Closing speech

This article reproduces the closing address delivered by Father Jean Gueit at a congress of the Orthodox Brotherhood in Western Europe. It is a conclusive synthesis that combines personal testimony and ecclesiological reflection. The author draws on his experience as a Russian-speaking Orthodox Christian integrated into French culture to address the contemporary challenges of Orthodox Christianity in the diaspora: the integration of new waves of migration, ecumenical engagement, and canonical unity. The central theological contribution concerns the ecclesiological foundations of unity: the eucharistic principle, according to which bishop and assembly cannot exist without one another, and the territorial principle derived from the 34th Apostolic Canon, which makes ecclesial concord contingent upon the integrity of dioceses. The author argues that the overlapping of jurisdictions undermines this integrity and that the restoration of a rigorous canonical ecclesiology constitutes a theological necessity, and not merely an administrative matter.