Constantinople and Moscow

This article by Olivier Clément, written in April 1996, analyzes the crisis that led the Patriarchate of Moscow to break communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, following the dispute over the canonical status of Orthodox Christians in Estonia. Drawing on both historical study and theological essay, the text traces the centuries-long alternations in relations between the two sees, from the proclamation of Russian autocephaly in 1448 to the tensions of the post-Cold War era. The central idea is that the crisis reveals a dissociation between two complementary ecclesiological principles: conciliarity and primacy. Clément argues that Constantinople embodies a primacy of service, not of power, while Moscow cannot substitute its demographic weight for genuine universality. The article calls on autocephalous Churches and the diaspora to play a mediating role, and raises the question of the articulation between unity and diversity as a challenge common to Christianity as a whole.