European Orthodoxy in the Twentieth Century

We are living in a happy time when, as I have repeatedly noted on here, interest in, and introductions to, Orthodoxy continue to be published by major publishers. Now the academic publisher Peter Lang has just sent me another, a translation of a book first published in French in 2009: Christine Chaillot, ed., The Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century (Peter Lang, 2011, xviii+464 pp.).

About this book the publisher provides the following synopsis and table of contents:

It is common knowledge that the majority of the population of Eastern Europe belong to the Christian Orthodox tradition. But how many people have an adequate knowledge of the past or even of the present of these Orthodox churches? This book aims to present an introduction to this history written for a general audience, both Christian and non-Christian. After the 1917 revolution in Russia, communism spread to most of the countries of Eastern Europe. By 1953, at the time of Stalin's death, the division between Eastern and Western Europe seemed absolute. However, the advent of perestroika at the end of the 1980s brought about political changes that have enabled the Orthodox Church to develop once again in Eastern Europe. The foundation of the European Union in 1993 has had a broader significance for Orthodox communities, who can now participate in the future development of Europe. Some Orthodox Churches already have their representatives at the European Union in Brussels. These include the patriarchates of Constantinople, Russia and Romania, along with the Church of Greece and the Church of Cyprus. Today, Europe is becoming increasingly religiously diverse, even within Christianity itself. A growing number of Orthodox Christians have come to work and settle in Western Europe. An understanding of the history of the Orthodox communities in Eastern Europe in the twentieth century will contribute, in a spirit of informed dialogue, to the shaping of a new united Europe that is still in the process of expansion.

Contents:
Kallistos Ware: Foreword
Christine Chaillot: Introduction
Andreas Nanakis: History of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in the Twentieth Century
Grigorios D. Papathomas: History of the Church of Greece in the Twentieth Century
Andreas N. Mitsides: The Church of Cyprus during the Twentieth Century
Todor Sabev: The Orthodox Church of Bulgaria in the Twentieth Century
Predag Puzovic: A Short History of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the 20th century in Former Yugoslavia
Anastasios Yanoulatos: Some Notes on the History of the Orthodox Church of Albania in the Twentieth Century and its Resurrection from 1991
Mircea Pacurariu: The Romanian Orthodox Church in the Twentieth Century
Emil Dragnev: The Orthodox Church in Moldova in the Twentieth Century
Etele Kiss: A History of the Orthodox Church in Hungary in the Twentieth Century
Christopher Pulec/George Stránsk: The Orthodox Church in the Czech Lands & Slovakia
Antoni Mironowicz: The Orthodox Church in Poland in the Twentieth Century
Alexander Gavrilin/Baiba Pazane: The Orthodox Church in the Twentieth Century in the Baltic States: Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia
Feodor Krivonos: The Belarusian Orthodox Church in the Twentieth Century
Sophia Senyk: The Orthodox Church in Ukraine in the Twentieth Century
Mikhail Vitalievich Shkarovsky: The Russian Orthodox Church in the Twentieth Century
Zaza Abashidze: The Orthodox Church of Georgia in the Twentieth Century

I look forward to seeing this reviewed in Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies.