Patriarch Alexy II bows to relic of the right hand of St. John the Baptist, which was brought to Russia from Montenegro, in Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow in this 2007 file photo.
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Russian Orthodox Church quadrupled her parishes during two decades
Posted on Mon Sep 17 2007
Interfax
Moscow, September 14, Interfax - Today there are four times as many parishes and almost four times as many monasteries as it was twenty years ago in the Russian Orthodox Church.
According to the figures, announced by Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia during his meeting with members of Valday Discussion Club held in Moscow on Thursday, in 1987 the Russian Orthodox Church had 6800 parishes, 19 monasteries, and three theological colleges, while by January 1, 2007 the church had 27300 parishes, 716 monastic houses, and 70 theological colleges and universities.
Many parishes on the Moscow Patriarchate have been established abroad, the primate said, yet ‘it should not scare or surprise anybody.’
The recent two decades made Russia experience fundamental changes in all spheres including spirituality, he noted.
‘Those who were in the Soviet Union twenty years ago and come here again can hardly recognize the country. There are a new country and new possibilities, the people have new rights and new freedoms,’ the patriarch said.
Spiritual life ‘miraculously’ revives in Russia, he said, and this proves that ‘the faith survived in people’s hearts and passed on from generation to generation even under the godless regime.’
The patriarch called the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, where he met the club’s members, a symbol not only of religious revival ‘but also of a new Russia.’
The number of younger people coming to church today has also substantially raised, Alexy II noted.
‘When we traveled abroad in 1960s or 1970s we could often hear, ‘Who comes to your churches but old ladies?’ Now everything has changed. We have many children, youth, and middle-aged people,’ the primate said.
‘Yet we gratefully remember those old ladies who bought up their grandchildren as believers in Christ. It is due to them that the faith survived in our people,’ he noted.
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Discussion: Russian Orthodox Church quadrupled her parishes during two decades |
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This is an example of true evangelism. All Orthodox should be utilizing these statistics as examples for our own efforts to share the Good News of Orthodoxy in Canada and the United States.
Brian Keen
This is wonderful news! Also worthy of news is that the Roman Catholic Church has grown in Russia too. Most people in Russia are considered Orthodox, but too many don't attend church or even care about the faith. So many Orthodox are more cultural Orthodox, than Jesus loving Orthodox. Those who attend Sunday Worship make up a very small number of practicing Orthodox(12% in some estimates are regular on their Sunday attendance). I think it is great that the Catholic Church is in Moscow and other parts of Russia, because it will force Orthodox Bishops to get off their bottoms and spread the gospel like they should. Maybe one day, hopefully soon, we can stand shoulder to shoulder with our Catholic Brothers and Sisters in Christ and share in the Lord's supper together as ONE! We should be one with the Catholics to truly make us both One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. May Peter and Andrew be brothers again in spreading the Gospel!!!
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