Both the Catholic and Protestant Churches in Germany have been steadily shrinking in recent years. The Catholic Church lost more than 591,000 believers in 2023 due to departures, as well as deaths. At the end of 2023 there were 20.3 million registered members. At the same time and within a year, the Protestant Church decreased by about 560,000 members while the total number is estimated at 18.5 million. This means that around 47.5% of Germans still belong to one of the two “big churches”. After the reunification of Germany in 1991 the percentage reached 70%.

There are frequent discussions in the media about the declining number of believers in the two major denominations. But it is rarely mentioned that the number of Orthodox Christians in Germany has been growing significantly for years.

Small groups of Orthodox Christians have lived in Germany for centuries. Due to the immigration of what were then called “guest workers” (Gastarbeiter) from Greece, Yugoslavia and other countries, their number has increased significantly since 1960.

The Orthodox Church co-shapes society

Ten years ago, according to estimates by the Orthodox Bishops’ Conference in Germany (OBKD), founded in 2010, the total number of Orthodox Christians was at most 1.5 million. Today there are many more, as mentioned by the Greek Orthodox Bishop of Christoupolis Emmanuel speaking to Deutsche Welle. They are people from different countries: “There is the Orthodox Bishops’ Conference in Germany and this is a sign that we speak with one voice, it is a sign that we believe in this unity, we propagate this unity and we want to transfer this unity to outside world, despite the internal problems that every Church has. 4,000,000 Orthodox believers in Germany, 4,000,000 people, women, men, children who embrace the Orthodox faith.”

Refugees contributed to the increase in membership

Bishop Emmanuel embodies much of the rise of the Orthodox Church. The priest himself comes from Duisburg. “I am a representative of the third generation of my family in Germany,” he says, and the Orthodox Church’s intervention in society is important to him:

“Yes, with 4 million Orthodox believers in Germany we should participate in the social dialogue and also point out that we are helping to shape this society. It’s not just about our image to the outside, one has to think that there are more than 400 million Orthodox people all over the world.”

Finally, another reason for the increase of the Orthodox in Germany is the arrival of thousands of refugees. It is estimated that the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch has about 100,000 members.

Edited by: Maria Rigoutsou