Christianity in Russia is the most widely professed religion in the country. The largest tradition is the Russian Orthodox Church. | via Archive.org According to official sources, there are 170 eparchies of the Russian Orthodox Church, 145 of which are grouped in metropolitanates.Religion and mass media Institute of Russia site There are from 500,000 to one million Old Believers, who represent an older form of Russian Orthodox Christianity, and who separated from the Orthodox Church in the 17th century as a protest against Patriarch Nikon's church reforms.

The Catholic Church estimates that there are from 600,000 to 1.5 million Catholics in the country, exceeding government estimates of about 140,000. There is one Catholic Archdiocese, Mother of God at Moscow, with three suffragan dioceses (Saint Clement at Saratov, Saint Joseph at Irkutsk, Transfiguration at Novosibirsk) and the Apostolic Prefecture of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.GCatholic Directory According to the Slavic Center for Law and Justice, Protestants make up the second or third largest group of Christians in Russia, with approximately 3,500 organizations and more than 1 million followers. A large number of missionaries operating in the country are from Protestant denominations.US State Department Religious Freedom Report on Russia, 2006

Christianity was the religious self-identification of 47.1% of the Russian population in 2012.Arena - Atlas of Religions and Nationalities in Russia. 2012 National Survey of Religions in Russia. Sreda.org Other polls give different results: In the same year 2020 the Levada Center estimated that 63% of Russians were Christians; in 2020 the Public Opinion Foundation estimated that 63% of the population was Christian; in 2011 the Pew Research Center estimated that 71% of Russians were Christians; in 2011 Ipsos MORI estimated that 69% of Russians were Christians; and in 2021 the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) estimated that ~67% of Russians were Christians.

The Russian "law on non-governmental organizations" that took effect in April 2007 requires non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including Evangelical churches, to register with state agencies, list their funding sources, and provide records of all meetings. Since 2016, they also face increased restrictions on public and private evangelism as a result of the Yarovaya law.

Demographics

In accordance with some reference books, Christian Orthodoxy is professed by about 75% of Russia's believers.

In 2012, the first large-scale survey of religions in Russia was done by Sreda Arena. Results showed that 66,840,000 people in the country (47.4% of the total population) identified as Christians.

This includes: 41.1%—58,800,000 members of the Russian Orthodox Church; 4.1%—5,900,000 people identifying as Christians without belonging to any church; 1.5%—2,100,000 people believing in Orthodox Christianity without belonging to any Orthodox church or belonging to non-Russian churches; 0.3%—400,000 Old Believers; 0.2%—300,000 Protestants; 0.1%—140,000 members of the Catholic Church; 0.1%—140,000 Pentecostals According to research done in 2020 by the International Religious Demography Project and published on the World Religion Database, 82.19% of Russians identify as Christians.

This group is divided into the following:

0.19% unaffiliated Christians 79.28% Orthodox 0.48% Catholics 1.03% Protestants 1.31% Independents

Regarding the total number of Christians in Russia by 2020, the Pew Research Center counted 102,4 million people (69,9% of the population), while over the previous decade their number decreased by 8,6 mln, mainly due to the growth of the non-religious population.

In 2025, the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) found that 67% of Russians identified as Orthodox Christians, 1% as Protestants and less than 1% as Catholics.

According to the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center, the number of young Russians identifying as Orthodox Christians nearly doubled between 2021 and 2025, from 25% in 2021 to 45% in 2025.

Eastern Orthodoxy

Russian Orthodox Church

In terms of their ethnicity, Orthodox are not only the majority of believers of the Russians and many other indigenous peoples of Russia (Karelians, Mari, Mordvins, Komi, Chuvash, Ossetians, Khakassians, Yakuts and others), but also large diasporas of Belarusians, Georgians, Moldovans and Ukrainians in Russia. Among some non-Orthodox Russian peoples there are ethnoreligious groups professing Orthodoxy, such as: Kryashens among the Tatars, Mozdok Kabardins and Western Buryats.

The Russian Orthodox Church is organized in a hierarchical structure. Each church and its attendees constitute a parish (prikhod). All parishes in a geographical region belong to an eparchy (eparkhiya—equivalent to a Western diocese). Eparchies are governed by bishops (episkope or archierey). There are around 130 Russian Orthodox eparchies worldwide. As of February 2, 2010, the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) has 160 dioceses including 30,142 parishes served by 207 bishops, 28,434 priests and 3,625 deacons. There are 788 monasteries, including 386 for men and 402 for women.Доклад Святейшего Патриарха Кирилла на Архиерейском cовещании 2 февраля 2010 года patriarchia.ru February 2, 2010

Some eparchies are organized into exarchates, or autonomous churches. These include the Belarusian, Latvian, Moldovan and Estonian Orthodox churches. The Chinese and Japanese Orthodox Churches were granted full autonomy by the Moscow Patriarchate, but this autonomy is not universally recognized. Smaller eparchies are usually governed by a single bishop. Larger eparchies, exarchates, and autonomous churches are governed by Metropolitan archbishops and sometimes have one or more bishops assigned to them. The highest level of authority in the Church is represented by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, head of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Holy Synod is the governing body of the Church between the Bishops' Councils.

