The Council of 1917-1918 and Afanasiev's Ecclesiology

This article examines the Moscow Council of 1917-1918 through the lens of the ecclesiology of Nicolas Afanassieff (1893-1966), a Russian Orthodox theologian whose work centers on the eucharistic and conciliar nature of the Church. The study adopts a critical theological analysis approach, extending and systematizing the scattered judgments Afanassieff made about this event. The main argument is that the Moscow Council, despite its undeniable spiritual resurgence, presents significant ecclesiological tensions: recourse to the principle of representation as a substitute for episcopal failure, confusion between the autocephalous Church and the local Church in the ancient sense, and the restoration of a patriarchal function marked by a monarchist vision of primacy. The contribution of the article lies in the systematic dialogue it establishes between Afanassieff's communion ecclesiology and the conciliar decisions and method of 1917-1918, thereby offering a coherent theological framework for evaluating this major council of Russian Orthodoxy.