Orthodox Slavs

The Orthodox Slavs are a subgroup of Slavic peoples who adhere to the Orthodox Christian faith and liturgy. They separated from the common Slavic group in the 7th century CE, and established independent polities in Eastern Europe, specifically in the Balkans and Sarmatic Plain by the 8th and 9th centuries.

Orthodox Slavonic nations today include the Belarusians, Bulgarians, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Russians, Serbs and Ukrainians. They inhabit a contiguous area in Eastern Europe stretching from the northeast in the Baltic Sea to the Carpathian and Balkan Mountains in the southeast and southwest; from the north in the Russian Federation to the southwest in Macedonia near the Greek border. There are also major Orthodox Slavic population hubs and communities in North Asia (predominantly Siberia), the Americas (predominantly North America), and significant diaspora groups throughout the rest of the world.

All Orthodox Slavic Churches, with the exception of the Bulgarian Church, use the Julian calendar exclusively, and all use it to calculate the date Pascha (Easter) is celebrated.

States

Slavic states with Orthodox majority or plurality:

Other Slavic states with minority Orthodox populations include Croatia (4.44%, 2011 census), and West Slavs (Slovakia (0.9%, 2011, Poland (0.7%, 2011), and the Czech Republic).

See also

• East Slavs
• South Slavs
• Eastern Orthodox Church
• Eastern Orthodoxy in Europe
• Panethnicity