Eastern Orthodox Church

=== Adherents ===

{{Further|Eastern Orthodoxy by country}}
[[File:World Eastern Orthodox population.png|thumb|500px|Percentage distribution of Eastern Orthodox Christians by country]]
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The most reliable estimates currently available number Eastern Orthodox adherents at around 220 million worldwide,<ref name="Atlas">{{Cite book |last1=Brien |first1=Joanne O. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PbIwDwAAQBAJ&q=russian+orthodox+church+followers+membership+adherents+million&pg=PT12 |title=The Atlas of Religion |last2=Palmer |first2=Martin |date=2007 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-24917-2 |page=22 |quote=There are over 220 million Orthodox Christians worldwide.}}</ref> making Eastern Orthodoxy the second largest Christian [[Koinonia|communion]] in the world after the [[Catholic Church]].<ref name=adherents>{{cite web|title=Major branches of religions ranked by number of adherents |website=Adherents |url=http://www.adherents.com/adh_branches.html#Christianity |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990819112057/http://adherents.com/adh_branches.html#Christianity |url-status=usurped |archive-date=19 August 1999 |access-date=22 May 2014}}</ref>{{Efn|The numerous [[Protestantism|Protestant]] groups in the world, if taken all together, substantially outnumber the Eastern Orthodox, but they differ theologically and do not form a single communion.{{sfn|Diamond|Plattner|Costopoulos|2005|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CTqTeiBfdxEC&pg=PP1 119]}} }}

According to the 2015 Yearbook of International Religious Demography, as of 2010, the Eastern Orthodox population was 4% of the global population, declining from 7.1% in 1910. The study also found a decrease in proportional terms, with Eastern Orthodox Christians making up 12.2% of the world's total Christian population in 2015 compared to 20.4% a century earlier.<ref name="Yearbook">{{cite book|title=Yearbook of International Religious Demography 2015|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DToLCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA156|date=29 June 2015|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-29739-5|page=156}}</ref> A  2017 report by the [[Pew Research Center]] reached similar figures, noting that Eastern Orthodoxy has seen slower growth and less geographic spread than Catholicism and Protestantism, which were driven by [[colonialism]] and [[missionary]] activity across the world.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|last2=|first2=|last3=|first3=|date=8 November 2017|title=Orthodox Christianity in the 21st Century|url=https://www.pewforum.org/2017/11/08/orthodox-christianity-in-the-21st-century/|access-date=24 May 2021|website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project}}</ref>

