Métropolite Stéphane

This article addresses the question of contemporary migrations from an ecclesiological perspective, drawing on the reflections of Metropolitan Stephanos of Tallinn, primate of the Estonian Orthodox Church. In a study that is both pastoral and theological, the author examines the ecclesiological implications of the migratory phenomenon for the Orthodox world, particularly the multiplication of parallel jurisdictions over the same territory in Western Europe. The central idea is that this canonical situation stems from an ecclesial nationalism that the author identifies as an ecclesiological heresy. The contribution of the article lies in the articulation between a contemporary social issue and an ancient canonical problem, that of the territoriality of the Church, thus offering a critical contribution to Orthodox reflection on the unity of the Church in the face of the challenges posed by modern human mobility.

This article reports on the conference delivered by Metropolitan Stephanos, Primate of the Estonian Orthodox Church, during a plenary session devoted to the Christian presence in the contemporary world. In the form of a theological meditation, the author examines the situation of Christians, and more particularly of Orthodox Christians, in the face of two antagonistic realities: religious decline in the West and the rise of fanaticism in the Middle East and Africa. The central idea is that this tension paradoxically constitutes fertile ground for a renewed encounter between the Gospel and the world. On the theological level, the article argues that only a pastoral approach grounded in communion is capable of challenging a secularized society, by restoring to it the meaning of love and opening humanity to a contemplative dimension of reality.

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.