Posted on 12/20/2013 6:11:19 AM PST by marshmallow
Moscow, December 20, Interfax - Moscow is home to 958 Orthodox churches, but regular religious services are conducted only in 473 of them, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said at an Eparchial Assembly session in the Russian capital on Friday.
Of the overall number of Moscow's Orthodox churches, 144 are currently under construction, another 193 house secular institutions, and 24 have not yet been vacated by former tenants.
As many as 1,515 priests work in Moscow, which also has 31 monasteries and convents.
Twenty new dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church and 11 archdioceses were established in 2013, Patriarch Kirill said.
Today the Moscow Patriarchate has a total of 44 archdioceses and 269 dioceses, of which 160 are located in Russia.
A total of 110 new dioceses have been established since Patriarch Kirill became the head of the Russian Orthodox Church five years ago.
The MSM assault against Christianity in Russia begins because Putin doesn’r like homos
Is this fraction abnormal for Orthodox churches? I’ve noted when visiting Greece that many of the churches don’t seem to have been built with the intention of services being held in them.
My Occam’s Razor theory is that after 70 years of Soviet repression, there is a massive shortage of priests there.
I’m impressed that half are functioning after the hideous assault on Christianity during the Soviet rule.
Russia studies are not taught and memories fail.
What happened in Russia is happening here albeit with a softer glove, for now.
It takes at least six years to train a priest who already has a college degree in the US.
Its 8 years if they are right out of college. This will of course vary in the difference between Russian Orthodox and Catholic counterparts.
But you get the idea...it usually takes a long time to give training and formation to a man before a Bishop decides they should be ordained.
Define “regular” in this context. Do you think they researched the saints days?
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