage is not legal.
From Friday to Sunday more than 13,000 people quit the church in protest, according to eroakirkosta.fi, a website set up to help people leave Finland's state churches.
Quitting means they will be no longer pay church taxes, which are gathered for the Lutheran Church by the state.
"The archbishop's message was destined for liberal members of the church, but it turned against the church itself," said Petri Karisma, president of the League of Free Thinkers, which created the site.
Some 5200 people left the church on Sunday alone, the largest number in a single day in four years.
About 4.1 million Finns, or 75 per cent of the population, belong to the Lutheran Church, compared to more than 90 per cent in the 1970s.
Finland's parliament voted on Friday in favour of same-sex marriage in a victory for campaigners who gathered thousands of signatures to force it to examine the issue.
The "citizens' initiative" will not automatically result in legalising gay marriage but simply launches the process for parliament to examine the issue before a final vote.
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