A Glimpse into the Future of the Church of Constantinople from 1920 in the Articles of E. Loukaras

Abstract

The author’s aim is to show that the systematic formulation of the theory of the ecumenical primacy and special rights of the Patriarch of Constantinople at the church-wide level really began in the 1920s. This is connected not so much with the activities of certain personalities as with the tremendous historical changes that marked the beginning of a new epoch in the life of the entire Orthodox Church and finally made possible the realization of the ideas that had undoubtedly been expressed at earlier stages. A series of small notes by Emmanuel Loukaras, which appeared in the official church periodicals, further confirm the correctness of such a periodization. This article is accompanied by a translation of four of the most important texts of the Greek author, who, appealing to the changing historical situation, proposes his project of transforming the Patriarchate of Constantinople into the administrative center of the Orthodox Church, discusses the model within which the future role of the Ecumenical Patriarch should be formed, as well as the functions and rights that will be associated with its new position. Much of what he described was later actualized in practice. The publication of these essays may well be regarded as a kind of starting point in the history of the development of the claims of the Patriarch of Constantinople to a special role in the Orthodox Church.