Abkhazian Orthodox Church

Abkhazian Orthodox Church Абхазская Православная церковь
Abkhazian church standard
Independence	15 September 2009
Recognition	None
Primate	Vissarion Aplaa
Headquarters	Sukhumi
Territory	Abkhazia
Language	Abkhaz, Russian
Bishops	2
Parishes	144
Monasteries	2
Website	aiasha.ru

The Abkhazian Orthodox Church (Russian: Абхазская Православная церковь) is an Eastern Orthodox church outside the official Eastern Orthodox ecclesiastical hierarchy. It came into existence when the Sukhumi-Abkhazian Eparchy declared on 15 September 2009 that it no longer considered itself part of the Georgian Orthodox Church and that it was "re-establishing the Catholicate of Abkhazia disbanded in 1795".

The Abkhazian Orthodox church is organised into two eparchies, one in Pitsunda and one in Sukhumi. The Pitsunda Cathedral is the church's chief cathedral. The church is currently led by priest Vissarion Aplaa. It has nine parishes and one monastery, at Kaman.

The Abkhazian Orthodox Church considers itself to be the continuation of the Catholicate of Abkhazia. The Catholicate of Abkhazia was disbanded in 1814, when all local dioceses were taken over by the Russian Orthodox Church. They then became part of the Georgian Orthodox Church following the fall of Tsar Nicholas II in 1917.

The Abkhazian orthodox dioceses fall under the canonically recognized territory of the Georgian Orthodox Church as Sukhumi-Abkhazian eparchy. After the 1992-1993 war in Abkhazia, ethnically Georgian priests had to flee Abkhazia and the Georgian Orthodox church effectively lost control of Abkhazian church affairs. The last Georgian monks and nuns, based in the upper Kodori Valley, were expelled early in 2009 after they resisted pressure from the Abkhaz authorities to sever allegiance to the Georgian church.