Phyletism, Territory, and the Orthodox Identity Crisis: Orthodox Episcopacy in a Multicultural Society

abstract: Drawing upon social, political, and ethical theory, as well as church history and ecclesiology, this essay begins with a brief discussion of the origins of phyletism within the history of the Church, implicating a failure to adequately recognize the importance culture plays in communal identity as holding responsibility for the emergence of phyletism. I will highlight the influence of geopolitical circumstances on the origins and development of the jurisdictional structure of the episcopate, and then examine the principle of territoriality as it relates to the ecclesial status of autocephaly within the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church, arguing that despite its canonicity, this principle ought to be understood as pragmatic rather than dogmatic. Subsequently, I will place Orthodoxy in dialogue with insights from contemporary analyses of globalization and multiculturalism as a means of better enabling Orthodox Christianity to come to terms with its own internal cultural diversity and position within global society. Finally, I will suggest ways in which the Church may begin to formulate and enact a form of Orthodox Christian multiculturalism.