Eastern Orthodoxy in the Philippines, also known collectively as the Philippine Orthodox Church, refers to the Eastern Orthodox presence in the Philippines as a whole.
Overview
In 1989, Adamopoulos saw the need to establish the first Greek Orthodox church in the Philippines and thus established the Hellenic Orthodox Foundation, Inc., but he died in 1993 before the church was completed. The Annunciation Orthodox Cathedral in Sucat, Parañaque, Metro Manila, was finished in 1996 and was consecrated by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople in 2000.
Since then, other autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches have established their presence in the Philippines, particularly in Mindanao. Alongside the local Greek community, a small community of Serbians and Russians living in the Philippines conduct services here.
In March 2024, the Apostolic Orthodox Church established the Diocese of Bohol and Philippines, which has sent missions to Quezon City, Tacloban City, Samar, Caloocan, and Bulacan.
There is an estimated number of 2,500 Eastern Orthodox Christians living in the country. Those E.O. belong to the Moscow Patriarchate, to the Patriarchate of Antioch, and to the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Churches
There are three autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches with a presence in the country, the jurisdictions of which overlap with each other. These are:
- the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Mission in the Philippines, under the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East;
- the Exarchate of the Philippines, under the Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople; and
- the Patriarchate of Moscow, the jurisdiction of which is divided into:
- the Diocese of the Philippines and Vietnam, under the Patriarchal Exarchate in Southeast Asia; and
- the Philippine Mission of the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia, under the semiautonomous Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia.
There are also groups in the country which use the term orthodox in their names but are not in communion with any of the fourteen to seventeen recognized autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches.
- The Apostolic Orthodox Church - Diocese of Bohol and Philippines has the following church missions:
- St. Gregory of Nazianzen Orthodox Church - Tacloban Mission in Tacloban City,
- St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church Mission in Marabut, Samar,
- and mission satellites in Caloocan and Bulacan.
See also
References
- "Info". www.aoc.ph. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- "Prvi put u istoriji - Srpska pravoslavna misija na Filipinima". Koreni (in Serbian). 2017-12-24. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
- Richters, Katja (2021-03-09). "A Rational Choice? Explaining the Growth of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Philippines". International Journal of Asian Christianity. 4 (1): 72–93. doi:10.1163/25424246-04010005. ISSN 2542-4246.
- "Russian Orthodox Church to set up 4 dioceses in SE. Asia". www.interfax-religion.com. 26 February 2019. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
- "Состоялось первое в 2019 году заседание Священного Синода Русской Православной Церкви / Новости / Патриархия.ru". Патриархия.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-02-27.
- "Diocese established for the Philippines". Philippine Mission. 2019-02-27. Retrieved 2019-03-03.
