Category: Global Orthodoxy

Here are links to the previous articles in this series on the global Orthodox crisis of 1917-25: 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 By 1925, following his near-assassination, Patriarch Tikhon’s health was in serious decline. Among other things, his heart was failing, and he suffered from severe inflammation of the mouth. In December…

Here are links to the previous articles in this series on the global Orthodox crisis of 1917-25: 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 In Poland, between 1918 and 1924, some 400 Orthodox churches were confiscated by the Polish government, and others were destroyed. Among these, the Polish Orthodox Christians lost St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral…

Here are links to the previous articles in this series on the global Orthodox crisis of 1917-25: 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 As we begin 1923, just by way of reminder: Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow was under house arrest, and while the famine in Russia was receding somewhat, people were still starving. In Syria,…

Here are links to the previous five articles in this series on the global Orthodox crisis of 1917-25: 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 As 1921 turned to 1922, the Church of Greece rejected the election of Meletios Metaxakis as Ecumenical Patriarch, and formally deposed him. Ignoring this, in February, Meletios was enthroned in Constantinople.…

Here are links to the previous four articles in this series on the global Orthodox crisis of 1917-25: 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 In February 1921, the Red Army invaded Georgia, capturing Tbilisi and then the rest of the country. The communists declared the “Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic” and began a mass persecution of the…

Here are links to the previous three articles in this series on the global Orthodox crisis of 1917-25: 1917 1918 1919 1920 In January 1920, the Ecumenical Patriarchate issued an encyclical “Unto the Churches of Christ everywhere,” calling for the “rapprochement between the various Christian Churches” and the establishment of a “League of Churches” (echoing…

This article is the third in a series on the crisis that engulfed Orthodoxy in the period from 1917 to 1925. Previously, I covered the years 1917 and 1918. Today, we’re moving on to 1919, a year defined by Europe’s transition to a new order following World War I, as well as the continued attempts…

In my previous article, I began a series on the the chaotic nine-year stretch from 1917 to 1925 — an era that nearly destroyed the Orthodox Church, and produced the global Orthodox context in which we live today. Today we turn the page to 1918, when things go from bad to worse. 1918 It is…

Orthodoxy is currently facing a global crisis of unity. While we might be tempted to despair of the well-being of the Church, it is helpful to remember that, not so long ago, Orthodoxy faced a series of threats that were arguably more threatening than the present crisis.