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Eastern Orthodox Church |
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Overview |
Eastern Orthodoxy in Estonia is practiced by 16.5% of the population as of 2011, making it the most identified religion and Christian denomination in this majority-secular state after surpassing Lutheran Christianity with 9.1% (which was previously 13.6% in 2000 census)[1] for first time in country's modern history.[2][3] Eastern Orthodoxy, or more specifically Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is mostly practiced within Estonia's Russian ethnic minority and minority within native population. According to the 2000 Estonian census, 72.9% of those who identified as Orthodox Christians were of Russian descent.[4]
Today, there are two branches of the Eastern Orthodox Church operating in Estonia: the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church, an autonomous church under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, a semi-autonomous church of the Russian Orthodox Church.