Orthodox Communities in the Middle East

Acton Line

Resources on Catholic and Protestant social thought abound, but where are the resources for answers to the social question to be found in Eastern Orthodoxy?

Dylan Pahman, executive editor of the Journal of Markets & Morality and research fellow at the Acton Institute, has spent his career tracking them down. In this interview, he and Acton’s librarian and research associate, Dan Hugger, explore the nature and unique approach of Orthodox Christian social thought. Then they drill down into the history of Orthodox communities in the Middle East and their creative responses to invasion, conquest, and flux that allowed them to flourish until the 20th century. The example of these communities demonstrates that the universal call to holiness can be embraced even in the most trying circumstances.

Subscribe to our podcasts

Notes on Arab Orthodoxy

Samuel Noble and Alexander Treiger, The Orthodox Church in the Arab World, 700–1700

Constantin Alexandrovich Panchenko, Arab Orthodox Christians Under the Ottomans 1516–1831

Thomas Wright, Early Travels in Palestine

Isaac of Nineveh, Mystic Treatises

John of Damascus, Writings