ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the structure of the Christian Church in the world. In order to do so, the chapter starts with two case studies illustrating the way these aspects become disputed. It analyses the ecclesiological discourse, and then a summary at the end of the chapter sums up the findings and provides an intermediary conclusion. Ecclesiology, the study of the nature of the church, has undergone massive changes since Early Christianity. The purpose of the case study presented in this chapter is not only to provide a historically correct rendering of the ecclesiastical entity known as the Paris Exarchate but to trace the discourse surrounding its ecclesiastical standing from the beginnings to the present. The Paris Exarchate as a Russian Orthodox Archbishopric in the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople was founded in 1931. Archbishop Serge’s efforts to reorganise the canonical foundations of the Exarchate must be viewed in light of his wish to secure the future of the Exarchate.
