Check.Church

Russian Orthodox Church

Eastern Orthodox · 988 · Russia, Ukraine, Belarus (contested), worldwide diaspora

The largest autocephalous Orthodox church, from the Baptism of Rus' (988) through the Moscow patriarchate (1589), the synodal era, Soviet persecution and revival — mother trunk of the Old Believer, ROCOR, OCA, and Ukrainian entries in this file.

Russian Orthodox Church was formed in 988, the outcome of a longer process. Russian Orthodox Church continues today. Russian Orthodox Church's institutional line runs back through Eastern Orthodoxy to the post-apostolic church. No body on this tree is the assembly of Acts 2; where a body claims that, the claim appears in the claimed-lineage layer.

Between the post-apostolic church and Russian Orthodox Church stand 1 division along the institutional line, counting separations and disputed forks, not mergers, renewals or national organizations.

At a glance

Formed
In 988, the outcome of a longer process
Family
Eastern Orthodox
Region
Russia, Ukraine, Belarus (contested), worldwide diaspora
Cause tags
Geography
Also known as
Moscow Patriarchate; ROC

What it was organized out of

Bodies organized out of it or separated from it: Old Believers, Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, Orthodox Church in America, Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

On the tree

Russian Orthodox Church and its institutional line back to the post-apostolic churchAD 33The church at Pentecost: On divine groundThe church at Pentecost: on divine groundtoday10042443145198810541666192019702018The post-apostolic church (The spine)The post-apostolicchurchDepartureChurch of the East (Church of the East)Church of the EastChurch of the EastThe conciliar church (The spine)The conciliar churchDepartureThe Chalcedonian church (The spine)The Chalcedonian churchDepartureOriental Orthodoxy (Oriental Orthodox)Oriental OrthodoxyOriental OrthodoxRussian Orthodox Church (Eastern Orthodox)Russian Orthodox ChurchEastern OrthodoxEastern Orthodoxy (Eastern Orthodox)Eastern OrthodoxyEastern OrthodoxRoman Catholicism (Catholic)Roman CatholicismNot gatheredOld Believers (Eastern Orthodox)Old BelieversEastern OrthodoxRussian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (Eastern Orthodox)Russian Orthodox ChurchOutside RussiaEastern OrthodoxOrthodox Church in America (Eastern Orthodox)Orthodox Church inAmericaEastern OrthodoxOrthodox Church of Ukraine (Eastern Orthodox)Orthodox Church ofUkraineEastern Orthodox

Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2. Dashed gray boxes mark the institutional line after the apostles, shown as departure; no line of descent is drawn from Pentecost. A verdict appears on a box once its section is published.

Adherents

About 150,000,000 adherents (self-reported claim, as of 2018).

A figure the body itself has stated, often years old, with no census apparatus behind it.

Source: Wikipedia 2018-schism article ('over 150 million... more than half of all Eastern Orthodox Christians')

Sources

Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-31.