Antoine Van Bruaene

This article by Antoine Van Bruaene offers a synthetic introduction to Orthodoxy intended for a Western readership. Belonging to the genre of theological and historical presentation, it traces the major stages of Orthodox history — from the schism of 1054 to the formation of a diaspora in the West in the twentieth century — while identifying the distinctive features of this tradition: synodal ecclesiology grounded in conciliarity, an apophatic approach to dogma, the centrality of liturgy, and apostolic continuity understood in both a historical and eschatological dimension. The main idea is that Orthodoxy cannot be reduced to its national cultural expressions, but constitutes a universal spiritual reality. The contribution of the article lies in its contextualization of confessional differences and in its outline of a possible complementarity between Orthodoxy and Western Christianity.