Religion

Religion in Saint Petersburg

According to various opinion polls, more than half of the residents of St. Petersburg "believe in God" (up to 67 % according to VTSIOM in 2002). Among believers, the vast majority are Orthodox (57 %), the second largest number are Muslims, followed by Protestants and Catholics. Non-Abrahamic religions include Buddhists and some small numbers of others.

In total, there are 268 communities of faiths and religious associations in the city: the Russian Orthodox Church (131 associations), Evangelical Christians (23 associations), the Evangelical Lutheran Church (19 associations), Evangelical Christian Baptists (13 associations), as well as old believers, the Roman Catholic Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the seventh-day Adventist Church, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Baha'i, and others.

A total of 229 religious buildings in the city are owned or operated by religious associations. Among them are architectural monuments of Federal significance: St. Isaac's Cathedral, Kazan Cathedral, Sampson Cathedral, Smolny Cathedral, Peter and Paul Cathedral, St. Nicholas-Epiphany sea Cathedral, Vladimir Cathedral, St. Sophia Cathedral, Trinity Izmailovsky Cathedral, Feodorovsky (sovereign) Cathedral, Cathedral of the Savior on spilled Blood, Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, Orthodox monasteries (Alexander Nevsky Lavra, Ioannovsky Stavropol convent, resurrection Novodevichy monastery, Holy Trinity Sergievskaya Primorskaya Pustin), Armenian Apostolic Church of Saint Catherine, Catholic Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria Catholic monastery of St. Anthony the Wonderworker, the Lutheran Church of Saints Peter and Paul, the Dutch reformed Church, Catholic Cathedral and mosque, the Grand choral synagogue, a Buddhist temple and others. The oldest Church in the city is the Peter and Paul Cathedral (1733), and the largest is the Kazan Cathedral (1811).

The city is home to the Saint Petersburg theological Academy and the Saint Petersburg theological Seminary of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as the Catholic higher theological Seminary "Mary Queen of the Apostles". The relics of saints Alexander Nevsky, John of Kronstadt, and Xenia of Petersburg are kept in Saint Petersburg.

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