Eastern Orthodox Church in Germany

Byzantine ivory relief representing coronation of German Emperor Otto II and his wife, Empress Theophana, a Byzantine Princess

The Eastern Orthodox Churches form a Christian denomination in Germany. With up to 2 million adherents, the Church is Germany's third-largest Christian denomination after Roman Catholicism and the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).

Eastern Orthodox jurisdictions in Germany

Russian Orthodox church in Berlin-Wilmersdorf

Non-canonical Eastern Orthodox churches

Educational facilities

Institute of Orthodox Theology was founded in 1995 at the University of Munich.

Ecumenism

Some Orthodox churches have been working since 1974 in the Council of Christian Churches in Germany (ACK). The five Orthodox churches have represented for several years in a joint delegation. Likewise, The Orthodox churches are involved in most regional and local working group of the ACK.

There are also bilateral relation with the German Bishops' Conference and the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) with discussions on theological issues. For example, several documents were adopted in 2006 to dogmatic questions in a joint working group of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Germany and the German Bishops' Conference. As of 2007, this working group has been redesigned and extended.

A German Eastern Orthodox Church?

For ecclesiological and historical reasons, there is no "German Orthodox Church". In 1990s, the German Orthodox Holy Trinity Monastery in Bodenwerder founded first German Orthodox monastery. Despite the Bulgarian Orthodox Eparchy of Central and Western Europe, canonical churches is in accordance with the statues of the "German Orthodox".

Interdenominational Organization

  • The Eastern Orthodox Episcopal Conference of Germany (Orthodoxe Bischofskonferenz in Deutschland), established in February 2010, includes 10 diocesan bishops and 7 vicar bishops. It covers about 1.5 million Eastern Orthodox Christians living in Germany. The President of the Conference, in accordance with the order of the Diptychs, the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, is the Metropolitan of Germany His Eminence Augustinos (Labardakis).
  • Orthodoxe Fraternität in Deutschland
  • Orthodoxer Jugendbund Deutschland, youth federation

Sources

  • (in German) Athanasios Basdekis: Die Orthodoxe Kirche. 2003, ISBN 3-87476-402-8
  • Kiminas, Demetrius (2009). The Ecumenical Patriarchate: A History of Its Metropolitanates with Annotated Hierarch Catalogs. Wildside Press LLC.
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