House church (Russia)

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A wing of Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo with a built-in house church of Russian tsars
A wing of Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo with a built-in house church of Russian tsars

House church (Russian: домовая церковь) in Russia is an independent church intended for members of a certain household or an institution, such as a university, a prison, an orphanage, a boarding school, a seminary, etc., unlike a parish church intended for everyone and under jurisdiction of the corresponding administrative unit of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 1917 there were over 200 house churches in Moscow alone. All home churches were abolished in the Soviet Union. Russian emigration maintained a number of home churches. Their establishment renewed in post-Soviet Russia.

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