Orthodoxy in Austria. The first Greek Orthodox monastery will be built in Austria Bulgarian Orthodox Church

Orthodoxy in Austria- Christian denomination in Austria.

Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church is represented in the country by the Vienna and Austrian diocese. In the 19th century, the majestic St. Nicholas Cathedral was erected in Vienna, which is now an architectural monument.

Patriarchate of Constantinople

The first Greek merchants appeared on the territory of Austria back in the 17th century. The first services were conducted by visiting clergy.

Serbian Patriarchate

The Serbian Orthodox Church has several Serbian parishes in Austria. In Vienna, the Cathedral of St. Savva..

Bulgarian Orthodox Church

In 1967, the first Bulgarian church dedicated to St. John of Rila appeared in Vienna.

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Excerpt characterizing Orthodoxy in Austria

He was literally “choking” with emotions too strong for his aching heart. And then I was afraid that this unexpected, almost inhuman happiness could simply kill him... But the situation (just in time!) was defused by the hissing and enraged “monsters”, forgotten by everyone, but who had not forgotten anyone... To my shame, “ hypnotized by the beauty of the meeting, I completely forgot about them!.. Now, having changed their “tactics” and no longer attacking their father, they found it more convenient to satisfy their eternal “hunger” and get enough of the vitality of the child - little Vesta... Arthur in He waved his arms in complete panic, trying to protect his daughter, but naturally was unable to harm anyone. The situation was completely out of control and too quickly began to take a very undesirable turn for me. It was necessary to get rid of all this fanged-clawed-hissing horror as soon as possible, and so that she could never return to this poor man again...
“Think, think, think!..” I shouted to myself almost out loud.
And suddenly, as if in a bright flash, I very clearly saw a “picture” of my body glowing with a blinding green color, and my old “star friends” who, smiling, pointed to this green light... Apparently, somehow my “panicking “The brain managed to call them from somewhere, and now they tried to “tell me” in their own way what I should do. Without thinking for a long time, I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate, trying to mentally evoke a long-forgotten feeling... And literally a split second later everything “flashed” with the same amazingly bright green light that I had just seen in the “picture” shown by my friends. My body shone so strongly that it illuminated almost the entire room, along with the vile creatures swarming in it. I wasn't sure what to do next, but I felt that I had to direct this "light" (or rather, energy) towards all those squirming "horror creatures" in order to make them disappear from our sight as quickly as possible, and also from Without them, Arthur's life is quite complicated. The room flashed green, and I felt a very “thick” green beam burst out of my palms and headed straight to the target... Immediately I heard a wild screech, which turned into a real “otherworldly” howl... I almost had time to rejoice that finally everything would be good, and right now they will disappear forever, but, as it turned out, the “happy ending” was still a little far away... The creatures frantically clung with their claws and paws to the “dad” who was still waving his arms and the baby fighting them off, and so far they clearly weren’t going to give up. I realized that West would no longer be able to withstand the second “attack”, and thereby lose his only chance to talk to his father for the last time. But this is exactly what I couldn’t allow. Then I pulled myself together again and, with all my strength, “threw” green rays, now at all the “monsters” at the same time. Something loudly slammed... and there was complete silence.
Finally, all the monster-like monsters disappeared somewhere, and we could allow ourselves to breathe freely...
This was my first, still very “childish” war with real lower astral beings. And I can’t say that she was very pleasant or that I wasn’t scared at all. Now that we live in the twenty-first century literally “inundated” with computer games, we have become accustomed to everything and have almost completely ceased to be surprised by any kind of horror... And even small children, having become completely accustomed to the world of vampires, werewolves, murderers and rapists, themselves in the same way, they kill, cut, devour and shoot in delight, just to “go to the next level” of some favorite computer game... And probably, if some real scary monster appeared in their room at that moment - they wouldn’t even think about being scared, and without thinking, they would calmly blame everything on the special effects that are so familiar to them, holography, time travel, etc., despite the fact that the same “time travel” or other “effects” they love, none of them have yet managed to experience in reality.

