Monaco, July 18, 2018
Photo: www.hellomonaco.com The Western European city-state of Monaco is overwhelmingly Christian, with 83.2% of the population confessing some form of Christianity according to 2012 statistics. Of this group, the vast majority identifies with Catholicism, the official religion of Monaco.
While the city-state remains strongly Catholic, Hello Monaco reports that Orthodoxy has become the second biggest religion there, overtaking Protestantism, which was the second largest according to Monacos’ 2012 International Religious Freedom Report.
The 2012 report notes only one Greek Orthodox parish in Monaco, though there are now several other parishes of various jurisdictions.
A Russian Orthodox community was created at the end of 2017 by the initiative of the local faithful. The community has begun holding regular services in a temporary-use church.
According to a March 2016 blog post from Anglican Bishop David Hamid, there is also a Romanian Orthodox priest active in Monaco. According to Hello Monaco, there are Orthodox residents of Monaco from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Moldova, Montenegro, Macedonia and Georgia.
Several major Orthodox events have taken place in Monaco throughout the year, including several social, charitable and religious activities during the week of June 13-16, leading up to the 100th anniversary of the martyrdom of the last Royal Family of Russia.
A gala dinner in support of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Nice was held at Monte-Carlo Bay on Friday, with 300 guests of honor in attendance, including Princess Dorothea Romanova, HSH Prince George Yurievsky, a great grandson of Tsar Alexander II, and Prince Alexander Trubetskoy.
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