Over two-thirds of all Eastern Orthodox members are concentrated in [[Southern Europe]], [[Eastern Europe]] and [[Asian Russia|Russia]],<ref>Sintia Radu, [https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2017-12-06/orthodoxism-is-declining-in-the-overall-christian-population Orthodoxism Is Declining in the Overall Christian Population] U.S. News (6 December 2017).</ref> with significant minorities in [[Central Asia]] and the [[Levant]]. However, Eastern Orthodoxy has become more globalised over the last century, seeing greater growth in [[Western Europe]], [[New World|the Americas]], and parts of Africa; churches are present in the major cities of most countries.<ref>{{Citation|last=Veronis|first=Luke|title=Orthodox Missions|date=21 March 2011|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-christianity/orthodox-missions-O209?s.num=0&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopedia-of-christianity&s.q=luke+veronis|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Christianity Online|publisher=Brill|language=en|access-date=8 December 2021}}.</ref> Adherents constitute the largest single religious [[faith|community]] in Russia<ref name="Sreda2012">{{cite web|date=19 October 2012|title=Orthodox belonging to Church – 41%|website=SREDA|location=Moscow|url=http://sreda.org/arena?mapcode=code13113}} Based on a survey of 56,900 people interviewed in 2012, responding 41% yes to the statement: "I am Orthodox, and belong to the Russian Orthodox Church."<!-- This url will not archive correctly for use in archive-url.--></ref>{{efn|According to Roman Lunkin in an interview about the 2012 survey published by {{lang|ru|Среда}} (''{{transliteration|ru|Sreda}}''), about 40% of the [[Russian Federation]] population is Orthodox. However, only 5% belong to a parish or regularly attend Divine Liturgy. Lunkin said that this was long known by experts but a myth persists that 80–90% of the population is Orthodox.<ref>{{cite web| last = Филина | first = Ольга | date = 27 August 2012 | title = Верю – не верю | language = ru | website = kommersant.ru | location = Moscow | publisher = [[Коммерсантъ]] | url=http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1997068| access-date = 27 September 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120827114409/http://kommersant.ru/doc/1997068| archive-date = 27 August 2012 | url-status = live}}</ref> According to ''The World Factbook'' 2006 estimate, 15–20% are practising Russian Orthodox but there is a large populations of non-practising believers.<ref name=CIAWeb/>}}—which is home to roughly half the world's Eastern Orthodox Christians—and are the majority in Ukraine,<ref name="CIAWeb" /><ref name="Razumkov2006">{{cite web|url=http://razumkov.org.ua/ukr/poll.php?poll_id=300|title = Опитування: Віруючим якої церкви, конфесії Ви себе вважаєте? // Центр Разумкова|author = Sparkle Design Studio|url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408220038/http://razumkov.org.ua/ukr/poll.php?poll_id=300|archive-date = 8 April 2014}}</ref> Romania,<ref name="CIAWeb" /> [[Belarus]],<ref name="Belarus2011">{{Cite web|url=http://www.mfa.gov.by/upload/pdf/religion_eng.pdf|title=Religion and denominations in the Republic of Belarus by the Commissioner on Religions and Nationalities of the Republic of Belarus from November 2011}}</ref> Greece,{{efn|Data are estimated, there are no census figures available, Greece is said to be 98% Orthodox by CIA, but additional studies found only 60–80% believe in God, if true, then no more than 80% may be Orthodox.}}<ref name="CIAWeb">{{CIA World Factbook|article=Field listing :: Religions|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/religions/|access-date=22 May 2014}}</ref> [[Serbia]],<ref name="CIAWeb" /> [[Bulgaria]],<ref name="CIAWeb" /> [[Moldova]],<ref name="CIAWeb" /> [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]],<ref name="CIAWeb" /> [[North Macedonia]],<ref name="CIAWeb" /> [[Cyprus]],<ref name="CIAWeb" /> and [[Montenegro]];<ref name="CIAWeb" /> communities also dominate the disputed territories of [[Abkhazia]], [[South Ossetia]] and [[Transnistria]]. Significant Eastern Orthodox minorities exist in [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]],{{Efn|With an absolute majority in the subnational entity of Republika Srpska}}<ref name="CIAWeb" /> [[Latvia]],<ref name="Tieslietu">{{cite web|url=http://www.tm.gov.lv/lv/labumi/TM.docx |title = Tieslietu ministrija iesniegtie religisko organizaciju parskati par darbibu 2011. gada |language = lv |access-date = 25 July 2012 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121126013327/http://www.tm.gov.lv/lv/labumi/TM.docx |archive-date = 26 November 2012 }}</ref> [[Estonia]],<ref>"Statistical database: Population Census 2000 – Religious affiliation". Statistics Estonia. 22 October 2002. Retrieved 18 February 2011.</ref> [[Kazakhstan]],<ref name="2013table28">[http://www.stats.govt.nz/Census/2013-census/data-tables/total-by-topic.aspx Table 28, 2013 Census Data – QuickStats About Culture and Identity – Tables].</ref> [[Kyrgyzstan]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2001/5598.htm |title=Kyrgyzstan |publisher=U.S. Department of State Archive |access-date=17 April 2010}}</ref> [[Lebanon]],<ref name="freedom">[https://web.archive.org/web/20101123103408/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2010/148830.htm Lebanon – International Religious Freedom Report 2010] U.S. Department of State. Retrieved on 14 February 2010.</ref> [[Religion in Albania#Religious demography|Albania]], [[Syria]],<ref name="CIAWeb" /> and many other countries.

Eastern Orthodox Christianity is the fastest growing religion in certain Western countries, primarily through labour migration from Eastern Europe, and to a lesser degree conversion.<ref name="Hämmerli" /> Ireland saw a doubling of its Eastern Orthodox population between 2006 and 2011.<ref name="Hämmerli">{{cite book|author1=Maria Hämmerli|author2=Jean-François Mayer|title=Orthodox Identities in Western Europe: Migration, Settlement and Innovation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2H3fBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA229|date=28 August 2014|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-1-4094-6754-0|page=229|quote=according to the 2011 census, Orthodox Christianity is the fastest growing religious grouping in Ireland, showing&nbsp;...}}</ref><ref name="Aughey">{{cite book|author1=Arthur Aughey|author2=John Oakland|title=Irish Civilization: An Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8YZiAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA99|date=17 December 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-67850-2|page=99|quote=However, the fastest-growing church is the Orthodox Church …}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=1 November 2012|title=Number of Orthodox Christians in Ireland doubled over five years|website=Orthodox Christianity|location=Moscow|publisher=Sretensky Monastery|url=http://www.orthochristian.com/57148.htm|access-date=23 May 2014}} {{tertiary source|biblio=yes|date=September 2015}}</ref> Spain and Germany have the [[Eastern Orthodoxy by country|largest communities in Western Europe]], at roughly 1.5 million each, followed by Italy with around 900,000 and France with between 500,000 and 700,000.

