During the twenties of our century a number of Orthodox of Russian and Greek origin found themselves in a situation of parrochial dispersion in Western Europe. There existed already a small number of Orthodox parishes, but they formed nationalistic and patriotic ghettos.

In 1929, a group of people around Fr Lev Gillet began to celebrate in French. It was a group of young orthodox people including the future Father Evgraph Kovalevsky. They wanted to express Orthodoxy in the West, without rejecting French saints.

After 1945 several Orthodox French parishes , celebrating in French were founded, but there were severe jurisdictional and nationalistic divisions.

It is in this generally difficult atmosphere,that the Orthodox Fraternity was founded in the sixties in order to try and overcome the interruption of communion between different fractions of Orthodox communities. It was a lay organization without patriarchal leadership, an agreement between Moscow and the Ecumenical.Patriarchates. Later an Inter-episcopal committee was founded in France : more or less regular gatherings of a group of Bishops Serb ,Russian, Greek , with lay people and the partcipation of one woman - Elisabeth Behr-Sigel. Young lay people insisted on the regularity of the meetings of this committee, including young laymen, women, etc.

The work done in the diaspora - discussions on ecumenical work, on ecclesiology , on autonomy and brotherhood - finally led to a transformation of the Inter-episcopal Committee. They wrote new statutes handed to the Ecumenical Patriarch and French government authorities. By 1995 there were no more gatherings of the Committee , which explained a very passionate tone in the debate of last autumn's conference.

Early in 1997 there was an announcement of the creation of an Assembly of Orthodox Bishops in France, which was approved by all the particiates. For the moment, the aims, the tasks and perspectives of this new Assembly, which is to replace the former Inter-episcopal Committee are not yet very clear.

The conference of the Fraternity is held regularly every four years in autumn, every time in a different place in western Europe. It gives many Orthodox (last year there were just under 700 participants) usually dispersed in Europe to meet , discuss, hear conferences on theological, ethical or ecclesiological subjects and partake in the services,at least one if not two liturgies in which all the clergy and people have the time to go to confession and take holy communion.

It is also interesting to note that since around 1990 there has regularly been organized a workshop of discussions around the subject of "the place of women" in the Orthodox Church.