The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC); or The Moscow Patriarchate (Russian: Русская Православная Церковь (Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov), or Московский Патриархат (Moskovskiy Patriarkhat) (the latter designation being another official name) since 1943, Поместная Российская Православная Церковь (Pomestnaya Rossiyskaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov) before the reinstitution in 1943), also known as the Orthodox Christian Church of Russia, is a body of Christia...
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The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC); or The Moscow Patriarchate (Russian: Русская Православная Церковь (Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov), or Московский Патриархат (Moskovskiy Patriarkhat) (the latter designation being another official name) since 1943, Поместная Российская Православная Церковь (Pomestnaya Rossiyskaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov) before the reinstitution in 1943), also known as the Orthodox Christian Church of Russia, is a body of Christians who constitute an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Moscow, in communion with the other Eastern Orthodox Churches.
The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world and second only to the Roman Catholic Church among Christian churches, numbering over 135 million members world wide and growing numerically since late 1980s. Up to 65% of ethnic Russians and a significant number of Belarusians and Ukrainians identify themselves as "Orthodox". According to the...
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