The catholicity of the Church

This article by Michel Stavrou, professor at the Saint-Serge Institute in Paris, offers an in-depth theological study of the catholicity of the Church, a fundamental notion of the Christian Creed. Drawing on both a historical and speculative method, the author traces the term back to its patristic origins, particularly in Ignatius of Antioch, in order to bring out its primary meaning: not geographical universality, which is often confused with catholicity, but the fullness and integrity of the Body of Christ. The article shows that this catholicity has its source in the Eucharist celebrated by the local Church under the presidency of the bishop, and that it unfolds in orthodoxy of faith, in conciliarity, and in a trinitarian mode of existence. The major theological contribution lies in the articulation between eucharistic ecclesiology, episcopate, and the Slavic notion of sobornost, while also pointing out the gaps between this ideal and the current realities of the Orthodox Church.