Concept

Russian Orthodox Church

Overview

The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; Russian: Русская православная церковь, РПЦ, romanized: Russkaya pravoslavnaya tserkov', RPTs;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (Russian: Московский патриархат, romanized: Moskovskiy patriarkhat), is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The primate of the ROC is the patriarch of Moscow and all Rus'.

The history of the ROC begins with the Christianization of Kievan Rus', which commenced in 988 with the baptism of Vladimir the Great and his subjects by the clergy of the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople. Starting in the 14th century, Moscow served as the primary residence of the Russian metropolitan. The ROC declared autocephaly in 1448 when it elected its own metropolitan. In 1589, the metropolitan was elevated to the position of patriarch with the consent of Constantinople. In the mid-17th century, a series of reforms led to a schism in the Russian Church, as the Old Believers opposed the changes.

The ROC currently claims exclusive jurisdiction over the Eastern Orthodox Christians, irrespective of their ethnic background, who reside in the former member republics of the Soviet Union, excluding Georgia. The ROC also created the autonomous Church of Japan and Chinese Orthodox Church. The ROC eparchies in Belarus and Latvia, since the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, enjoy various degrees of self-government, albeit short of the status of formal ecclesiastical autonomy.

The ROC should also not be confused with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (or ROCOR, also known as the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad), headquartered in the United States. The ROCOR was instituted in the 1920s by Russian communities outside the Soviet Union, which had refused to recognise the authority of the Moscow Patriarchate that was de facto headed by Metropolitan Sergius Stragorodsky. The two churches reconciled on 17 May 2007; the ROCOR is now a self-governing part of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

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While the Church, in the strict sense of the word, is the "communion of saints" and therefore _one_, yet outwardly it has become divided, in the course of time, into many different churches, denominations, and sects. It contains Four Great Branches: _The Greek Catholic Church_; _The Roman Catholic Church_; _The Evangelical Lutheran Church_; and _The Reformed Churches_, comprising a great number of denominations and…
Martin Luther, An Explanation of Luther's Small Catechism
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From hence arose the several orders, with or without a monarch (which are called states), in every European country; the strong traces of which, where monarchy predominated, were never wholly extinguished or merged in despotism. In the few places where monarchy was cast off, the spirit of European monarchy was still left.
Edmund Burke, Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Edmund Burke
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The established religion of this country has, ever since the eleventh century, been that of the Greek church, so called in opposition to the Latin; though there were always a greater number of Mahometan and Pagan provinces, than of those inhabited by Christians. Siberia, as far as China, was in a state of idolatry; and, in some of the provinces, they were utter strangers to all kind of religion. Perry, the engineer…
Voltaire, The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia
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Russian Orthodox Church

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