Orthodoxy in Austria

The Austrian state as an independent unit in the political arena of Europe appeared in the 10th century, during the reign of the dynasty of the Babenberg dukes. Its borders were then significantly expanded to the south and east, and the city of Vienna became the capital. The first mention of the name of the state - “Ostarrichi”, that is, “eastern country”, dates back to this time (c. 996). Austria-Hungary has long included areas where peoples professing Orthodoxy lived: Ukrainians of Galicia and Bukovina, Serbs, Romanians. Orthodox parishes within this country were sometimes united into entire dioceses. Particularly worth mentioning is the “great migration” of the Serbs to the Habsburg possessions under the leadership of Patriarch Arseniy (Charnoevich) in the winter of 1690: they were forced to do this by the persecution of the Orthodox in the Ottoman Empire.

By the middle of the 19th century, over 3 million Orthodox Christians lived on the territory of Austria-Hungary. At the same time, official authorities often sought to Catholicize this part of their subjects. Initially, all Orthodox Christians in Vienna, including Russian ambassadors and merchants, were spiritually nourished by the Greek and Serbian clergy in the church in the name of St. George the Victorious, which for a long time was located in the house of Alexander Maurocordatos. The first liturgy took place here in 1726. But at the beginning of Turkey's war with Russia and Austria (1735–1739), almost the entire Greek population and Greek priests, as subjects of the Turkish Sultan, were forced to leave Vienna. In 1761, through the works of Ambassador D.M. Golitsyn, a separate Russian parish appeared in the city, the first rector of which was priest Simeon Matveev. In a letter to Catherine II D.M. Golitsyn noted that Russian worship was attended not only by Orthodox Christians, but also by “curious” Austrians.

According to the edict of religious tolerance of Emperor Joseph II in 1782, Orthodoxy was officially recognized, and it was allowed to erect temple buildings - until that time, both the Greek-Serbian Church in the name of St. George and the Russian St. Nicholas Church were located in private homes. The church's own building in the name of St. George was built in 1809, and a little later the Greeks, together with the Romanians, built the Trinity Church. From 1840 to 1842, Archimandrite (later bishop) Porfiry (Uspensky), the first head of the Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem, labored in Vienna. From 1842 to 1884, the rector of the Vienna church was Archpriest Mikhail Raevsky, who translated liturgical books into German. With the funds collected by him, in 1895, a cemetery church was built in the name of righteous Lazarus. And through the efforts of his successor, Archpriest Alexander Nikolaevsky, in 1899 a beautiful cathedral in the name of St. Nicholas, created in the best traditions of ancient Russian architecture, appeared in Vienna. In 1893, the consecration of the first Serbian church dedicated to St. Sava took place, and the first independent parish of the Romanian Orthodox Church was formed in Vienna in 1907.

However, the history of Orthodoxy on Austrian soil is by no means cloudless. At the beginning of the twentieth century, when relations between Russia and Austria-Hungary deteriorated, the Austrian authorities began persecuting Russian Orthodox Christians. Lawsuits were initiated against many laity and even priests, for example against Hieromonk Alexy (Kabalyuk) in 1913, against Father Maxim Sandovich and Father Ignatius Gudima in 1914, against Father Kassian Bogatyrets in 1916. The court then sentenced 16 Orthodox Christians to death, including Father Cassian, who fearlessly defended his flock before the trial. On August 7, 1914, Father Nikolai Ryzhkov was arrested, and his imprisonment was accompanied by bullying and mockery. The priest spent 22 months in the so-called Death Tower in Vienna. After the death sentence was pronounced, Father Nikolai stated that he was not afraid to appear before the court of the Almighty, because the Lord knows the real truth. The courage of the Russian priest made a strong impression on the judges and those present, and then on many other people: even the Spanish King Alfonso asked for pardon for Father Nicholas. As a result, the Austrian government was forced to pardon the convict, expelling him from the country. With the outbreak of war, in 1914, the Russian St. Nicholas Cathedral was closed and reopened only in October 1945.

In 1967, the first Bulgarian church dedicated to St. John of Rila appeared in Vienna. In the same year, the Austrian parliament adopted the “Federal Law on the Orthodox,” which determined the official status of Orthodox parishes in different jurisdictions. Currently, there are several jurisdictions of Orthodox Local Churches in Austria:
– Central European Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church (official website: http://www.serb-kirche.at/, e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it). It owns 12 Austrian parishes, which are managed by Dean Archpriest Georgy Knezhevich. There are approximately 100,000 Orthodox Serbs living in Austria;
– Vienna and Austrian Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (official website: http://orthodoxia.org/austria/, e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it) . Headed by Bishop Hilarion (Alfeev), it has 5 parishes and unites Orthodox believers of different nationalities living in Austria, including Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Moldovans and Georgians;
– German and Central European Metropolis of the Romanian Orthodox Church (official website: http://www.rumkirche.at/). Headed by Archbishop Seraphim, it has a vicariate of 5 parishes in Austria;
– The Austrian Metropolis and the Exarchate of Italy, Switzerland and Hungary of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Headed by Metropolitan Michael (Staikos). 7 churches provide care for approximately 18,000 Orthodox Greeks in Austria.

