Moscow, February 2, Interfax – For the recent year, the Moscow Patriarchate has opened 900 new parishes, while total number of clerics has grown to more than 1.5 thousand.
Patriarch Kirill voiced the statistical data on the Russian Orthodox Church on Tuesday at a Bishops’ Meeting in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
Today the Russian Church has 30,142 parishes (in December 2008 their number equaled to 29,263), 160 dioceses (compared to 157 last year), 207 bishops (compared to 203), total number of clerics is 32,266 people (compared to 30,670.)
When the 1000th anniversary of Russia’s Baptism was celebrated in 1988, the Moscow Patriarchate had 6893 parishes, 76 dioceses, 74 hierarchs and total number of clerics made 7397 people.
