Eastern Orthodox Christianity Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

in Norway is a small minority religion in Norway with 11,205 official members in 2012, up from 2,315 in 2000. although the church is rapidly growing, and predicted to surpass other Christian denominations. During 2022, approximately 34,000 Ukrainians arrived in Norway after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine; it was estimated that approximately two-thirds of them identified as Orthodox. US State Dept 2022 report
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History of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Norway

Since the

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

, Scandinavians came into contact with both the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

and their neighbors, the Russians. Several of the

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

chiefs and kings not only resided in

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the V ...

but also helped to make

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

an important medieval center. At some point during the late ninth or early tenth century Kiev fell under the rule of

Varangians The Varangians ( ; ; ; , or )Varangian
," Online Etymology Dictionary were

Rus' polity. In a number of contemporary sources it is in fact the Scandinavians whom were known as "Rus"; another term was used for the numerous Slavic tribes. In the 16th century a Russian missionary, St. Tryphon of Pechenga, evangelized some of the

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ne ...

population of Norway and built an Orthodox chapel along the Neiden River. Following the socialist revolution in 1917, a number of Orthodox refugees from Russia fled to Scandinavia, first to Sweden and eventually to Norway. The

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

organized pastoral work among them through the church in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, founded in 1617. In 1931, St. Nikolai church was established in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. This congregation of

n tradition is under the jurisdiction of the

Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (, ; ; , "Roman Orthodox Patriarchate, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Istanbul") is one of the fifteen to seventeen autocephalous churches that together compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is headed ...

and was the first modern Orthodox congregation established in Norway. The 1960s and 1970s saw in influx of Orthodox from Greece in addition to the first known conversions of Norwegians in modern times. Through immigration from Russia, the former Yugoslavia, and other Eastern European countries, the number of Orthodox Christians in Norway has increased significantly since 199

The past decade has also seen the more permanent establishment of Orthodox communities of Serbian, Bulgarian and Romanian tradition, the priests of these communities under their corresponding jurisdictions.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate

The Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe has one priest in Norway, specifically in Oslo. There are several affiliate or missionary communities in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

and

Stavanger Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...

The Greek Community

The primarily Greek congregation of the Annunciation of the Theotokos was founded in 1965 with main purpose of serving the Greek-speaking Orthodox community in Norway. This church is under the jurisdiction of Metropolitan Cleopas (Strongylis) of Sweden and all of

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

, and is based in

. The congregation celebrates the Divine Liturgy approximately once a month through the services of f. Alexandros.

The Serbian Patriarchate

The first modern Orthodox congregation, St. Nikolai Orthodox Church, was formerly under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe but is now part of the

Serbian Orthodox Church The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodox Church#Constit ...

. While it adheres to the Russian or Slavic tradition, the Norwegian language is always used along with Slavonic and at times used exclusively. This reflects the missionary tradition of the Orthodox Church, as in for example the work of Sts.

Cyril and Methodius Cyril (; born Constantine, 826–869) and Methodius (; born Michael, 815–885) were brothers, Population of the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine Christian theologians and Christian missionaries, missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs ...

, renowned for helping to create a local alphabet (

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...

) in order to translate both the

Holy Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

as well as the various liturgical books of the

. as well

St. George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

's chapel at Neiden. In addition there is a small

skete A skete () is a monastic community in Eastern Christianity that allows relative isolation for monks, but also allows for communal services and the safety of shared resources and protection. It is one of four types of early monastic orders, alo ...

dedicated to St. Tryphon of Pechenga, home to two monks.

The Moscow Patriarchate

The main parish of the

Moscow Patriarchate The Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus (), also known as the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, is the title of the Primate (bishop), primate of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). It is often preceded by the honorific "His Holiness". As the Ordinar ...

, St. Olga's, was founded in Oslo in 1996. Today, there are also independent churches under the

in Stavanger, Bergen,

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

and

Kirkenes (Norwegian language, Norwegian; ), (Northern Sami language, Northern Sami; , or is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Finnmark county, in the far northeastern part of Norway. The town lies on a peninsu ...

. In addition, the

sponsors work in

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

and in the

n settlement of Barentsburg on

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

. Russian communities in

northern Norway Northern Norway (, , ; ) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway (from south to no ...

have often been attended to by Russian clergymen of the

. there is two congregations under One in Oslo: «St. Hallvard orthodox Parish» : f.Olav Lerseth and
The Annunciation of the Holy Virgin Mary Orthodox Parish
� in

: f.Theodor Svane, both under Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe

Number of adherents

References

External links

The Moscow Patriarchate Churches in Norway

The Annunciation of the Theotokos (Greek parish - Oslo)

St. Nikolai Orthodox Church (Oslo)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orthodoxy In Norway