Latvian Orthodox Church

Latvian Orthodox Church
Latvijas Pareizticīgā Baznīca
Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ, Riga
Abbreviation	LOC
Classification	Eastern Orthodox
Orientation	Russian Orthodoxy
Theology	Eastern Orthodox theology
Polity	Episcopal
Structure	Communion
Primate	Metropolitan of Riga and all Latvia Aleksandrs Kudrjašovs
Autonomy	1921
Language	Latvian, Church Slavonic
Liturgy	Byzantine Rite
Headquarters	Riga, Latvia
Territory	Latvia
Independence	2022 (de facto)
Separated from	Russian Orthodox Church
Congregations	126 (2019)[1]
Official website	pravoslavie.lv

The Latvian Orthodox Church (Latvian: Latvijas Pareizticīgā Baznīca) is an Eastern Orthodox church in Latvia, part of the wider Eastern Orthodoxy community. The primate of the church carries the title of Metropolitan of Riga and all Latvia (Latvian: Rīgas un visas Latvijas metropolīts). This position has been occupied since October 27, 1990, by metropolitan Aleksandrs Kudrjašovs.

Until 2022, the Latvian Orthodox Church was universally recognized as a self-governing part of the Moscow Patriarchate (Russian Orthodox Church). On 8 September 2022, the Latvian Parliament directed the Latvian Orthodox Church to accept a status of autocephaly^[2] due to Patriarch Kirill's support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As of December 2022, no other Orthodox churches have recognized the autocephaly of the Latvian Church.