Celebration of the 80th anniversary of Olivier Clément by the Orthodox Fraternity in Western Europe

This article brings together the speeches delivered on the occasion of the eightieth birthday of Olivier Clément, a French Orthodox theologian, during celebrations organized by the Orthodox Fellowship in Western Europe. It takes the form of a collective testimony, comprising notably an address by Father Michel Evdokimov and a response by Olivier Clément himself. The central idea is twofold: to pay tribute to a prominent figure in ecumenical and intercultural dialogue, and to reaffirm the vocation of the Orthodox Fellowship as a body of service on behalf of all Orthodox bishops in Western Europe, regardless of national affiliations. On the theological and ecclesiological level, the article sheds light on the construction of a local Orthodox identity in the West, on the necessary collaboration between laity and bishops, and on the aspiration to transcend national particularisms in order to constitute an Orthodox Church fully rooted in the contemporary European context.