Tag: Global Orthodox Crisis


The Nine Years that Almost Destroyed the Orthodox Church


Back in March, I published a 9-part series on the global Orthodox crisis of 1917-1925. I've made a few revisions to that account and added an Epilogue and a partial bibliography. Today, I'm publishing all of that -- 9,000+ words, altogether.  Orthodoxy is currently facing a global crisis of unity....

The Nine Years That Almost Destroyed the Orthodox Church: 1925


Here are links to the previous articles in this series on the global Orthodox crisis of 1917-25: 19171918191919201921192219231924 Ecumenical Patriarch Constantine VI 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....

The Nine Years That Almost Destroyed the Orthodox Church: 1924


Here are links to the previous articles in this series on the global Orthodox crisis of 1917-25: 1917191819191920192119221923 Lenin's artificially-preserved body, set up by Stalin as an imitation of incorrupt Orthodox saints In Poland, between 1918 and 1924, some 400 Orthodox churches were confiscated by the Polish government, and others...

The Nine Years That Almost Destroyed the Orthodox Church: 1923


Here are links to the previous articles in this series on the global Orthodox crisis of 1917-25: 191719181919192019211922 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,...

The Nine Years That Almost Destroyed the Orthodox Church: 1922


Here are links to the previous five articles in this series on the global Orthodox crisis of 1917-25: 19171918191919201921 1922 Ecumenical Patriarch Meletios Metaxakis 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,...

The Nine Years That Almost Destroyed the Orthodox Church: 1921


Here are links to the previous four articles in this series on the global Orthodox crisis of 1917-25: 1917191819191920 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...

The Nine Years That Almost Destroyed the Orthodox Church: 1920


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...