The presence of Orthodoxy in Western Europe

This article by Michel Sollogoub, economist and vice-president of ACER, constitutes a panoramic reflection delivered at a congress of the Orthodox Brotherhood in Western Europe. Drawing on twenty years of pan-Orthodox experience since the first gathering in Annecy in 1971, the author takes stock of the Orthodox presence in Western Europe in the face of the cultural, political and social changes of the past two decades. The central idea is that the immigration Churches are in the process of biological extinction, while local communities are slowly emerging, called to a renewed witness. The theological contribution lies in the identification of concrete challenges — cultural universalism, community life, missionary language, ecumenical dialogue — and in the valorisation of a vocation as "mediators" between East and West, inherited from the theologians of the Paris school.