At the request and invitation of Tsar Vladimir and his wife Olga, clergymen were sent from Constantinople to the banks of the Dnieper River in the city of Kiev, Ukraine, and they baptized thousands of Russian people en masse, the first of whom was the Tsar.
Thus, the church was established in Russia, which was initially a metropolis under the Patriarchate of Constantinople until 1589, which later rose to the rank of patriarchate, occupying the fifth place among the Orthodox patriarchates after the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and the patriarch took the title of Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. In 1700, after the death of the tenth Patriarch of Russia, Tsar Peter modified the ecclesiastical administrative system in Russia from a patriarchate to a synod, meaning church affairs, and it was managed by a council of bishops (Synod), without a patriarch. On November 18, 1917, the council of bishops and representatives of the clergy and people returned the ecclesiastical system to a patriarchate, with Moscow as its headquarters, by electing Patriarch Tikhon, who became a saint and pastored the church until 1925, after which he was imprisoned and martyred. He was succeeded by Patriarch Sergius from September 8, 1943 to May 15, 1944, then by Patriarch Alexios I (1945-1970), then by Patriarch Pimen (1971-1989), then by Patriarch Alexios II from June 7, 1990 to the present day.
The Russian Patriarchate today includes 150 bishops and 242 monasteries. The number of Russian Church parishioners currently is about 255 million in the world and 125 million in Russia according to Wikipedia English section.
There is a very extensive study by His Eminence Metropolitan Kallistos (Timothy) Ware on the situation of the Russian Church in the Communist period. You can see his book “The Orthodox Church, Past and Present” on pages (206-212). On the situation of the Russian Church under the Mongols, see pages (112-117).
Of the churches semi-independent of the Russian Orthodox Church: the Church of Japan
Orthodox Church in Ukraine:
Kievan period: Photius, for his part, did not remain idle in the face of the Christianization of the Slavs in Russia. In about 864 he sent a bishop to Kiev, the most important Russian city at the time, but the first Christian community was destroyed in 878 by Oleg, who was in power in Kiev. Russia, however, continued to be strongly influenced by Christianity, coming from Byzantium, Bulgaria and Scandinavia, and it is certain that there was a church in Kiev since 945. Princess Olga converted to Christianity in 955, but her son Sviatoslav refused to follow her example, fearing the ridicule of the courtiers if he accepted baptism. In about 988, Olga's grandson Vladimir (r. 980-1015) converted to Christianity and married Anna, sister of the Byzantine emperor. Orthodoxy then became the state religion of Russia, and remained so until 1917. Vladimir worked hard to Christianize his kingdom, bringing in priests, relics, sacred vessels, and icons from abroad. People were baptized in groups in the rivers. Ecclesiastical courts were established, and the principle of tithe was established for the benefit of the Church. The great idol of the god Perun, with its silver head and golden moustache, was rolled to the bottom of the hill from which it overlooked Kiev. “The trumpets of angels and the echoes of the Gospel resounded in all the cities. The air was sanctified by the incense rising to God. Monasteries were built on the mountain. All the people, men and women, young and old, filled the holy churches,” was how Metropolitan Hilarion described the event sixty years later.
The founder of the Church of Ukraine, according to some studies, is the Apostle Andrew. In 1990, Ukraine gained semi-independence, but it is still part of Russia. The current bishop is His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir Sapodan. His secular name is Victor Sapodan. He was born in Ukraine in 1935 to a peasant family. He studied theology in Odessa, then studied in St. Petersburg, Russia, and graduated from the academy. In 1962, His Holiness became a monk and received the name “Vladimir”. In 1965, he completed postgraduate studies at the Theological Institute in Moscow. After graduation, he was appointed rector of the Theological Institute in Odessa and was promoted to the rank of Archimandrite.
Orthodox Church in Korea:
The Russian mission to Korea, founded in 1898, remained limited in scope. The first Korean Orthodox priest was ordained in 1912. In 1934, there were 820 Orthodox in Korea, but their number subsequently decreased (communist period), but the number is certainly increasing.
Orthodox Church in China:
The Chinese mission was founded in 1715 in Peking, but it actually dates back to 1686, when a group of Cossacks joined the Chinese Imperial Guard, taking their priest with them. Organized missionary work did not begin until the end of the nineteenth century. In 1900 a large group of Orthodox were massacred. In 1914 there were no more than 5,000 new converts, although there were a number of Chinese priests and a seminary. (The policy of Orthodox missionaries has always been to bring in local clergy as soon as possible.) After the revolution of 1917 missionary activity did not diminish, but rather increased, thanks to a large number of Russian immigrants, including priests who had fled east from Siberia. In 1939 there were 200,000 Orthodox in China and Manchuria, led by five bishops and with an Orthodox university at Kharbin.
The situation has changed completely since 1945, when the Communist Chinese government ordered all non-Chinese missionaries to leave the country, including Russians. All Russian clergy and most of the faithful were returned to the Soviet Union, except for those who fled to America. In the 1950s, there was at least one bishop and 20,000 faithful in China. Today, the Chinese government does not recognize Orthodoxy, and this is the biggest obstacle to the spread of Orthodoxy in China. A number of Chinese citizens are currently studying in Orthodox schools in Russia, with the intention of returning to China.
