Christianity in Europe - wikipedia Christianity in Europe < 1 % Turkey 2 -- 4 % Azerbaijan 5 -- 10 % Kosovo 10 -- 20 % Albania Kazakhstan 20 -- 30 % Czech Republic 30 -- 40 % Estonia 50 -- 60 % Netherlands Bosnia and Herzegovina Latvia Macedonia 60 -- 70 % France Belgium United Kingdom Sweden Germany 70 -- 80 % Luxembourg Belarus Switzerland Cyprus Russia Montenegro Slovenia Spain 80 -- 90 % Finland Austria Hungary Bulgaria Italy Denmark Ukraine Norway Slovakia Monaco Greece Georgia Andorra Lithuania 90 -- 95 % San Marino Portugal Liechtenstein Ireland Serbia Croatia Poland Iceland 95 -- 100 % Malta Moldova Armenia Romania Vatican City Christianity is the largest religion in Europe. Christianity has been practiced in Europe since the 1st century, and a number of the Pauline Epistles were addressed to Christians living in Greece, as well as the Roman Empire. According to a 2010 study by the Pew Research Center, 76.2 % of the European population identified themselves as Christians. As 2010 Catholics were the largest Christian group in Europe, accounting for more than 48 % of European Christians. The second - largest Christian group in Europe were the Orthodox, who made up 32 % of European Christians. Although the Protestant Reformation began in Europe, only about 19 % of European Christians were part of the Protestant tradition. Russia is the largest Christian country in Europe by population, followed by Germany and Italy. For at least a millennium, Europe has been nearly equivalent to Christian culture, even though the religion was inherited from the Middle East. Christian culture was the predominant force in Western civilization, guiding the course of philosophy, art, and science. Europe has a rich Christian culture, especially as numerous saints, martyrs and popes were European themselves. All of the popes from 741 to 2013 were from Europe. Europe brought together many of the Christian holy sites and heritage and religious centers. Contents 1 History 1.1 Early history 1.2 East -- West Schism and Protestant Reformation 2 Cultural influences 3 Denominations 4 References 5 See also History Main article : Christendom Early history See also : Early centers of Christianity Patron saints of Europe. Historians believe that St. Paul probably wrote his first epistle to the Christians of Thessaloniki ( Thessalonians ) around AD 52. His Epistle to the Galatians was perhaps written even earlier, between AD 48 and 50. Other epistles written by Paul were directed to Christians living in Greece ( 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Philemon, Philippians, 2 Thessalonians ) and Rome ( Romans ) between the 50s and 70s of the first century. The Record of Saint Dorotheus Bishop of Tyre is that the Church at Tyre sent Saint Aristobulus ( of the seventy ) to Britain as bishop in AD 37. The Church seems to have been begun by him around the Bristol Channel area and 150 years later we have names of bishops recorded. By AD 550 there are recorded 120 bishops spread throughout the British Isles. St. Peter 's Basilica Armenia was the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as its state religion in AD 301. The oldest state - built church in the world, Etchmiadzin Cathedral, was built between AD 301 - 303. It is the seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The Roman Empire officially adopted Christianity in AD 380. During the Early Middle Ages, most of Europe underwent Christianisation, a process essentially complete with the Baltic Christianization # Baltic in the 15th century. The emergence of the notion of `` Europe '' or the `` Western World '' is intimately connected with the idea of `` Christendom '', especially since Christianity in the Middle East was marginalized by the rise of Islam from the 7th century, a constellation that led to the Crusades, which although unsuccessful militarily were an important step in the emergence of a religious identity of Europe. At all times, traditions of folk religion existed largely independent from official denominations or dogmatic theology. From the Middle Ages onwards, as the centralized Roman power waned in southern and central Europe, the dominance of the Catholic Church was the only consistent force in Western Europe. Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow Movements in art and philosophy, such as the Humanist movement of the Renaissance and the Scholastic movement of the High Middle Ages, were motivated by a drive to connect Catholicism with Greek thought imported by Christian pilgrims. East -- West Schism and Protestant Reformation The East -- West Schism of the 11th century and the Protestant Reformation of the 16th tore `` Christendom '' into hostile factions. Following the Age of Enlightenment of the 18th century, atheism and agnosticism became widespread in Western Europe. 