According to Saint Tikhon's Orthodox University and other researchers, up to several hundred thousands of Orthodox believers were repressed for their faith in the Soviet period.N.E.Emelyanov, "How many repressed in Russia suffered for Christ", Pravmir, in Russian

Old Believers

Old Believers or Old Orthodox are Russian Orthodox Christians who maintain the liturgical and ritual practices of the Eastern Orthodox Church as they were before the reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow. They split from the mainstream Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century.

In 1971, the Moscow Patriarchate revoked the anathemas placed on the Old Believers in the 17th century, but most Old Believer communities have not returned to Communion with other Orthodox Christians.

As of 2006, the total number of Old Believers is estimated from 500,000 to 1 million, some living in isolated communities to which they fled centuries ago to avoid persecution. An Old Believer parish in the United States has entered into communion with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. Old-Believer churches in Russia have begun the restoration of their property, although Old Believers face many difficulties in claiming restitution rights for their churches. Moscow has churches for the most important Old Believer branches: Rogozhskaya Zastava (Popovtsy of the Belokrinitskaya hierarchy official center), a cathedral for the Novozybkovskaya hierarchy in Zamoskvorech'ye and Preobrazhenskaya Zastava where Pomortsy and Fedoseevtsy coexist.

Nowadays, Old Believers have four registered all-Russia denominational church bodies, namely the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church, the Russian Old-Orthodox Church, the Pomorian Old-Orthodox Church, and the Old-Pomorian Old-Orthodox Church of Fedoseyan Confession.

True Orthodoxy

True Orthodoxy is groupping of traditionalist Orthodox churches which since the 1920s have severed communion with the mainstream Eastern Orthodox churches, including the Russian, for various reasons, such as the involvement in ecumenism or the collaboration with Communist authorities.

Among True Orthodox bodies, there are the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church, the Russian True Orthodox Church, the True Russian Orthodox Church, and others.

Oriental Orthodoxy

Long historical ties with Armenia have resulted in a significant presence of Armenians in Russia. Most of ethnic Armenians in Russia are adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church, one of the main churches of the Oriental Orthodoxy, distinctive from Eastern Orthodoxy in terms of miaphysite christology. In spite of some theological differences, relations between Armenian Apostolic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church are very good. There are Armenian eparchies (dioceses), and many churches on the territory of Russia (see: List of Armenian churches in Russia).

Assyrian Church of the East

Assyrians in Russia have long lived in the south of the country, as well as in Moscow. Most of them remain faithful to the Assyrian Church of the East and are subordinate to the Bishop of Baghdad, Russia and Georgia. In 1998, the Mat Maryam temple was built in Moscow.

Catholicism

Roman Catholicism

As of 2008, the Catholic Church in Russia had one Archdiocese of Mother of God at Moscow (headed by Archbishop Pavel Pezzi), three dioceses (Saint Clement at Saratov, Saint Joseph at Irkutsk, Transfiguration at Novosibirsk), one Apostolic Exarchate and one Apostolic Prefecture in Yuzhno Sakhalinsk.Catholic Dioceses in Russian Federation, GCatholic site The Catholic Archbishop of Moscow has voiced his support for religious education in state sponsored schools, citing the examples of other countries.

Relations with the Russian Orthodox church have been difficult for nearly a millennium, and attempts at re-establishing Catholicism have met with opposition. Pope John Paul II expressed a desire to visit Russia, but the Russian Orthodox Church resisted. In April 2002, Bishop Jerry Mazur of Eastern Siberia was stripped of his visa, forcing the appointment of a new bishop for that diocese. In 2002, five foreign Catholic priests were denied visas to return to Russia, construction of a new cathedral was blocked in Pskov, and a church in southern Russia was shot at. On December 25, 2005, Russian Orthodox activists planned to picket outside of Moscow's Catholic Cathedral, but the picket was cancelled. Despite easing of relations with the election of Pope Benedict XVI, there remain issues such as the readiness of the police to protect Catholics and other minorities from persecution.

One thousand Russian Catholics gathered in the Virgin Mary's Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Moscow to watch the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005. He had previously given an 18th-century copy of the famous Our Lady of Kazan icon to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Eastern Catholicism

There are also Byzantine Rite Catholic Church communes in Russia (in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Omsk and Nizhnevartovsk), which are in full communion with, and subject to, the authority of the Pope as defined by Eastern canon law. That tradition is closely connected with the ideas of philosopher and poet Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov. In Kaliningrad, there is a parish of the Belarusian Greek Catholic Church.

Protestantism

Baptists, Adventists,Seventh-day Adventist Church Number Two in Russia, Worldwide Faith News, August 1998 Evangelical Christians (particular denomination), Lutherans, Pentecostals, Charismatic and Neo-charismatic movements, Calvinists, Methodists and Holiness movement, Quakers, Messianics and some other Protestant denominations are present in Russia, and some observers believe Russia will experience a Protestant revival in the future. There is particular growth among the Korean and German minorities. Baptists have been historically the largest Protestant group in Russia.