The patriarchal letter of the Patriarch of Alexandria Meletios II to Metropolitan Anthony Khrapovitsky (1927)

This article presents the first French translation of a 1927 patriarchal letter addressed by Meletios II, Patriarch of Alexandria, to Metropolitan Anthony Khrapovitsky, who was then seeking an ecclesiological opinion on the canonical status of the Russian Church Outside Russia. Bishop Gregory (Papathomas), Metropolitan of Peristerion, offers an introductory study accompanying this translation. The central idea defended by Meletios II is that ecclesial organization must rest on the territorial principle rather than on ethnic criteria, with belonging to Christ constituting the only legitimate common denominator of the faithful. From a theological and historical standpoint, the document sheds valuable light on the canonical debates concerning the Orthodox diaspora in the twentieth century, and bears witness to the fact that the Ecumenical Patriarchate's claim to administer all Orthodox diasporas did not receive the unanimous agreement of the other autocephalous Churches.