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Christianity in Russia

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Christians in Russia constitute by some estimates nearly 85% of total population (2006). Approximately 83% of the country residents consider themselves Russian Orthodox Christians, although the vast majority are not regular churchgoers.[1] By official information, there are 68 eparchies of Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). [2]

There are also from 1 to 10 millions of so called Old Believers, who present the former part of the Russian Orthodox Christianity, separated in 17-th century as a protest against Patriarch Nikon church reforms.

According to the Slavic Center for Law and Justice, Protestants make up the second largest group of Christian believers, with approximately 3,500 organizations and more than 2 million followers. A large number of missionaries operating in the country are from Protestant denominations.[1]

The Roman Catholic Church estimates that there are from 600,000 to 1.5 million Catholics in the country, figures that also exceeded government estimates.[1] There is one Roman Catholic Archdiocese (Mother of God at Moscow) with three suffragan dioceses (Saint Clement at Saratov, Saint Joseph at Irkutsk, Transfiguration at Novosibirsk) and Apostolic Prefecture of Yuzhno Sakhalinsk. [3]

The new Russian "law on non-governmental organizations" taken effect in April 2007 requires non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including christian churches, to register with state agencies, list their funding sources and provide records of all meetings. Some Christians afraid, that it could have a chilling impact on their churches and ministries.[4]

Russian Orthodox Church

Holy Trinity Cathedral in Sergiev Posad

The Russian Orthodox Church is organized in a hierarchical structure. Every church building and its attendees constitute a parish (prikhod). There are over 27,000 parishes in the Church. The Russian Church numbers over 145 million people world wide, thus making it the second largest local church after Rome.

All parishes in a geographical region belong to an eparchy (eparkhiya—equivalent to a Western diocese). Eparchies are governed by bishops (episkope or archierey). There are around 130 Russian Orthodox eparchies worldwide.

Further, some eparchies are organized into exarchates, or autonomous churches. Currently these include the Orthodox Churches of Belarusian exarchate; the Latvian, the Moldovan, and the Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate. The Chinese and Japanese Orthodox Churches were granted full autonomy by Moscow Patriarchate, but this autonomy is not universally recognized.

Smaller eparchies are usually governed by a single bishop. Larger eparchies, exarchates, and autonomous churches are governed by metropolitans and sometimes also have one or more bishops assigned to them.

By information of Saint Tikhon's Orthodox University, about 100 thousands of Orthodox believers were repressed for their faith in the Soviet time. [5]

Old Believers

In 1971 the Moscow Patriarchate revoked the anathemas placed on the Old Believers in the 17th century, but most Old Believer communities have not returned to Communion with other Orthodox Christians.

Estimates place the total number of Old Believers remaining today at from 1 to 10 millions, some living in extremely isolated communities in places to which they fled centuries ago to avoid persecution. One Old-Believer parish in the United States has entered into communion with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

Old-Believer churches in Russia currently have started restoration of their property, although Old Believers (unlike the nearly-official mainstream Orthodoxy) face many difficulties in claiming their restitution rights for their churches. Moscow has churches for all the most important Old Believer branches: Rogozhskaya Zastava (Popovtsy of the Belokrinitskaya hierarchy official center), a cathedral for the Novozybkovskaya hierarchy in Zamoskvorech'ye and Preobrazhenskaya Zastava where Pomortsy and Fedoseevtsy coexist.

Roman Catholic Church

Catholic Church in Samara

The Catholic Archbishop of Moscow has voiced his support for religious education in state sponsored schools, citing the examples of other countries.[6]

Relations with the Russian Orthodox church have been rocky for nearly a millennium, and attempts at re-establishing Catholicism have met with opposition. Pope John Paul II for years expressed a desire to visit Russia, but the Russian Orthodox Church has for years resisted.[7] In April 2002, Bishop Jerry Mazur of Eastern Siberia was striped of his visa, forcing the appointment of a new bishop for that diocese.[8] In 2002, five foreign Catholic priests were denied visas to return to Russia, construction of a new cathedral was blocked in Pskov, and a church in southern Russia was shot at.[9] On Christmas Day 2005, Russian Orthodox activists planned to picket outside of Moscow's Catholic Cathedral, but the picket was cancelled.[10] Despite the recent thawing of relations with the election of Pope Benedict XVI, there are still issues such as the readiness of the police to protect Catholics and other minorities from persecution.[11]

One thousand Russian Catholics gathered in the Virgin Mary’s Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Moscow to watch the Pope's funeral.[12]

Protestants

Lutheran Church in Arkhangelsk

There are Evangelical Christians - Baptists (most numerous)[13], Lutherans [14], Pentecostals [15], Adventists [16], Methodists, Quakers [17]and nearly all other known protestant denominations presented in the country.

