Missionary in its being, the Church also performs its divine work in the ad extra area of other cultures, mentalities and ethnic groups. Diaspora has always been a challenge for the mission of the Church. The panel dedicated to this issue by our symposium seeks to identify new challenges at the beginning of the third millennium.
Recent events like the fall of the Berlin wall, the migration of workforce, globalization and the exacerbated consumerism have led to an ever increasing presence of Orthodoxy within Western Europe and beyond.
The presence of Eastern Christianity in this environment often requires a new confession of faith, by the each of its members. In the dynamic context of disapora, peoples’ identity and culture are genuine bridges to other civilizations and spiritualities. The Church answers the new challenges of multiculturalism, multiethnicism and multiconfessionalism with the Savior’s wish, that they may be one (Jn. 17, 11).
