Olivier Clément and the unification of Orthodoxy in France

This article by Metropolitan Stephanos of Tallinn pays tribute to Olivier Clément while examining the question of the canonical unity of Orthodoxy in France. Drawing on personal theological testimony, it traces the history of the Orthodox presence in France from the great migrations of the early twentieth century to contemporary ecclesiological debates. The central idea is that phyletism and autocephalism constitute major obstacles to the formation of a canonically unified local Orthodox Church, in contradiction with eucharistic and conciliar ecclesiology. The author shows that Olivier Clément played a decisive role in reflection on the ethnicity-catholicity equation, particularly through his 1977 Amiens conference, whose proposals remain relevant today. The article thus sheds historical and theological light on the structural tensions within the Orthodox diaspora in the West and on Clément's intellectual legacy in this debate.