By the opinion of Keston Institute, Protestants are widely present and may well outnumber the Orthodox in some places of Siberia. There are very few "nominal" believers among them: everywhere they preach, pray and often struggle against local bureaucracy to acquire their rights. Anyway, they are also regarded as respectable, hard-working citizens.[18]

Some protestants (especially at provincial level) report encountering local authorities obstruction of their activities and government restrictions.[19] In April 2007, the European Court of Human Rights obliged Russian state to pay EUR 10,000 (ten thousand euros) as a non-pecuniary damage for the refusal in registration of the Moscow branch of Salvation Army.[20]

Conducted in July - August, 2007, bycicle missionary expedition [21] of evangelical christians baptists faced, by their report [22], serious obstacles and suspicious attitude from local authorities in several regions of Russia. The evangelization meetings several times were banned in public parks. The initial goal of the above mentioned tour was to share the Gospel with people in towns and villages throughout the country and, by words of UECB President Yuri Sipko, to "fight their way through on foot or on bicycles to reach even the most remote village and the most despairing person in order to bring them the message of God’s kingdom."[21]

Bible translation

The Bible translation in Russian language began in 1859 and published in 1876. This work, called also Russian Synodal Bible, is widely used by Protestant communities all over Russia and former USSR countries. Lately appeared several modern translations.[23] The Russian Bible Society was established in 1813 and restored in 1990-1991 after a pause connected with the Soviet regime restrictions.[24]

The opening ceremony of the Building of the Russian Bible Society in Moscow was visited by representatives of Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant churches, who joined their eforts in Bible translation and distribution cause.[25] The editions of Society are based on the universal doctrine of the early Christian church and include non-confessional comments. Over 1,000,000 Bible related books are printed per year by that institution. The Bible is also being translated into native languages and dialects of Russia's ethnic groups.[25]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c US State Department Religious Freedom Report on Russia
  2. ^ Religion and mass media Institute
  3. ^ GCatholic Directory
  4. ^ Pending Russian law could threaten Christian outreach
  5. ^ Exhibition on religious persecution opened in Moscow, in Russian
  6. ^ "Russian Catholics back religious education at school". Russian News and Information Agency. June 19th, 2006. Retrieved 2006-07-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  7. ^ Kishkovsky, Sophia (July 3rd, 2006). "Putin warns of 'clash of civilisations' at Moscow religious summit". Ecumenical News International. Retrieved 2006-07-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  8. ^ Myers, Steven Lee (July 9th, 2002). "Church Dispute Festers". New York Times. Retrieved 2006-07-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  9. ^ Kishkovsky, Sophia (September 13th, 2002). "Archbishop Appeals To Rights Groups". New York Times. Retrieved 2006-07-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  10. ^ Khroul, Victor (December 21st, 2005). "Moscow: Orthodox will picket Catholic Christmas celebration". Asia News.it. Retrieved 2006-07-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  11. ^ "Whose side are police on? Russian Christians ask". Catholic World News. June 7th, 2006. Retrieved 2006-07-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  12. ^ "Moscow Watches Broadcast of Pope's Funeral at Catholic Cathedral". Moscow News.com. August 4th, 2005. Retrieved 2006-07-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  13. ^ Russian Baptists
  14. ^ Lutheran Church in Russia
  15. ^ Pentecostal Assosiation
  16. ^ Worldwide Faith News
  17. ^ Quakers in Russia
  18. ^ Timesonline Article
  19. ^ "RUSSIA: Urals Protestants kept out of sight?"
  20. ^ Legislation Online
  21. ^ a b Baptist World Alliance
  22. ^ Baptist Union News
  23. ^ Russian Bible Society, in Russian
  24. ^ History of Russian Bible Society, in Russian
  25. ^ a b Vladivostok Branch of the Russian Bible Society
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