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Article: Orthodox numbers are increasing.(Orthodox church membership)
- Article from:
- The Christian Century
- Article date:
- January 24, 1996
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 The Christian Century Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The world's Orthodox population is growing as a result of the Christian revival in former communist countries and because of an increase in conversions among diaspora communities. Estimates of the total world membership of Orthodox churches range from more than 200 million up to 250 million. Links between the 15 Orthodox patriarchates and their churches are also helping to promote a "pan-Orthodox witness," according to a Romanian Orthodox official.
In a special report the Bucharest Patriarchate's Vestitorul Ortodoxiei journal said the Romanian Orthodox Church, comprising 87 per cent of the country's 23 million citizens, is the world's second biggest after the Russian ...