by Nicolas Kazarian,
The Orthodox Church is a complex geopolitical reality, and does not constitute a homogenous block. On the contrary, the rise of irredentism during the 19th century has created the basis for constant fragmentation throughout the 20th century. A series of historical events have reduced the territory of Orthodox communities, leading local populations to leave for the West, redefining the map of Orthodoxy. The events in question include the Russian Revolution (1917), the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey (1923), the Ustashe massacres (1942-1944), the rise of Communism in the Balkans (1945), the beginning of the modern conflicts in the Middle East (1948), the invasion and division of Cyprus (1974), the Lebanese Civil War (1975), the Balkan conflicts (1991-2000), the collapse of the Soviet Union (1991), the invasion of Iraq (2003), the independence of Kosovo (2008), the Russo-Georgian War (2008), the Arab Spring (2010) as well as the Syrian crisis (2011), and more recently the conflict in Ukraine (2013).
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