Diaspora (Canonical)

The canonical situation of Orthodox Christians living in the diaspora — outside the traditional homelands of Orthodox Christianity — is one of the most pressing unresolved issues of contemporary Orthodox ecclesiology. The Ecumenical Councils presupposed a territorial model: one bishop, one city. In the diaspora, multiple Orthodox jurisdictions (Russian, Greek, Antiochian, Serbian, Romanian, etc.) coexist in the same territory, technically in violation of the canonical principle of one bishop per city. The Pre-Conciliar Council process and the Holy and Great Council (Crete, 2016) addressed but did not fully resolve this.