19th century Orientalism contributed to a certain popularity of Buddhism, and the 20th century brought increasing syncretism, New Age and various new religious movements divorcing spirituality from inherited traditions for many Europeans. The latest history brought increased secularisation, and religious pluralism. Cultural influences Further information : Christian culture, Role of the Christian Church in civilization, and Protestant culture Notes Towards the Definition of Culture I am talking about the common tradition of Christianity which has made Europe what it is, and about the common cultural elements which this common Christianity has brought with it. If Asia were converted to Christianity tomorrow, it would not thereby become a part of Europe. It is in Christianity that our arts have developed ; it is in Christianity that the laws of Europe have -- until recently -- been rooted. It is against a background of Christianity that all our thought has significance. An individual European may not believe that the Christian Faith is true, and yet what he says, and makes, and does, will all spring out of his heritage of Christian culture and depend upon that culture for its meaning. Only a Christian culture could have produced a Voltaire or a Nietzsche. I do not believe that the culture of Europe could survive the complete disappearance of the Christian Faith. (... ) The Western World has its unity in this heritage, in Christianity and in the ancient civilisations of Greece, Rome, and Israel, from which, owing to two thousand years of Christianity, we trace our descent. Thomas Stearns Eliot Western culture, throughout most of its history, has been nearly equivalent to Christian culture, and many of the population of the Western hemisphere could broadly be described as cultural Christians. The notion of `` Europe '' and the `` Western World '' has been intimately connected with the concept of `` Christianity and Christendom '' many even attribute Christianity for being the link that created a unified European identity. Though Western culture contained several polytheistic religions during its early years under the Greek and Roman empires, as the centralized Roman power waned, the dominance of the Catholic Church was the only consistent force in Europe. Until the Age of Enlightenment, Christian culture guided the course of philosophy, literature, art, music and science. Christian disciplines of the respective arts have subsequently developed into Christian philosophy, Christian art, Christian music, Christian literature etc. Christianity had a significant impact on education and science and medicine as the church created the bases of the Western system of education, and was the sponsor of founding universities in the Western world as the university is generally regarded as an institution that has its origin in the Medieval Christian setting. Many clerics throughout history have made significant contributions to science and Jesuits in particular have made numerous significant contributions to the development of science. The Civilizing influence of Christianity includes social welfare, founding hospitals, economics ( as the Protestant work ethic ), politics, architecture, literature and family life. Although the Protestant reformation was a religious movement, it also had a strong impact on all other aspects of European life : marriage and family, education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order, the economy, and the arts. Denominations Christianity by country Africa Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea - Bissau Ivory Coast Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe Asia Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Burma Cambodia China Hong Kong India Indonesia Japan Kazakhstan Korea Laos Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Nepal North Korea Pakistan Philippines Russia Singapore South Korea Sri Lanka Taiwan Tajikistan Thailand Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Vietnam Middle East Bahrain Iran Iraq Israel Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria Turkey United Arab Emirates Yemen Europe Albania Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia & Herzegovina Bulgaria Cyprus Denmark Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Iceland Ireland Italy Jersey Kosovo Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Netherlands Norway Malta Moldova Montenegro Poland Portugal Romania Russia Serbia Ukraine United Kingdom North America Antigua & Barbuda Barbados Belize Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Trinidad