What could be the common denominator between political figures as different as Egyptian UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, candidate to the US presidency and governor Dukakis, Palestinian leader George Habash, the late Greek actress and Socialist minister Melina Mercouri, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the emperor Haile Selasie, or actors Tom Hanks and Gérard Depardieu? Neither Catholic, nor Protestant, all these men and women were raised in an Oriental Christian culture, or became converts (like Hanks and Depardieu) as were the 200 to 300 million others today calling themselves Orthodox Christians. Compared to the growing statistics of Catholicism and Islam, Eastern Christianity looks like a small portion of humanity. Yet the membership and geographic distribution of this minority are certainly large enough to request more information than is usually circulated about who and what is Orthodox. At a time when globalization is throwing the most unexpected partners into each other's arms on a shrinking dancing floor, there is a growing need to find out who we share the planet with, and especially how we plan to share it in the future. What role could the Eastern Christian-Orthodox world play on the local scenes and on the planetary geopolitical chessboard?
A good start in answering the question is to recognize that Eastern Orthodoxy is regaining strength in its traditional areas of influence such as Eastern Europe although this trend is not mentioned in current relevant discussions. One could say Orthodoxy is decidedly ignored; in Lebanon for example, serious attention has been granted to a small group like the Druzes, and none to their Orthodox neighbors who represent 6% of the population; nor is the place of the 3 million Orthodox Copts of Egypt questioned in the uncertain future of their country and in Middle Eastern politics.
In any case, it is certain that there is a resurgence of religious interest in East-Central Europe. In the late 80s and 90s, clerics from different religions of Eastern and Central Europe (ECE), and many of their leaders (including the bishops of Rome, Costantinople and Moscow), were unanimously concerned about the practical difficulties involved in finding the time and the resources to handle the flow of converts pouring into their parishes in overwhelming masses.(2) It is sufficient to open at random any set of parochial records to corroborate those claims and find surges of 100% or more, in baptismal statistics. Andrew Greeley, with risked providing an estimate for Russia, which has the largest Orthodox community. The rough estimate is quite expressive: one third of Russians who did not believe in God before 1991, have "changed their minds" since the fall of communism.(3)
A good start in answering the question is to recognize that Eastern Orthodoxy is regaining strength in its traditional areas of influence such as Eastern Europe although this trend is not mentioned in current relevant discussions. One could say Orthodoxy is decidedly ignored; in Lebanon for example, serious attention has been granted to a small group like the Druzes, and none to their Orthodox neighbors who represent 6% of the population; nor is the place of the 3 million Orthodox Copts of Egypt questioned in the uncertain future of their country and in Middle Eastern politics.
In any case, it is certain that there is a resurgence of religious interest in East-Central Europe. In the late 80s and 90s, clerics from different religions of Eastern and Central Europe (ECE), and many of their leaders (including the bishops of Rome, Costantinople and Moscow), were unanimously concerned about the practical difficulties involved in finding the time and the resources to handle the flow of converts pouring into their parishes in overwhelming masses.(2) It is sufficient to open at random any set of parochial records to corroborate those claims and find surges of 100% or more, in baptismal statistics. Andrew Greeley, with risked providing an estimate for Russia, which has the largest Orthodox community. The rough estimate is quite expressive: one third of Russians who did not believe in God before 1991, have "changed their minds" since the fall of communism.(3)