The

Eastern Orthodoxy Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonica ...

in Europe constitutes the second largest Christian denomination. European Eastern Orthodox Christians are predominantly present in Eastern and

Southeastern Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (al ...

, and they are also significantly represented in diaspora throughout the Continent. The term Eastern Orthodox Europe is informally used to describe the predominantly Eastern Orthodox countries of

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, wh ...

, as well as,

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnist ...

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = ...

Republic of North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

History

Almost all of Eastern Orthodox Europe became part of

communist state A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the Ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet U ...

s after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Eastern Orthodoxy in Orthodox majority countries

Eastern Orthodoxy in Moldova The Eastern Orthodox Church in Moldova is organized by the Metropolis of Chișinău and All Moldova, commonly referred to as the ''Moldovan Orthodox Church'', a self-governing church body under the Russian Orthodox Church, and by the Metropolis o ...

, 97.0% (2017 census) *

Eastern Orthodoxy in Greece Eastern Orthodoxy is by far the largest religious denomination in Greece. Status The Greek Orthodox Church, a member of the Eastern Orthodox Communion, is described as the "prevailing religion" in Greece's constitution. Since 1850, Greek Orthod ...

, 90% *

Eastern Orthodoxy in Serbia Eastern Orthodoxy is the major Christian denomination in Serbia, with 6,079,396 followers or 69,9% of the population, followed traditionally by the majority of Serbs, and also Romanians, Vlachs, Montenegrins, Macedonians and Bulgarians living ...

, 84.6% (2011 census) *

Eastern Orthodoxy in Romania The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchat ...

, 81.0% (2015 census) * Eastern Orthodoxy in Georgia, 83.4% (2014 census) *

Eastern Orthodoxy in Cyprus The Church of Cyprus ( el, Ἐκκλησία τῆς Κύπρου, translit=Ekklisia tis Kyprou; tr, Kıbrıs Kilisesi) is one of the autocephalous Greek Orthodox churches that together with other Eastern Orthodox churches form the communio ...

, 73.2% ()Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project: Cyprus
Pew Research Center. 2010. * Eastern Orthodoxy in Bulgaria, 77% (2011 census) * Eastern Orthodoxy in Montenegro, 72.1% (2011 census) For the purpose of the chart, the categories 'Islam' and 'Muslims' were merged; 'Buddhist' (.02) and Other Religions were merged; 'Atheist' (1.24) and 'Agnostic' (.07) were merged; and 'Adventist' (.14), 'Christians' (.24), 'Jehovah Witness' (.02), and 'Protestants' (.02) were merged under 'Other Christian'. *

Eastern Orthodoxy in North Macedonia In North Macedonia, the most common religion is Eastern Orthodox Christianity, practiced mainly by ethnic Macedonians, Serbians, Vlakhs, and Romanis. The vast majority of the Eastern Orthodox in the country belong to the Macedonian Orthodox Chu ...

, 69.6% () *

Eastern Orthodoxy in Russia , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

, 79% () *

Eastern Orthodoxy in Ukraine Religion in Ukraine is diverse, with a majority of the population adhering to Christianity. A 2018 survey conducted by the Razumkov Centre found that 71.7% of the population declared themselves believers. About 67.3% of the population declared adh ...

, 67.3% () * Eastern Orthodoxy in Belarus, 73% (2011 census)

Eastern Orthodoxy in non-Orthodox majority countries

* Eastern Orthodoxy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 31.0% (2013 census) *

Eastern Orthodoxy in Albania Eastern Orthodoxy arrived in the area of contemporary Albania during the Roman period. In Albania, Eastern Orthodoxy underwent many changes due to sociopolitical difficulties of the medieval period resulting in the conversion of the Albanian nort ...

, 20% () *

Eastern Orthodoxy in Latvia The Latvian Orthodox Church ( lv, Latvijas Pareizticīgā Baznīca) is an Eastern Orthodox church on Latvia, part of the wider Eastern Orthodoxy community. The primate of the church carries the title of ''Metropolitan of Riga and all Latvia'' ( ...

, 19.4% (2011 census) * Eastern Orthodoxy in Estonia, 16.15% (2011 census) * Eastern Orthodoxy in Austria, 8.8% (2018 census) *

Eastern Orthodoxy in Lithuania According to the Lithuanian census of 2021, the predominant religion in Lithuania is Christianity, with the largest confession being that of the Catholic Church (about 74% of the population). There are smaller groups of Orthodox Christians, Ev ...

, 4.9% (2011 census) *

Eastern Orthodoxy in Croatia Eastern Orthodoxy in Croatia refers to adherents, religious communities, institutions and organizations of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Croatia. It is the second-largest religious denomination in Croatia, behind the Roman Catholic Church. Ove ...

, 4.44% (2011 census) * Eastern Orthodoxy in Italy, 3.5% *

Eastern Orthodoxy in Germany The Eastern Orthodox Church has a presence in Germany. With up to 2 million adherents, the Church is Germany's third-largest Christian denomination after Roman Catholicism and the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). It has grown due to immigrat ...

, 2.4% *

Eastern Orthodoxy in Slovenia The dominant religion in Slovenia is Christianity, primarily the Catholic Church, the largest Christian denomination in the country. Other Christian groups having significant followings in the country include Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestan ...

, 2.3% (2002 census) * Eastern Orthodoxy in Spain, 2.2% (by Wikipedia) * Eastern Orthodoxy in Poland, 1.5% (by Wikipedia) * Eastern Orthodoxy in the Republic of Ireland, 1.3% (2017) * Eastern Orthodoxy in Finland, 1.09% (2020 census) Note these are official state religious registration numbers, people may be registered yet not practicing/believing and they may be believing/practicing but not registered. *

Eastern Orthodoxy in Slovakia The Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia ( cs, Pravoslavná církev v Českých zemích a na Slovensku; sk, Pravoslávna cirkev v českých krajinách a na Slovensku) is a self-governing body of the Eastern Orthodox Church that territ ...

, 0.9% (2011 census) * Eastern Orthodoxy in Norway, 0.22% (2012) *

Eastern Orthodoxy in Hungary Eastern Orthodoxy in Hungary refers to communities, institutions and organizations of the Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Hungary. Historically, Eastern Orthodoxy was an important denomination in the medieval and early modern Kingdom of Hungary. ...

, 0.1% (2011 census) *

Eastern Orthodoxy in Armenia As of 2011, most Armenians are Christians (97%) and are members of Armenia's own church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, which is one of the oldest Christian churches. It was founded in the 1st century AD, and in 301 AD became the first branch of ...

, 0.1% (2011 census)

References

Sources

* * * * * * * {{Eastern Orthodoxy in Europe

History

Eastern Orthodoxy in Orthodox majority countries

Eastern Orthodoxy in non-Orthodox majority countries

See also

References

Sources