The question of the "diaspora" at the Pan-Orthodox Council

This article by Antoine Arjakovsky examines the question of the "Orthodox diaspora" placed on the agenda of the Pan-Orthodox Council since 1976. Drawing on historical and ecclesiological study, it traces the evolution of the pre-conciliar process through the conferences of 1990, 1993 and 2009, showing how successive decisions have progressively emptied the episcopal assemblies of their synodal substance. The author identifies three major causes of failure: an ecclesiological opposition between pastoral and eucharistic models of the Church, the sociological and theological inadequacy of the very concept of "diaspora," and a method of consultation that excludes the local Churches of the West. He argues that authentic Orthodox ecclesiology is simultaneously baptismal, eucharistic and pastoral, and cannot be reduced to a territorial or ethnic logic. The contribution of the article lies in concrete proposals: integrating the Churches in formation into conciliar preparation, abandoning the term "diaspora," and formally recognizing the local Churches constituted outside historical canonical territories.