Memory and Orthodox reception of the Moscow Council of 1917-1918:

This article by Michel Stavrou examines the memory and Orthodox reception of the Moscow Council of 1917-1918, one hundred years after it took place. Adopting both a theological and ecclesiological approach, the author structures his reflection in two stages. He first diagnoses the crisis of conciliarity affecting the contemporary Orthodox Church at all its levels — parochial, diocesan and inter-ecclesial — drawing on the eucharistic ecclesiology of Afanassieff and Zizioulas. He then shows how the Moscow Council, through its desire to restore sobornost and to involve clergy and laity in ecclesial life, offers concrete avenues for overcoming these dysfunctions. The main contribution of the article is to demonstrate that this territorial council transcends its Russian national context to constitute a model of universal conciliarity, whose legacy directly nourished the theological renewal of the Orthodox School of Paris.