The twentieth century, Greeks and Arabs

The Orthodox Church  of today  exists in two contrasting situations: outside the communist

sphere lie the four ancient Patriarchates and Greece, under communism are the Slav Churches

and Romania. Whereas  communism only impinges upon the periphery  of the Roman Catholic

and the Protestant worlds, in the case of the Orthodox Church the vast majority of its members

live in a communist state. At the present moment there are probably between sixty  and ninety

million practicing Orthodox . the number of baptized Orthodox is considerably higher . and

of these more than eighty-five per cent are in communist countries.

  Following this obvious line of division, in this chapter we shall consider the Orthodox

Churches outside the communist bloc, and in the next the position of Orthodoxy in the .second

world.. A third chapter is devoted to the Orthodox .dispersion. in other places, and to Orthodox

missionary activities at the present time.

  Of the seven Orthodox Churches not under communist rule, four . Constantinople, Greece,

Cyprus, Sinai . are predominantly or exclusively Greek; one . Alexandria . is partly Greek,

partly Arab and African; the remaining two . Antioch and Jerusalem . are mainly Arab, al-

though at Jerusalem. the higher administration of the Church is in Greek hands.