Another 2 Viennese churches are under the jurisdiction of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, caring for a flock of about 7,000 Orthodox Bulgarians. 5 parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad.

Thus, today there are 36 Orthodox parishes in Austria, but there is not a single Orthodox monastery. The total number of Orthodox Christians is about 350,000. Over the past 40 years in Austria, the number of Catholics (from 89% to 73.6% in 2001), Lutherans (from 403 thousand to 341 thousand people), Reformed people (from 18 to 14 thousand people) has decreased significantly, while the number of Orthodox Christians, on the contrary, is growing, mainly due to immigrants from Orthodox countries, but not only. Part of the parishioners of the Vienna and Austrian diocese are native Austrians (most of them attend parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church), services are performed in Slavic and partially German. Books about Orthodoxy are translated and published in German. Some Orthodox Austrians take holy orders, such as Archimandrite George (Vostrel) - cleric of the Russian St. Nicholas Cathedral in Vienna or Archpriest Peter Huber - cleric of the Serbian Church in honor of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, Innsbruck.

According to Father Peter, who was born into a Catholic family, he was led to Orthodoxy by the study of the history of Christianity and, in particular, the history of the papacy, as a result of which he was convinced that “during the second millennium, Western European Christianity lost the continuity of the Holy Tradition of the Church.” Father Peter felt a connection with him when he first attended an Orthodox service in Venice, “which became an occasion to get to know this Church closer, both “theoretically,” through reading relevant literature, and “practically,” through regular participation in Orthodox services in Salzburg. Over time, the conviction grew stronger in me to follow the path in this Church, and I understood the acquisition of Orthodoxy not as a “transition” to a “foreign faith,” but as a return to our original Church, which was here in the West for a thousand years.” Speaking about the difficulties of the Orthodox mission in Austria, Father Peter noted that “Orthodoxy is too often understood as something that has a very limited place in the West.

Although Austrians often admire the beauty of churches and worship, Orthodoxy itself remains alien to many who perceive it as some kind of exotic... But, despite the difficulties, all of us, members of the Church, are bearers and guardians of the Holy Tradition and must, according to the word of the Lord (see .: Matthew 28:19), to take care with faith and life about the spread and strengthening of our teaching.” The main difficulty of most Orthodox parishes, both Russian, Serbian and Romanian, is the lack of their own premises for the church: they have to serve on a temporary basis in empty Catholic chapels. Local Catholic authorities often interfere with the development of the liturgical life of the Orthodox, and also try to make up for losses among the native Austrian flock through missionary activity among emigrants from Ukraine.

Currently (2012) there are about 490 thousand Orthodox believers in Austria. The adherents of the Patriarchate of Constantinople are about 35 thousand people, the Russian Orthodox Church is 40 thousand. The majority of Orthodox believers in Austria (265 thousand) belong to the Serbian Orthodox Church. There are about 40 thousand people in the parishes of the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

Religion: Catholics - 72.4%, Protestants - 4.7%, Orthodox - 4.3%, Muslims - 4.2%, others - 4.0%, non-believers - 7.3%, did not answer the question - 3 %.

Yuri Maksimov

The beginning of the Russian Orthodox parish in Vienna.