and Tobago United States South America Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Guyana Paraguay Peru Suriname Oceania Australia East Timor Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands Micronesia Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu Full list Catholic Church : European countries or areas with significant Catholic populations are Andorra, Austria, western Belarus, Belgium, Croatia, France, western and southern Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latgale region in Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, central and southern Switzerland, western Ukraine and Vatican City. There are also large Catholic minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina ( 13 - 17 % ), Albania ( 10 - 15 % ), the United Kingdom and the Netherlands ( 25 % ). In the Czech Republic, Catholics are 10 % of the population. In Serbia and Romania, Catholics constitute over 5 % of the overall population. Eastern - Rite Catholicism is found mostly in western Ukraine, southern Italy, western Slovakia and Hungary. It also exists in very small numbers in Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, France ( especially Corsica ). Eastern Orthodox Christianity : European countries or areas with significant Eastern Orthodox populations are Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, and the European parts of Kazakhstan. Eastern Orthodox Christians are a large minority in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania. Small minorities of Eastern Orthodox Christians live in Finland ( especially Karelia ), Latvia, Lithuania, Armenia, Poland, easternmost Hungary and southern Italy. Oriental Orthodox Christianity : Armenia has a large Oriental Orthodox majority. Protestantism : European countries or areas with significant Protestant populations are Denmark, Estonia, Finland, the central, eastern and northern parts of Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the eastern, northern and western parts of Switzerland. There are significant Protestant minorities in France, the northeastern Piedmont region of Italy, Slovakia, the western and southern parts of Germany, the eastern part of Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, the Netherlands, Ireland, Serbia and Romania. Anglicanism is the largest denomination in the United Kingdom ( England and Wales ), with a large minority in Northern Ireland, and smaller numbers in the Republic of Ireland, Malta, Scotland, Spain and Portugal. Communities also exist throughout Europe, particularly in large cities and other regions where British ex-pat communities live ( see Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe ). Calvinism is predominant in North and West Switzerland, and there are minorities in Germany and Hungary. It is the main religion in Scotland and a large minority in Northern Ireland, and smaller numbers in England and Wales, Ireland and Malta. Lutheranism is prevalent in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Northern and Western Germany. There are also minorities throughout Europe, particularly in Southern Germany, Hungary and Alsace and Lorraine ( France ), with smaller numbers in Austria, Poland, and the Netherlands, Romania ( among the German and Hungarian ethnic groups ), Switzerland, Italy and the United Kingdom. Methodism is an important minority denomination in both Great Britain and Ireland. References Jump up ^ Pew Forum, Religious Composition by Country, 2010 - 2050 ^ Jump up to : Christianity in Europe, including the Asian part of Russia, excluding the European part of Turkey ^ Jump up to : Koch, Carl ( 1994 ). The Catholic Church : Journey, Wisdom, and Mission. Early Middle Ages : St. Mary 's Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 88489 - 298 - 4. Jump up ^ Dawson, Christopher ; Glenn Olsen ( 1961 ). Crisis in Western Education ( reprint ed. ). ISBN 978 - 0 - 8132 - 1683 - 6. Jump up ^ `` After Benedict : who will be the next Pope ? ''. Speroforum.com. 12 February 2013. Retrieved 2013 - 03 - 12. Jump up ^ Quoted in Robin Lane Fox, The Unauthorized Version, 1992 : 235. Jump up ^ Johannes Schade ( 2006 ), The Encyclopedia of World Religions, Foreign Media Books, ISBN 978 - 1 - 60136 - 000 - 7 access - date = requires url = ( help ) Jump up ^ Howard Clark Kee, Franklin W. Young ( 1957 ), Understanding the New Testament, Prentice Hall, ISBN 978 - 0 - 13 - 948266 - 3 access - date = requires url = ( help ) Jump up ^ Koch, Carl ( 1994 ). The Catholic Church : Journey, Wisdom, and Mission. High Middle Ages : St. Mary 's Press. ISBN 9780884892984. Jump up ^ Koch, Carl ( 1994 ). The Catholic Church : Journey, Wisdom, and Mission. Renaissance : St. Mary 's Press. ISBN 9780884892984. Jump up ^ Dawson, Christopher ; Glenn Olsen ( 1961 ). Crisis in Western Education ( reprint ed. ). p. 25. ISBN 9780813216836. Jump up ^ Henkel, Reinhard and Hans Knippenberg `` The Changing Religious Landscape of Europe '' edited by Knippenberg published by Het Spinhuis, Amsterdam 2005 ISBN 90 - 5589 - 248 - 3, pages 7 - 9 Jump up ^ Selected T.S. Eliot on Tradition, Poetry, Faith, and Culture Jump up ^ Dawson, Christopher ; Glenn Olsen ( 1961 ). Crisis in Western Education ( reprint ed. ). p. 108. ISBN 9780813216836. ^ Jump up to : Koch, Carl ( 1994 ). The Catholic Church : Journey, Wisdom, and Mission. Early Middle Ages : St. Mary 's Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 88489 - 298 - 4. Jump up ^ Koch, Carl ( 1994 ). The Catholic Church : Journey, Wisdom, and Mission. The Age of Enlightenment : St. Mary 's Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 88489 - 298 - 4. Jump up ^ Dawson, Christopher ; Olsen, Glenn ( 1961 ). Crisis in Western Education ( reprint ed. ). ISBN 978 - 0 - 8132 - 1683 - 6. Jump up ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Forms of Christian education Jump up ^ Rüegg, Walter : `` Foreword. The University as a European Institution '', in : A History of the University in Europe. Vol. 1 : Universities in the Middle Ages, Cambridge University Press, 1992, ISBN 0 - 521 - 36105 - 2, pp. XIX -- XX Jump up ^ Verger, Jacques ( 1999 ). Culture, enseignement et société en Occident aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles ( in French ) ( 1st ed. ). Presses universitaires de Rennes in Rennes. ISBN 286847344X. Retrieved 17 June 2014. Jump up ^ Susan Elizabeth Hough, Richter 's Scale : Measure of an Earthquake, Measure of a Man, Princeton University Press, 2007, ISBN 0691128073, p. 68. Jump up ^ Woods 2005, p. 109. Jump up ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Jesuit Jump up ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Church and social welfare Jump up ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Care for the sick Jump up ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Property, poverty, and the poor, Jump up ^ Weber, Max ( 1905 ). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Jump up ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Church and state Jump up ^ Sir Banister Fletcher, History of Architecture on the Comparative Method. Jump up ^ Buringh, Eltjo ; van Zanden, Jan Luiten : `` Charting the ' Rise of the West ' : Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe, A Long - Term Perspective from the Sixth through Eighteenth Centuries '', The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 69, No. 2 ( 2009 ), pp. 409 -- 445 ( 416, table 1 ) Jump up ^ Encyclopædia Britannica The tendency to spiritualize and individualize marriage Jump up ^ Karl Heussi, Kompendium der Kirchengeschichte, 11. Auflage ( 1956 ), Tübingen ( Germany ), pp. 317 - 319, 325 - 326 ^ Jump up to : Predominant Religions Jump up ^ Summary of Religious Bodies in Albania Archived 2013 - 05 - 30 at the Wayback Machine. ( Source : World Christian Encyclopedia, 2001, Oxford University Press. Vol 1 : p. 51 ) Jump up ^ ( in Dutch ) roman catholic church 4 million members out of a total Dutch population of 16, 5 million See also Wikimedia Commons has media related to Christianity in Europe. Antemurale Christianitatis Catholic Church in Europe Conference of European Churches Islam in Europe Religion in Europe Religion in the European Union Christianity by country Catholic Church by country Protestantism by country Religion in North America Religion in South America Irreligion in Europe List of religious populations Major world religions Christianity in Europe Sovereign states Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Vatican City States with limited recognition Abkhazia Artsakh Kosovo Northern Cyprus South Ossetia Transnistria Dependencies and other entities Åland Faroe Islands Gibraltar Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey Svalbard Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christianity_in_Europe&oldid=799079060 '' Categories : Christianity in Europe Hidden categories : Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL CS1 French - language sources ( fr ) Webarchive template wayback links Articles with Dutch - language external links Pages using Template : Longitem with unnamed style parameter Talk Contents About Wikipedia Български Čeština فارسی Bahasa Indonesia Italiano Română Edit links This page was last edited on 5 September 2017, at 14 : 27. 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Question: when did christianity begin to spread in europe
Answer: around AD 52