Michel Sollogoub

This article is the text of a plenary address delivered by Michel Sollogoub, an economist and Orthodox community leader, at a congress of the Orthodox Brotherhood in Western Europe. Taking both a historical and sociological approach, the author surveys the Orthodox presence in Western Europe from the first migratory waves of the twentieth century. He characterizes the Western cultural environment as a society of "post-Christendom" or "accomplished secularity," a specific context that gives Orthodox Christians in Western Europe a distinctive identity and vocation. The article then analyzes the ecclesiological scandal of overlapping jurisdictions, which are contrary to Orthodox canons, and examines the progress of the pre-conciliar process, notably the Chambésy agreements. Finally, it proposes concrete orientations — pastoral, liturgical, catechetical and ecumenical — toward the establishment of a unified local Church on Western European territory.

This article by Michel Sollogoub, economist and vice-president of ACER, constitutes a panoramic reflection delivered at a congress of the Orthodox Brotherhood in Western Europe. Drawing on twenty years of pan-Orthodox experience since the first gathering in Annecy in 1971, the author takes stock of the Orthodox presence in Western Europe in the face of the cultural, political and social changes of the past two decades. The central idea is that the immigration Churches are in the process of biological extinction, while local communities are slowly emerging, called to a renewed witness. The theological contribution lies in the identification of concrete challenges — cultural universalism, community life, missionary language, ecumenical dialogue — and in the valorisation of a vocation as "mediators" between East and West, inherited from the theologians of the Paris school.

This article by Michel Sollogoub examines the relationship between the Orthodox Church and the secularized Western societies of the second half of the twentieth century. Drawing on ecclesiological reflection of a pastoral nature, it analyzes the economic, ethical, and ideological transformations of the preceding thirty years — consumerism, the crisis of meaning, post-humanist atheism — in order to assess their impact on ecclesial presence. The author identifies and critiques two inadequate attitudes: identity-based withdrawal into a Christendom past and dissolution into secular commitments. He proposes a middle path grounded in the theology of transfiguration and the doctrine of synergy, according to which the Church remains a place of transformation of the world by the Spirit. The article makes a contextual ecclesiological contribution by highlighting the specific challenges of the Western Orthodox diaspora, notably the question of canonical unity and liturgical language.

This article brings together three addresses delivered at an Orthodox congress held in Dijon, organized by the Coordinating Committee of Orthodox Youth in France. These are opening and closing speeches, belonging to the genre of ecclesial address. The main idea concerns the vocation of Orthodoxy in Western Europe: to gather faithful of diverse origins around a common faith, to deepen the Orthodox Tradition, and to bear Christian witness at the heart of Western modernity. From a theological and historical standpoint, these texts document a significant stage in the structuring of the Orthodox presence in Western Europe, marked by episcopal concelebration and cooperation between several jurisdictions, illustrating the challenges of Orthodox unity, the transmission of the faith, and dialogue with contemporary culture.