Russians have lived in Austria since ancient times. In most cases these were diplomats and trade representatives. There were entire Russian trading colonies here. There was such a colony, for example, in Tokaj (at that time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). Its residents were engaged in purchasing and delivering famous Tokaji wines to Russia. A church was built in this colony, and priests were sent from Russia.
Austria-Hungary also included areas where entire nations that adhered to Orthodoxy lived: Ukrainians of Galicia and Bukovina, Hungarians, Serbs, Romanians. Orthodox Greeks have long lived in Vienna and its environs. Beginning in 1701, with the appointment of the Russian ambassador to Vienna, Prince. P.A. Golitsyn, diplomatic relations between Russia and Austria became permanent. In the absence of their own church, all Orthodox Christians living in Vienna were spiritually nourished by the Greek and Serbian clergy in the Greek Church in the name of St. George the Victorious. But at the beginning of Turkey's war with Russia and Austria (1735–1739), almost the entire Greek population and Greek priests, as subjects of the Turkish Sultan, left Vienna.
In 1761, at the congress in Augsburg, a Russian mission was present, at which there was a camp church of the Holy Trinity, represented by Hieromonk Narkiss (Kvetka) and two clergy. On October 10, 1761, the mission arrived in Vienna, and at the request of Golitsyn, the church together with clergy was left in the city.
Soon the first rector was appointed here: priest Simeon Matveev, transferred from the Russian church of The Hague. The Vienna Church was originally located in the ambassador's apartment. But the local Orthodox population of other nationalities also begins to attend the services, which are devoutly performed with good singing. From 1842 to 1884, the rector of the Vienna Embassy Church was the outstanding Slavic figure Archpriest Mikhail Raevsky. Prot. Raevsky is also known for his translations of church liturgical books from Greek into German. It was he who came up with the idea of ​​the need to create a majestic stone temple in Vienna. In 1885, Archpriest Fr. Alexander Nikolaevsky, who was destined to realize the idea and dream of Archpriest Raevsky. But the funds collected were not enough even to build at least a small temple. Then the Russian ambassador, Prince A.B. Lobanov-Rostovsky petitioned St. Petersburg and received an allocation for construction

Consecration of St. Nicholas Cathedral.

A place was allocated for the construction of the cathedral in the garden of the plot acquired for the embassy. On October 3, 1893, the foundation stone of the temple took place. Construction work was carried out according to the design of academician G. Kotov by the Italian architect Giacomelli and was completed in 1899. The consecration of St. Nicholas Cathedral was performed on April 4/16, 1899 by Archbishop Jerome of Kholm and Warsaw. By this day, the abbots who carried out their service in Russian churches in Europe arrived in Vienna: Rev. Maltsev from Berlin, prot. F. Kardasevich from Budapest, prot. Protopopov from Wiesbaden, priest. Volsky from Stuttgart, priest. Annenkov from Dresden, prot. Soloviev from Coburg, Archpriest Apraksin from Prague and many others. There were also rectors of the Greek and Serbian churches in Vienna, as well as priests of the Bosnian Russian regiments. The Russian Ambassador Count P.A. was present at the consecration of the temple. Kapnist, representatives of the Austrian authorities and the mayor of Vienna Strabach, as well as the ambassadors of Romania, Serbia and Greece, representatives of various Slavic societies. On April 8, Archbishop Jerome was received by the emperor Franz Joseph.

The Synodal Choir from Moscow, which took part in the consecration of the temple, gave a spiritual concert in the hall of the Vienna Conservatory, which made a great impression on musical Vienna.

Sights of Vienna Cathedral. Vienna's St. Nicholas Cathedral was built in the best traditions of ancient Russian architecture. The five-domed cathedral building consists of the main church in the name of St. Nicholas and the lower church of St. Alexander Nevsky. A wide stone staircase leads to the cathedral. In the pediment of the porch there is a mosaic icon of the Resurrection of Christ, made by the artist Fyodor Bruni. At the top of the stairs there is a magnificent stained glass window depicting the patron saint of the cathedral - St. Nicholas. Through the windows of pastel-colored glass, light penetrates into the temple. Therefore, even in the cloudiest weather, it seems as if the temple is flooded with sun. In three windows of the altar there are stained glass icons of the Lord Pantocrator, the Mother of God and John the Baptist. The shrine revered by all parishioners is the icon of St. Nicholas - the gift and blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch Alexia I. Belfry The cathedral has ten bells and is topped with a dome. The largest of the bells weighs 1200 kg. architectural ensemble of the Austrian capital.
In the turbulent era of the world war and the Revolution in Russia, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon appointed Metropolitan Eulogius (Georgievsky) as the head of the Russian churches in Europe. Russian parishes abroad were then replenished with prisoners and emigrants.