In the [[Americas]], four countries have over 100,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians: Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and the United States; all but the latter had fewer than 20,000 at the turn of the 20th century.<ref name="pewforum.org">{{Cite web|date=8 November 2017|title=Orthodox Christianity's geographic center remains in Central and Eastern Europe|url=https://www.pewforum.org/2017/11/08/orthodox-christianitys-geographic-center-remains-in-central-and-eastern-europe/|access-date=24 May 2021|website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project}}</ref> The U.S. has seen its community more than quadruple since 1910, from 460,000 to 1.8 million as of 2017;<ref name="pewforum.org" /> consequently, the number of Eastern Orthodox parishes has been growing, with a 16% increase between 2000 and 2010.<ref name="Jones2010">{{cite news|last=Jones|first=Whitney|date=6 October 2010|title=Report finds strong growth in U.S. Orthodox Churches|website=Huffington Post|agency=Religion News Service|location=New York|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/06/report-finds-strong-growt_n_753447.html|url-status=live|access-date=23 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101010060113/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/06/report-finds-strong-growt_n_753447.html|archive-date=10 October 2010}}</ref>{{efn|According to Alexei Krindatch, "the total number of Orthodox parishes" increased by 16% from 2000 to 2010 in the United States, from this, he wrote that Orthodox Churches are growing.<ref name=Krindatch2010>{{cite web|last = Krindatch |first = Alexei D. |date = 2010 |title = {{interp|Highlights from the}} 2010 US Orthodox Christian census |website = Hartford Institute |location = Hartford, CT |publisher = Hartford Institute for Religion Research |url=http://www.hartfordinstitute.org/research/2010-USOrthodox-Census.pdf |access-date = 26 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523173437/http://www.hartfordinstitute.org/research/2010-USOrthodox-Census.pdf |archive-date = 23 May 2011 |url-status = dead}} Conducted as part of the Religious Congregations and Membership Study 2010.</ref>{{rp|page=2}} Krindatch did not provide figures about any change in the membership over that same period in his 2010 highlight.}}{{efn|According to Oliver Herbel, in ''Turning to Tradition'', the 2008 US Religious Landscape Survey "suggests that if there is growth, it is statistically insignificant."<ref name=Herbel2014>{{cite book|last=Herbel|first=Oliver|year=2014|title=Turning to tradition: converts and the making of an American Orthodox church|location=New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-932495-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-SZnAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA9|access-date=20 February 2016}}</ref>{{rp|page=9}} The 2014 US Religious Landscape Survey also shows, within the survey's ±9.2% margin of sampling error corresponding to the sample size of the ''Orthodox Christian'' category being 186 people, a statistically insignificant decline within the category "Orthodox Christians" as the percentage of population from 2007 to 2014.<ref name=PewRLS2015>{{cite book|author = Pew Research Center|date = 12 May 2015|title = America's changing religious landscape|location = Washington, DC|publisher = Pew Research Center|url=http://www.pewforum.org/files/2015/05/RLS-08-26-full-report.pdf|access-date = 26 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905170741/http://www.pewforum.org/files/2015/05/RLS-08-26-full-report.pdf|archive-date = 5 September 2015|url-status = live}} Based on 2014 Religious Landscape Survey.</ref>{{rp|pages=4, 21, 36, 93}} But only 53% of people who were Orthodox Christian as children still self identify as Orthodox Christian in 2014.<ref name=PewRLS2015/>{{rp|page=39}} The ''Orthodox Christian'' category "is most heavily made up of immigrants and the children of immigrants."<ref name=PewRLS2015/>{{rp|page=53}}}}

Turkey, which for centuries once had one of the largest Eastern Orthodox communities, saw its overall Christian population fall from roughly one-fifth in 1914 to 2.5% in 1927.<ref>{{cite journal|last=İçduygu|first=Ahmet|author2=Toktaş, Şule|author3=Soner, B. Ali|date=1 February 2008|title=The politics of population in a nation-building process: emigration of non-Muslims from Turkey|journal=Ethnic and Racial Studies|volume=31|issue=2|pages=358–389|doi=10.1080/01419870701491937|s2cid=143541451}}</ref> This was predominantly due to the [[dissolution of the Ottoman Empire]], which saw most Christian territories become independent nations. The remaining Christian population was reduced further by large-scale genocides against the [[Armenian genocide|Armenian]], [[Greek genocide|Greek]], [[Assyrian genocide|Assyrian communities]]; subsequent [[population exchange between Greece and Turkey|population exchanges between Greece and Turkey]]<ref>{{cite web|year=2008|title=Chapter ''The refugees question in Greece (1821–1930)'' in "''Θέματα Νεοελληνικής Ιστορίας''", ΟΕΔΒ (''"Topics from Modern Greek History"''). 8th edition|url=http://ebooks.edu.gr/modules/ebook/show.php/DSGL-C102/79/644,2337/|publisher=Nikolaos Andriotis|format=PDF}}</ref> and Bulgaria and Turkey; and associated [[Christian emigration|emigration of Christians]] to foreign countries (mostly in Europe and [[the Americas]]).<ref>{{cite journal|year=2001|title='Editors' Introduction: Why a Special Issue?: Disappearing Christians of the Middle East|journal=Middle East Quarterly|url=http://www.meforum.org/487/editors-introduction-why-a-special-issue|access-date=11 June 2013|publisher=Editors' Introduction|format=PDF|last1=Quarterly|first1=Middle East}}</ref> Today, only 0.2% of Turkey's population represent either [[Jews]] or various [[Christian denominations]] (320,000).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2011/12/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf|title=Global Christianity – A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population|publisher=Pew Research Center}}</ref><ref name="CIAWeb" />