The 2021 census noted that Kazakhstan is 17.19% Christian.[1] Other figures suggest that 24% of the population is Orthodox.[2] The Christian population is mostly Russian origin and is concentrated in the north and north-east of the country.
The share of Russians by districts and cities in Kazakhstan, 2021
In 2022, the government considered the Russian Orthodox Church as one of the country's traditional religions.[3] Kazakhstan celebrates Orthodox Christmas as a national holiday.[4]
History
As in the rest of Central Asia, in ancient times there were communities of the Church of the East in what today is Kazakhstan.[5] These communities were long extinct by the time the modern history of Orthodoxy started in Kazakhstan with the expansion of the Russian Empire into the region.
In the 1871 the Russian Orthodox Holy Synod founded the Eparchy of Turkestan[6] to care for all Orthodox Christians in Russian Central Asia, but this was later divided into smaller dioceses.
In June 1945 the Russian Orthodox Church created the Eparchy of Almaty and Kazakhstan to care for Orthodox Christians in Kazakhstan. The decades following this saw the Soviet Union and political control of all religious groups.
Following the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the Russian Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan was reorganized into three eparchies - of Almaty and Semey, Shymkent and Akmola, and Oral and Guryevskiy. In 2003 these three eparchies were united as an ecclesiastical province, with the seat of the Almaty Eparchy being transferred to Astana (formerly Akmola) following its designation as the capital of Kazakhstan. In October 2010 three more eparchies - of Karaganda, Kostanay, and Pavlodar - were created in Kazakhstan and the Archbishop of Astana and Almaty was elevated to the rank of metropolitan archbishop with the title 'Metropolitan of Astana and Kazakhstan.'
In 2011 three more eparchies - of Kokshetau, Petropavl, and Oskemen - were founded. Although not autonomous or self-governing, the Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan has its own statute approved by the Russian Orthodox Holy Synod and is responsible for coordinating the educational programs, publishing work, social outreach, and missionary efforts of Orthodoxy in Kazakhstan.
Structure
Eparchies of the Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan: Astana and Almaty (bright green); Karaganda and Shakhtinsk (yellow); Kokshetau and Akmola (bright purple); Kostanay and Rudny (orange); Oral and Aktobe (red); Pavlodar and Ekibastuz (blue); Petropavlovsk and Bulaevo (green); Shymkent and Taraz (purple); Oskemen and Semey (brown)
The Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan is currently cared for by 9 eparchies or dioceses. They are:
Eparchy of Astana and Almaty: City of Astana and Almaty and Jetisu Regions
With the exception of the Eparchy of Astana and Almaty the eparchies are all contiguous territorially. The Eparchy of Astana and Almaty, however, covers two separate areas centered on the former and current capital cities of Kazakhstan.
Hierarchy
The Local Synod of the Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan consists of the nine diocesanbishops serving in the country as well as their vicar or auxiliary bishops. The Local Synod has competency over matters concerning Orthodoxy in Kazakhstan, but must have many of its decisions - such as the establishment of new dioceses - approved by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. As of January 2016 the members of the Local Synod are:
Metropolitan Alexander (Mogilev) of Astana and Kazakhstan (2010–present)
^The ROC severed full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2018, and later severed full communion with the primates of the Church of Greece, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, and the Church of Cyprus in 2020.
^ abcdefghAutocephaly or autonomy is not universally recognized.
^UOC-MP was moved to formally cut ties with the ROC as of May 27th 2022.
^ abSemi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church whose autonomy is not universally recognized.
.png)