Metropolitan Eulogius, who lived in Berlin and Paris, managed to improve the life of Russian churches and parishes in Europe, including the life of the Vienna parish, entrusting it to priest Avenir Dyakov after the First World War. But soon Fr. Avenir was replaced by Archpriest Rozhdestvensky, who had been the rector of the Vienna church before the war. Next, the old-style “father” arrived at the parish. Vanchakov...
www.orthodoxfrat.de
Detailed photo tour

according to the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas in Vienna.

History of the cathedral after World War II. After the liberation of Vienna by Soviet troops, the temple, severely damaged during hostilities, was reopened under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarch. For this purpose, Archbishop Photius (Topiro) arrived in Vienna in October 1945. In 1946, Archbishop Sergius (Korolyov) was appointed to care for the Viennese-Austrian flock. He worked hard to organize the community and eliminate the damage caused to the cathedral by the war. In 1949, Archbishop Sergius was transferred to Berlin. Archimandrite Arseny (Shilovsky) was appointed to the Vienna Cathedral. In 1951, the Vienna-Austrian Deanery was established, and Father Arseny became the first dean. This deanery was transformed in 1962 to the Vienna-Austrian diocese of the Russian Church. On March 13, 1975, Archbishop Irenaeus became Archbishop of Vienna and Austria, and has ruled the diocese to this day. Since the fall of 1997, the Vienna Cathedral has been rectored by Archpriest. Nikolay Orlov. In the post-war period, at the expense of the Moscow Patriarchate and for donations parishioners, extensive renovation work was carried out
Roman Catholics make up about 90% of the total believing population of Austria. The Constantinople, Serbian, Romanian and Bulgarian Orthodox Churches also have communities in Vienna. There are also Armenian, Old Catholic, Anglican, Evangelical Lutheran, Reformed and other Christian communities. A favorable environment for interchurch contacts between representatives of different Christian communities has been created in the Austrian capital. They meet for lectures, reports and discussions, during which they exchange opinions on various issues of church and public life. These meetings promote mutual understanding and bringing Christians closer together.
St. Nicholas parish unites the faithful of Vienna, who are under the omophorion of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. The purpose of the parish is to preserve and witness Orthodoxy among cultural and religious diversity, to provide spiritual nourishment for Orthodox believers and at the representative office Russian Orthodoxy in the capital of Austria. To this day, the parish offers fervent prayers to God and the Patron of the temple - St. Nicholas, so that this temple, through the beauty of worship, the activity of its clergy and flock, will continue to testify in the center of Europe about the truth and beauty of Orthodoxy.

Orthodoxy in Austria

Location: Central Europe, north of Italy and Slovenia.
Area: 83,870 km2.
Population: 8,192,880 people (as of July 2006).
Official language: German.

Brief history of the country.

The Austrian state as an independent unit in the political arena of Europe appeared in the 10th century, during the reign of the dynasty of the Babenberg dukes. Its borders were then significantly expanded to the south and east, and the city of Vienna became the capital. The first mention of the name of the state - “Ostarrichi”, that is, “eastern country”, dates back to this time (c. 996).

In the 13th century, after the death of the last Babenberg, the country fell under the rule of the Czech king Ottokar II for 30 years. After the king was defeated in a battle with Emperor Rudolf of Habsburg, Austria came under the control of the Habsburg dynasty, which retained power in these lands until the twentieth century. Under them, one of the largest European empires was established, which in 1867 adopted the name Austria-Hungary.

On June 28, 1914, an attempt was made on the life of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo; a month later, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, marking the beginning of the First World War. After its defeat and the collapse of the empire, the country was reduced to a small republic - in 1918, the centuries-long reign of the Habsburg dynasty came to an end. 20 years later, the republic was annexed by Nazi Germany (Austrian by birth, Adolf Hitler left the country as an unrecognized artist, and returned with triumph and troops), and in 1945 it was liberated by Soviet troops. In 1955, the independence of Austria was proclaimed, subject to the state neutrality of the country.

Religion: Catholics - 72.4%, Protestants - 4.7%, Orthodox - 4.3%, Muslims - 4.2%, others - 4.0%, non-believers - 7.3%, did not answer the question - 3 %.

Orthodoxy. Austria-Hungary has long included areas where peoples professing Orthodoxy lived: Ukrainians of Galicia and Bukovina, Serbs, Romanians. Orthodox parishes within this country were sometimes united into entire dioceses. Particularly worth mentioning is the “great migration” of the Serbs to the Habsburg possessions under the leadership of Patriarch Arseniy (Charnoevich) in the winter of 1690: they were forced to do this by the persecution of the Orthodox in the Ottoman Empire. By the middle of the 19th century, over 3 million Orthodox Christians lived on the territory of Austria-Hungary. At the same time, official authorities often sought to Catholicize this part of their subjects.

