Oriental Christians in Europe

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Among the Eastern Christians in Europe members are from Byzantine Orthodox , Oriental Orthodox and Catholic Eastern Churches ( "United churches"), which had its roots in the area on the eastern edge of the Roman Empire and beyond its borders. Their number is estimated at around 200,000 in Germany alone, but not all of them are church-organized.

Oriental Orthodox Churches

Map of the Eastern Orthodox communities in Germany
  • The Armenian Apostolic Church has been present in Western Europe since the 14th century. The oldest community is in Vienna. Today there are churches in every European country, especially in France, which became a haven for many Armenians in Europe after the genocide. In Germany there is a seat in Cologne and several municipalities.
  • The Coptic Church has about 10 parishes and two monasteries in Germany; the Kröffelbach monastery with a theological institute and the Brenkhausen monastery near ( Höxter ) with the resident Bishop Anba Damian ( Bishop General for Germany) in Western Europe. Two Coptic dioceses have existed in Italy since 1996: 1. Milan and the surrounding area; 2. Turin and Rome. In Great Britain, the British Orthodox Church , which grew out of the Coptic tradition, has a certain degree of independence. There are also three separate Coptic dioceses for the United Kingdom and Ireland with 32 parishes and around 20,000 believers. Other communities exist u. a. in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Paris, Utrecht, Vienna and Zurich.
  • The Ethiopian Church has several parishes in Western Europe. Many Ethiopian candidates for the priesthood come to Europe for theological studies. Many Ethiopian and Eritrean Christians came to Europe as a result of the civil war. There are Ethiopian parishes in large cities (Frankfurt, Zurich, Vienna, Cologne, Paris).
  • The Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch today has several dioceses in Europe: Germany, Austria-Switzerland (Patriarchal Vicar is Mor Dionysios İsa Gürbüz ), Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Sweden. The Syrian Orthodox Archdiocese of Germany comprises 51 parishes with (according to their own information) around 100,000 members; Archbishop is Philoxenos Matthias Nayis . There are 12 municipalities in the Netherlands, six in Belgium, five in Switzerland, and two each in France and Austria. There are monasteries in Hengelo (Netherlands), in Warburg (Mar Sarug Monastery ) and in Arth SZ on Lake Zug / Switzerland.
  • The Syrian Orthodox Church of Europe was created in 2007 through a split from it , initially as the archdiocese of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church . It declared itself independent in 2009 and in 2010 changed its name to "Antiochene Syrian Orthodox Church". Since then, it has claimed jurisdiction for all Syrian Orthodox communities in which the Syrian language is no longer in use. It also includes churches in North and Latin America, which are likely to have only a few thousand believers. Metropolitan and primate of Europe and the USA is Mor Severius Moses , who resides in St. Gabriel's monastery in Altenbergen (Leinatal) in Thuringia.
  • The Assyrian Church of the East has two parishes in Wiesbaden and Mainz , including one of the old calendars with its own bishop: Mar Timotheus Shalita Odisho (* 1936), and a mission in Austria in Boltzmanngasse in Vienna .

The Central Council of Oriental Christians in Germany has served as the umbrella organization since 2013 .

Eastern Catholic Churches

  • Maronites and Greek-Catholic Christians came to Rome ( Vatican ) mostly for theological training since the 15th century . Most Maronites and Greek Catholic Christians in the Orient are Francophone. Lebanese have been coming to France for a long time to study there or to continue their studies (for a doctorate). The civil war in Lebanon brought many Lebanese Christians to France. Today the Maronite Church has parishes in Paris and Marseilles. Since 2003 there has been a Maronite congregation in Vienna, which is looked after by a pastor. In Vienna there is also a Greek Catholic parish for oriental Christians. In Germany there have been Maronite church communities in Munich, Hanover, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Berlin and Frankfurt am Main for a few years.
  • Armenian Catholic parishes have existed in Venice and Vienna since the 18th century.

Byzantine Orthodox Churches

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ and addresses of the communities in the brochure of the same name by Subsidiar for the Churches of the East , Diocese of Hildesheim, 2014
  2. ↑ http://www.kopten.de/
  3. ↑ http://www.copticcentre.com/the-coptic-orthodox-church/the-coptic-church-in-the-uk/
  4. ^ Website of the municipalities of Zurich and Geneva
  5. ^ Website of the Archdiocese ( Memento of March 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ).
  6. ↑ http://www.mgfam.de/ ( Memento from May 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive )  ; http://www.maronitenmission.de/