page_title: Religion in Russia
section_title: Christianity
hierarchical_section_title: Religion in Russia / Religions / Abrahamic religions / Christianity
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Кафедральный собор Благовещения Пресвятой Богородицы
context_page_description: Religion in Russia is diverse with Christianity, especially Russian Orthodoxy being the most widely professed faith, but with significant minorities of non-religious people and adherents of other faiths. A 1997 law on religion recognises the right to freedom of conscience and creed to all the citizenry, the spiritual contribution of Orthodox Christianity to the history of Russia, and respect to "Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and other religions and creeds which constitute an inseparable part of the historical heritage of Russia's peoples", including ethnic religions or Paganism, either preserved or revived. According to the law, any religious organisation may be recognised as "traditional" if it was already in existence before 1982, and each newly founded religious group has to provide its credentials and re-register yearly for fifteen years, and, in the meantime until eventual recognition, stay without rights.
context_section_description: Christianity was the religious self-identification of 47.1% of the Russian population in 2012. Other polls give different results: In the same year 2012 the Levada Center estimated that 76% of Russians were Christians; in 2013 the Public Opinion Foundation estimated that 65% of the population was Christian; in 2011 the Pew Research Center estimated that 73.6% of Russians were Christians; in 2011 Ipsos MORI estimated that 69% of Russians were Christians; and in 2010 the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) estimated that ~77% of Russians were Christians.
  Orthodox Christianity is the dominant religion of the country, and, besides it, Old Believers and Lutheranism also have had a considerable role in the multiethnic history of Russia. Evangelicalism and Catholicism (among Russians) are relatively recent additions to Christianity in Russia.
caption: Russian Orthodox Annunciation Cathedral in Voronezh.
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "664", "Image ImageLength": "1000", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2012:10:02 14:17:58", "Image ExifOffset": "228", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "378", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5737", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "664", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1000"}