Initially, all Orthodox Christians in Vienna, including Russian ambassadors and merchants, were spiritually nourished by the Greek and Serbian clergy in the church in the name of St. George the Victorious, which for a long time was located in the house of Alexander Maurocordatos. The first liturgy took place here in 1726.

But at the beginning of Turkey's war with Russia and Austria (1735–1739), almost the entire Greek population and Greek priests, as subjects of the Turkish Sultan, were forced to leave Vienna.

In 1761, through the works of Ambassador D.M. Golitsyn, a separate Russian parish appeared in the city, the first rector of which was priest Simeon Matveev. In a letter to Catherine II D.M. Golitsyn noted that Russian worship was attended not only by Orthodox Christians, but also by “curious” Austrians.

According to the edict of religious tolerance of Emperor Joseph II in 1782, Orthodoxy was officially recognized, and it was allowed to erect temple buildings - until that time, both the Greek-Serbian Church in the name of St. George and the Russian St. Nicholas Church were located in private homes. The church's own building in the name of St. George was built in 1809, and a little later the Greeks, together with the Romanians, built the Trinity Church.

From 1840 to 1842, Archimandrite (later bishop) Porfiry (Uspensky), the first head of the Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem, labored in Vienna. From 1842 to 1884, the rector of the Vienna church was Archpriest Mikhail Raevsky, who translated liturgical books into German. With the funds collected by him, in 1895, a cemetery church was built in the name of righteous Lazarus. And through the efforts of his successor, Archpriest Alexander Nikolaevsky, in 1899 a beautiful cathedral in the name of St. Nicholas, created in the best traditions of ancient Russian architecture, appeared in Vienna.

In 1893, the consecration of the first Serbian church dedicated to St. Sava took place, and the first independent parish of the Romanian Orthodox Church was formed in Vienna in 1907.

Sschmch. Maxim Sandovich

However, the history of Orthodoxy on Austrian soil is by no means cloudless. At the beginning of the twentieth century, when relations between Russia and Austria-Hungary deteriorated, the Austrian authorities began persecuting Russian Orthodox Christians. Lawsuits were initiated against many laity and even priests, for example against Hieromonk Alexy (Kabalyuk) in 1913, against Father Maxim Sandovich and Father Ignatius Gudima in 1914, against Father Kassian Bogatyrets in 1916. The court then sentenced 16 Orthodox Christians to death, including Father Cassian, who fearlessly defended his flock before the trial. On August 7, 1914, Father Nikolai Ryzhkov was arrested, and his imprisonment was accompanied by bullying and mockery. The priest spent 22 months in the so-called Death Tower in Vienna. After the death sentence was pronounced, Father Nikolai stated that he was not afraid to appear before the court of the Almighty, because the Lord knows the real truth. The courage of the Russian priest made a strong impression on the judges and those present, and then on many other people: even the Spanish King Alfonso asked for pardon for Father Nicholas. As a result, the Austrian government was forced to pardon the convict, expelling him from the country. With the outbreak of war, in 1914, the Russian St. Nicholas Cathedral was closed and reopened only in October 1945.

In 1967, the first Bulgarian church dedicated to St. John of Rila appeared in Vienna.

In the same year, the Austrian parliament adopted the “Federal Law on the Orthodox,” which determined the official status of Orthodox parishes in different jurisdictions.

Currently, there are several jurisdictions of Orthodox Local Churches in Austria:

– Central European Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church (official website: http://www.serb-kirche.at/, e-mail: [email protected]). It owns 12 Austrian parishes, which are managed by Dean Archpriest Georgy Knezhevich. There are approximately 100,000 Orthodox Serbs living in Austria;

– Vienna and Austrian Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (official website: http://orthodoxia.org/austria/, e-mail: [email protected]). Headed by Bishop Hilarion (Alfeev), it has 5 parishes and unites Orthodox believers of different nationalities living in Austria, including Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Moldovans and Georgians;

– German and Central European Metropolis of the Romanian Orthodox Church (official website: http://www.rumkirche.at/). Headed by Archbishop Seraphim, it has a vicariate of 5 parishes in Austria;

– The Austrian Metropolis and the Exarchate of Italy, Switzerland and Hungary of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Headed by Metropolitan Michael (Staikos). 7 churches provide care for approximately 18,000 Orthodox Greeks in Austria.

