Maria Åkerblom

{{short description|Finnish religious movement leader}}

File:Maria-Akerblom-1940s.jpg

Ida Maria Åkerblom (September 14, 1898 – February 25, 1981) was the leader of the Finnish Åkerblom Movement, an evangelical movement sometimes called a "cult". She had also served some time in prison.Kent, Neil: [https://books.google.com/books?id=JYlFZE2GoBMC&dq=%22Maria+Akerblom&pg=PA104 Helsinki: A Cultural and Literary History, p. 104.] Her movement deemed her a prophet and began in the 1920s.Holm, N. G.: ”Recent research into revivalist movements in Finland”, The Scandinavian Journal of History. Maria Åkerblom is characterized by Aarni Voipio as a "sleeping preacher", that is, a person who preaches in a state of trance.Voipio, Aarni: Sleeping Preachers: a Study in Ecstatic Religiosity, pp. 32-38. Helsinki, 1951.

The 2019 Zaida Bergroth film Maria's Paradise is based on Åkerblom's life.{{cite web |title=Maria's Paradise |url=https://ses.fi/en/elokuva/marian-paratiisi/ |publisher=The Finnish Film Foundation |accessdate=6 February 2020}}