Grégoire Papathomas

This article presents the first French translation of a 1927 patriarchal letter addressed by Meletios II, Patriarch of Alexandria, to Metropolitan Anthony Khrapovitsky, who was then seeking an ecclesiological opinion on the canonical status of the Russian Church Outside Russia. Bishop Gregory (Papathomas), Metropolitan of Peristerion, offers an introductory study accompanying this translation. The central idea defended by Meletios II is that ecclesial organization must rest on the territorial principle rather than on ethnic criteria, with belonging to Christ constituting the only legitimate common denominator of the faithful. From a theological and historical standpoint, the document sheds valuable light on the canonical debates concerning the Orthodox diaspora in the twentieth century, and bears witness to the fact that the Ecumenical Patriarchate's claim to administer all Orthodox diasporas did not receive the unanimous agreement of the other autocephalous Churches.

This article by Grégoire Papathomas examines the canonical question of ecclesial diptychs within the contemporary Orthodox Church, that is, the order of precedence of the Churches in their liturgical commemoration. Drawing on an ecclesiological and canonical study, it analyzes the progressive distortions introduced into the structure of the diptychs from the Council of Chalcedon (451) to the present day. The author argues that ethno-phyletism, an ecclesiological legacy of the second millennium, constitutes the principal cause of current disagreements over the taxis of the Orthodox Churches. He shows that unilateral modifications to the conciliar diptychs, notably through the attribution of honorary patriarchal titles to national autocephalous Churches, have given rise to two divergent lists incompatible with the canonical Tradition. The contribution of the article lies in the rigorous distinction between the conciliar diptychs of the first millennium, which are inalienable, and the Orthodox diptychs of the second millennium, and in the formulation of concrete canonical proposals in view of the future Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church.