Another 2 Viennese churches are under the jurisdiction of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, caring for a flock of about 7,000 Orthodox Bulgarians. 5 parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad.

Thus, today there are 36 Orthodox parishes in Austria, but there is not a single Orthodox monastery. The total number of Orthodox Christians is about 350,000.

Over the past 40 years in Austria, the number of Catholics (from 89% to 73.6% in 2001), Lutherans (from 403 thousand to 341 thousand people), Reformed people (from 18 to 14 thousand people) has decreased significantly, while the number of Orthodox Christians, on the contrary, is growing, mainly due to immigrants from Orthodox countries, but not only. Part of the parishioners of the Vienna and Austrian diocese are native Austrians (most of them attend parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church), services are performed in Slavic and partially German. Books about Orthodoxy are translated and published in German.

Some Orthodox Austrians take holy orders, such as Archimandrite George (Vostrel) - cleric of the Russian St. Nicholas Cathedral in Vienna or Archpriest Peter Huber - cleric of the Serbian Church in honor of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, Innsbruck.

According to Father Peter, who was born into a Catholic family, he was led to Orthodoxy by the study of the history of Christianity and, in particular, the history of the papacy, as a result of which he was convinced that “during the second millennium, Western European Christianity lost the continuity of the Holy Tradition of the Church.” Father Peter felt a connection with him when he first attended an Orthodox service in Venice, “which became an occasion to get to know this Church closer, both “theoretically,” through reading relevant literature, and “practically,” through regular participation in Orthodox services in Salzburg. Over time, the conviction grew stronger in me to follow the path in this Church, and I understood the acquisition of Orthodoxy not as a “transition” to a “foreign faith,” but as a return to our original Church, which was here in the West for a thousand years.”

Speaking about the difficulties of the Orthodox mission in Austria, Father Peter noted that “Orthodoxy is too often understood as something that has a very limited place in the West. Although Austrians often admire the beauty of churches and worship, Orthodoxy itself remains alien to many who perceive it as some kind of exotic... But, despite the difficulties, all of us, members of the Church, are bearers and guardians of the Holy Tradition and must, according to the word of the Lord (see .: Matthew 28:19), to take care with faith and life about the spread and strengthening of our teaching.”

The main difficulty of most Orthodox parishes, both Russian, Serbian and Romanian, is the lack of their own premises for the church: they have to serve on a temporary basis in empty Catholic chapels. Local Catholic authorities often interfere with the development of the liturgical life of the Orthodox, and also try to make up for losses among the native Austrian flock through missionary activity among emigrants from Ukraine.

***
In conclusion, we provide several addresses of Austrian churches where services are held in Church Slavonic, so that a person of the Russian Orthodox tradition, finding himself in this country, has the opportunity to participate in prayer.

Vienna

St. Nicholas Cathedral (ROC MP)
Address: St. Nikolas Cathedral, Jauresgasse 2, 1030 Wien.
Rector: Archpriest Vladimir Tyshchuk.
Phone: 713-82-50.
Photo see: http://www.nikolsobor.org/russisch/html/galerie/aktuell/fotoaktuell.htm

Orthodoxy in Austria
presented by: Patriarchate of Constantinople Russian Orthodox Church (including the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia) Serbian Patriarchate Antiochian Patriarchate Romanian Patriarchate Bulgarian Patriarchate
Trinity Cathedral in Vienna
General information
A country	Austria
Diocesan center	Vein
Square	83,871 km²
Population	8,404,252 people
[]

As of 2011, the number of Orthodox Christians in Austria numbered about 352 thousand people, which is about 4.2% of the country's population.

In 1967, the Austrian parliament adopted the "Federal Orthodox Law", which determined the official status of Orthodox parishes in different jurisdictions.

Patriarchate of Constantinople

The first Greek merchants appeared in Austria in the 17th century. The first services were conducted by visiting clergy.

Since 1776, by a special decree of the emperor, the Greeks were allowed to freely correct divine services according to Orthodox canons, although this provision did not equalize their rights with the Roman Catholics.