''Sorok'' () was a historical subdivision of
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
in terms of
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
es, used during 17-19th centuries. In the Russian language the word may beconfused with "cóрок" (with the first syllable
stressed), which means "forty".
By a decision of the
Stoglavy Sobor of 1551, Moscow was subdivided into 6 ''soroks'':
*
Nikitsky SorokНикитский сорок
*
Sretensky Sorok, Сретенский сорок (named after
Sretenka)
*
Prechistensky SorokПречистенский сорок(after
Prechistenka)
*
Ivanovsky Sorok, Ивановский сорок
*
Zamoskvoretsky Sorok, Замоскворецкий сорок (after
Zamoskvorechye)
*
Kitaisky Sorok, Китайский сорок (after
Kitai-gorod)
On average, at these times each ''sorok'' encompassed 45
parochial churches.
The term gave rise to a Russian
saying
A saying is any concise expression that is especially memorable because of its meaning or style. A saying often shows a wisdom or cultural standard, having different meanings than just the words themselves. Sayings are categorized as follows:
* ...
(recorded e.g., by
Vladimir Dahl in his ''Sayings and Bywords of Russian People'') "There are ''sorok sorokov'' of churches in Moscow" (meaning "multitudes of churches in Moscow"). It is sometimes mistakenly interpreted as 40 times 40, i.e., 1600 churches in Moscow, which is an exaggeration: in 1917 there were "only" 441 parochial churches and slightly over 200
home churches in Moscow.
At present, the Russian Orthodox realm is subdivided into
eparchies
Eparchy ( ''eparchía'' "overlordship") is an ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. An eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on the administrative structure ...
, further subdivided into ''
blagochiniyes'' (''blagochinny okrugs'', благочиние, благочинный округ).
History of Moscow
!
Types of administrative division
{{Russia-hist-stub