Christianity in Europe

Christianity is the largest religion in Europe. Christianity has been practiced in Europe since the first century, and a number of the Pauline Epistles were addressed to Christians living in Greece, as well as other parts of the Roman Empire.

According to a 2010 study by the Pew Research Center, 76.2% of the European population identified themselves as Christians.

As 2010 Catholics were the largest Christian group in Europe, accounting for more than 48% of European Christians. The second-largest Christian group in Europe were the Orthodox, who made up 32% of European Christians. About 19% of European Christians were part of the Protestant tradition. Russia is the largest Christian country in Europe by population, followed by Germany and Italy.

Since at least the legalization of Christianity by the Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century, Europe has been an important centre of Christian culture, even though the religion was inherited from Africa and the Middle East and important Christian communities have thrived outside Europe such as Oriental Orthodoxy and the Church of the East since the time of Christ. Christian culture has been an important force in Western civilization, influencing the course of philosophy, art, and science.

Europe has a rich Christian culture, especially as numerous saints, martyrs and popes were European themselves. All of the Roman Catholic popes from 741 to 2013 were from Europe. Europe brought together many of the Christian holy sites and heritage and religious centers.

Early history
Historians believe that St. Paul wrote his first epistle to the Christians of Thessaloniki (Thessalonians) around AD 52. His Epistle to the Galatians was perhaps written even earlier, between AD 48 and 50. Other epistles written by Paul were directed to Christians living in Greece (1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Philemon, Philippians, 2 Thessalonians) and Rome (Romans) between the 50s and 70s of the first century.

The Record of Saint Dorotheus Bishop of Tyre is that the Church at Tyre sent Saint Aristobulus (of the seventy) to Britain as bishop in AD 37. The Church seems to have been begun by him around the Bristol Channel area and 150 years later we have names of bishops recorded. By AD 550 there are recorded 120 bishops spread throughout the British Isles.

By 201 AD or earlier, under King Abgar the Great, Osroene became the first Christian state. Armenia was the second state in the world to adopt Christianity as its state religion in AD 301. The oldest state-built church in the world, Etchmiadzin Cathedral, was built between AD 301-303. It is the seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The Roman Empire officially adopted Christianity in AD 380. During the Early Middle Ages, most of Europe underwent Christianization, a process essentially complete with the Baltic Christianization in the 15th century. The emergence of the notion of "Europe" or the "Western World" is intimately connected with the idea of "Christendom", especially since Christianity in the Middle East was marginalized by the rise of Islam from the 7th century, a constellation that led to the Crusades, which although unsuccessful militarily were an important step in the emergence of a religious identity of Europe. At all times, traditions of folk religion existed largely independent from official denominations or dogmatic theology.

From the Middle Ages onwards, as the centralized Roman power waned in southern and central Europe, the dominance of the Catholic Church was the only consistent force in Western Europe.

Movements in art and philosophy, such as the Humanist movement of the Renaissance and the Scholastic movement of the High Middle Ages, were motivated by a drive to connect Catholicism with Greek thought imported by Christian pilgrims.

East–West Schism and Protestant Reformation
The East–West Schism of the 11th century and the Protestant Reformation of the 16th tore "Christendom" into hostile factions. Following the Age of Enlightenment of the 18th century, atheism and agnosticism became widespread in Western Europe. 19th-century Orientalism contributed to a certain popularity of Buddhism, and the 20th century brought increasing syncretism, New Age and various new religious movements divorcing spirituality from inherited traditions for many Europeans. The latest history brought increased secularisation, and religious pluralism.

Cultural influences
Western culture, throughout most of its history, has been nearly equivalent to Christian culture, and many of the population of the Western hemisphere could broadly be described as cultural Christians. The notion of "Europe" and the "Western World" has been intimately connected with the concept of "Christianity and Christendom" many even attribute Christianity for being the link that created a unified European identity.

Though Western culture contained several polytheistic religions during its early years under the Greek and Roman empires, as the centralized Roman power waned, the dominance of the Catholic Church was the only consistent force in Europe. Until the Age of Enlightenment, Christian culture guided the course of philosophy, literature, art, music and science. Christian disciplines of the respective arts have subsequently developed into Christian philosophy, Christian art, Christian music, Christian literature etc.

Christianity had a significant impact on education and science and medicine as the church created the bases of the Western system of education, and was the sponsor of founding universities in the Western world as the university is generally regarded as an institution that has its origin in the Medieval Christian setting. Many clerics throughout history have made significant contributions to science and Jesuits in particular have made numerous significant contributions to the development of science. The Civilizing influence of Christianity includes social welfare, founding hospitals, economics (as the Protestant work ethic), politics, architecture, literature and family life. Although the Protestant reformation was a religious movement, it also had a strong impact on all other aspects of European life: marriage and family, education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order, the economy, and the arts.

Denominations



 * Catholic Church: European countries or areas with significant Catholic populations are Andorra, Austria, western Belarus, Belgium, Croatia, France, western and southern Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latgale region in Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, central and southern Switzerland, western Ukraine and Vatican City. There are also large Catholic minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (13-17%), Albania (10-15%), the United Kingdom and the Netherlands (25%). In the Czech Republic, Catholics are 10% of the population. In Serbia and Romania, Catholics constitute over 5% of the overall population.
 * Eastern-Rite Catholicism is found mostly in western Ukraine, southern Italy, eastern Slovakia, Romania and Hungary. It also exists in very small numbers in Russia, Serbia, Poland, France (especially Corsica).
 * Eastern Orthodox Christianity: European countries or areas with significant Eastern Orthodox populations are Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, and the European parts of Kazakhstan. Eastern Orthodox Christians are a large minority in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania. Small minorities of Eastern Orthodox Christians live in Finland (especially Karelia), Latvia, Lithuania, Armenia, and Poland.
 * Oriental Orthodox Christianity: Armenia has a large Oriental Orthodox majority.
 * Protestantism: European countries or areas with significant Protestant populations are Denmark, Estonia, Finland, the central, eastern and northern parts of Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the eastern, northern and western parts of Switzerland. There are significant Protestant minorities in France, the northeastern Piedmont region of Italy, Slovakia, the western and southern parts of Germany, the eastern part of Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, the Netherlands, Ireland, Serbia and Romania.
 * Anglicanism (or Episcopalianism, in Scotland) is the largest denomination in the United Kingdom (England and Wales), with a large minority in Northern Ireland, and smaller numbers in the Republic of Ireland, Malta, Scotland, Spain and Portugal. Communities also exist throughout Europe, particularly in large cities and other regions where British ex-pat communities live (see Diocese in Europe).
 * Calvinism in forms of Continental Reformed Church, Presbyterianism and Congregationalism is predominant in North and West Switzerland, and there are minorities in Germany and Hungary. It is the main religion in Scotland and a large minority in Northern Ireland, and smaller numbers in England and Wales, Ireland and Malta.
 * Lutheranism is prevalent in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Northern and Western Germany. There are also minorities throughout Europe, particularly in Southern Germany, Hungary and Alsace and Lorraine (France), with smaller numbers in Austria, Poland, and the Netherlands, Romania (among the German and Hungarian ethnic groups), Switzerland, Italy and the United Kingdom.
 * Methodism is an important minority denomination in both Great Britain and Ireland.