The Latvian Orthodox Autonomous Church (), or All Holy Orthodox Church of Latvia, is a

True Orthodox church True Orthodox church, True Orthodox Christians, True Orthodoxy or Genuine Orthodoxy, often pejoratively "Zealotry", are groups of traditionalist Eastern Orthodox churches which since the 1920s have severed communion with the mainstream Eastern Ort ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

which is part of the

Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church The Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church (ROAC, , РПАЦ; until 1998 it was called the Russian Orthodox Free Church, ROFC, , РПСЦ) is a Russian Orthodoxy, Russian Orthodox church body headquartered in Suzdal, Russia. ROAC identifies as part of ...

. Since 2011, the LOAC has declared itself a part 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 ...

, commemorating the

Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople () is the List of ecumenical patriarchs of Constantinople, archbishop of Constantinople and (first among equals) among the heads of the several autocephalous churches that comprise the Eastern Orthodox ...

in its

liturgies Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a community, communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, ...

. The current primate of the LOAC is Archbishop Victor of

Daugavpils Daugavpils (see also other names) is a state city in southeastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city derives its name. The parts of the city to the north of the river belong to the historical Latvian region ...

and Latvia.

History

Since 1994, this church had asked the Latvian State to be recognized as an Eastern Orthodox religious association, because the Latvian law only allows for one institution to be registered for each religious denomination and that the

Latvian Orthodox Church The Latvian Orthodox Church () is an Eastern Orthodox church in Latvia, part of the wider Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy community. The Primate (bishop), primate of the church carries the title of ''Metropolitan of Riga and all Latvia ...

is already registered. As of March 2018, the LOAC had not been recognized by Latvia as an Orthodox religious organization. However, in October 2019, the LOAC managed to be officially registered along with the Latvian Orthodox Church, because the LOAC claimed it (the LOAC) was already registered in 1936. The church had around 14 parishes as of 2006. The church had around 220 believers in Latvia as of 2015. It was officially registered in 2019.

References

{{Eastern Orthodox Church footer, collapsed True Orthodox denominations Eastern Orthodoxy in Latvia