Russian Orthodox Church Patriarchate of Moscow In 863-869, Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius translated parts of the Bible into the Old Church Slavonic language paving the way for the Christianization of the Slavs. Vladimir the Great, made Kievan Rus a Christian state in 988. In 1914 there were 55,173 Russian Orthodox churches and 29,593 chapels, 112,629 priests and deacons, 550 monasteries and 475 convents with a total of 95,259 monks and nuns. The Russian empire was dissolved and the Tsarist government was overthrown. The Soviet Union was the first state to have as an ideological objective the elimination of religion. The Communist regime confiscated church property, ridiculed religion, harassed believers, and propagated atheism in the schools. In the first five years after the Bolshevik revolution, 28 bishops and 1,200 priests were executed. By 1987 the number of functioning churches in the Soviet Union had fallen to 6893. In December, 2006, the Church had over 27,000 parishes, 169 bishops, 713 monasteries, two universities, five theological academies and 75 theological schools in the territory of the former Soviet Union.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 04:52:09 +0000
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