The Orthodox church understands itself as the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. (Cf. Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, Crete 2016, Document “Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World,” § 1. All documents of the Council have been published in: Alberto Melloni (ed.), Corpus Christianorum. Conciliorum Oecumenicorum Generaliumque Decreta: Editio Critica, vol. IV/3, The Great Councils of the Orthodox Churches: Decisions and Synodika: Creta 2016 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2016). Also available online at http://holycouncil.org , accessed January 10, 2023.) The notion of catholicity as an expression of both the doctrinal authenticity and the all-embracing ministry of the Church is indeed omnipresent in Orthodox ecclesiology. (Athanasios Vletsis, “Katholizität oder Ökumenizität der Kirche? Das Ringen um die dritte Eigenschaft der Kirche in der orthodoxen Theologie,” in Katholizität – Konfessionalismus oder Weltweite? Beiträge der Ökumenischen Forschungsprojektgruppe an der Katholisch-Theologischen Fakultät Innsbruck, ed. Silvia Hell (Innsbruck: Tyrolia, 2007), 49–91.) Many official documents and handbooks of dogmatics speak not merely of the “Orthodox Church” but also of the “Orthodox Catholic Church.” (Zikos Rosis, Σύστημα δογματικῆς τῆς Ὀρθοδόξου Καθολικῆς Ἐκκλησίας (Anestis Konstantinidou Printing Office, 1903); Panagiotis Trembelas, Δογματικὴ τῆς Ὀρθοδόξου Καθολικῆς Ἐκκλησίας, Vol. 3 (The Brotherhood of Theologians O Sotir, 1959–1961).) However, it is mainly in the twentieth century that Orthodoxy became really catholic in the sense of a global communion. This happened due to the migration movements from traditionally Orthodox countries not only to the West but also to the whole world. (Cf. Ivana Noble et al., The Ways of Orthodox Theology in the West (St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2015). Cf. Paul Ladouceur, Modern Orthodox Theology: Behold I Make All Things New (T&T clark, 2019).) “Diaspora” communities are being established and various, utterly new challenges arise for the Eastern Church, which cannot be considered as exclusively “Eastern” anymore: what implications arise for the Orthodox ecclesiology through the very existence of these communities? (Stéphanie Dufoix, The Dispersion. A History of the Word Diaspora (Brill, 2017); Ciprian Burlăcioiu, “Migration und Diaspora in der Orthodoxie: Eine Annäherung,” Materialdienst des Konfessionskundlichen Instituts Bensheim 73, no. 3 (2022): 109–115.) Do Orthodox minorities have a primarily confessional or rather national identity? What kind of pastoral priorities do they set? How do they behave toward each other and in broader ecumenical and interreligious contexts? How do evangelization commitment and diaspora situation affect each other? My approach is focused mainly on the German context and on theological and ecumenical questions; but almost all observations are applicable to other Western contexts as well, that is, wherever Orthodoxy is present. (This article focuses on the Eastern and not the Oriental Orthodoxy. The text is a translation and further elaboration of: Georgios Vlantis, “Vielfalt unterwegs zur Einheit. Orthodoxie und Ökumene,” Religion und Gesellschaft in Ost und West, no. 6 (2017): 23–25; On Orthodoxy in Germany: Thomas Bremer, Assaad Elias Kattan and Reinhard Thöle, eds., Orthodoxie in Deutschland (Aschendorff, 2016); Nikolaj Thon, “Von alter zur neuer Heimat: Orthodoxe Christen in Deutschland,” in Migrationskirchen: Internationalisierung und Pluralisierung des Christentums vor Ort, ed. Gregor Etzelmüller and Claudia Rammelt (Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2022), 287–306; Burlăcioiu, “Migration und Diaspora in der Orthodoxie.”)

Evangelization or Diaspora?

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发表日期：

2025年

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Georgios Vlantis

摘要

The Orthodox church understands itself as the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. (Cf. Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, Crete 2016, Document “Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World,” § 1. All documents of the Council have been published in: Alberto Melloni (ed.), Corpus Christianorum. Conciliorum Oecumenicorum Generaliumque Decreta: Editio Critica, vol. IV/3, The Great Councils of the Orthodox Churches: Decisions and Synodika: Creta 2016 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2016). Also available online at http://holycouncil.org , accessed January 10, 2023.) The notion of catholicity as an expression of both the doctrinal authenticity and the all-embracing ministry of the Church is indeed omnipresent in Orthodox ecclesiology. (Athanasios Vletsis, “Katholizität oder Ökumenizität der Kirche? Das Ringen um die dritte Eigenschaft der Kirche in der orthodoxen Theologie,” in Katholizität – Konfessionalismus oder Weltweite? Beiträge der Ökumenischen Forschungsprojektgruppe an der Katholisch-Theologischen Fakultät Innsbruck, ed. Silvia Hell (Innsbruck: Tyrolia, 2007), 49–91.) Many official documents and handbooks of dogmatics speak not merely of the “Orthodox Church” but also of the “Orthodox Catholic Church.” (Zikos Rosis, Σύστημα δογματικῆς τῆς Ὀρθοδόξου Καθολικῆς Ἐκκλησίας (Anestis Konstantinidou Printing Office, 1903); Panagiotis Trembelas, Δογματικὴ τῆς Ὀρθοδόξου Καθολικῆς Ἐκκλησίας, Vol. 3 (The Brotherhood of Theologians O Sotir, 1959–1961).) However, it is mainly in the twentieth century that Orthodoxy became really catholic in the sense of a global communion. This happened due to the migration movements from traditionally Orthodox countries not only to the West but also to the whole world. (Cf. Ivana Noble et al., The Ways of Orthodox Theology in the West (St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2015). Cf. Paul Ladouceur, Modern Orthodox Theology: Behold I Make All Things New (T&T clark, 2019).) “Diaspora” communities are being established and various, utterly new challenges arise for the Eastern Church, which cannot be considered as exclusively “Eastern” anymore: what implications arise for the Orthodox ecclesiology through the very existence of these communities? (Stéphanie Dufoix, The Dispersion. A History of the Word Diaspora (Brill, 2017); Ciprian Burlăcioiu, “Migration und Diaspora in der Orthodoxie: Eine Annäherung,” Materialdienst des Konfessionskundlichen Instituts Bensheim 73, no. 3 (2022): 109–115.) Do Orthodox minorities have a primarily confessional or rather national identity? What kind of pastoral priorities do they set? How do they behave toward each other and in broader ecumenical and interreligious contexts? How do evangelization commitment and diaspora situation affect each other? My approach is focused mainly on the German context and on theological and ecumenical questions; but almost all observations are applicable to other Western contexts as well, that is, wherever Orthodoxy is present. (This article focuses on the Eastern and not the Oriental Orthodoxy. The text is a translation and further elaboration of: Georgios Vlantis, “Vielfalt unterwegs zur Einheit. Orthodoxie und Ökumene,” Religion und Gesellschaft in Ost und West, no. 6 (2017): 23–25; On Orthodoxy in Germany: Thomas Bremer, Assaad Elias Kattan and Reinhard Thöle, eds., Orthodoxie in Deutschland (Aschendorff, 2016); Nikolaj Thon, “Von alter zur neuer Heimat: Orthodoxe Christen in Deutschland,” in Migrationskirchen: Internationalisierung und Pluralisierung des Christentums vor Ort, ed. Gregor Etzelmüller and Claudia Rammelt (Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2022), 287–306; Burlăcioiu, “Migration und Diaspora in der Orthodoxie.”)