What is Orthodox.News?
Launched at the end of March 2026, this site uses artificial intelligence (AI) to provide a weekly overview of international news from the Orthodox world (Byzantine-tradition Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches). For gathering, cross-referencing, and organising information from dozens of sources, the site uses Claude AI (Anthropic).
Such a press review would exceed the capacity of any single individual, but the possibilities opened by artificial intelligence tools make it feasible to monitor and extract relevant information from a very broad range of sources in multiple languages.
The Weekly Review of Orthodox Church News is produced on the basis of detailed instructions provided by the site’s editor. As successive editions are published and the generated content analysed, Claude is trained with a view to continuously improving the product at various levels.
AI is not immune to errors. Oversight is necessary. A manual check by the editor ensures, as far as possible, that the text does not contain any obvious errors or “hallucinations” (invented quotations and sources). The editor also endeavours to prevent the use of out-of-date sources. Readers of this website are welcome to bring any factual errors or inaccurate references they may have spotted to our attention
The Weekly Review of Orthodox Church News aims to go beyond a mere enumeration of news items. Drawing on its scan of current affairs, it seeks to identify trends, emergent issues and debates. It also notes any significant new publications or conferences it has identified.
By its nature, a review of this kind must draw on a wide variety of news reports and analyses. Even when striving to offer factual documentation, different approaches and viewpoints may come through. Some information may be controversial: Orthodox.News reports on it, but also publishes any denials or subsequent information that corrects what has been reported. The use of any given source by Orthodox.News does not in any way imply an editorial position on the part of the editor, and simply reflects the internal diversity and tensions that run through the Orthodox world as well.
For the time being, in addition to certain fixed elements, Orthodox.News will publish solely the Weekly Review of Orthodox Church News. In due course, other news items or analyses may also find a place here.
Who is the Editor?
The editor of Orthodox.News is Jean-François Mayer, a Swiss historian specialising in the study of contemporary religious movements. He is the founder of the Institut Religioscope and of the Religioscope website on religious factors in today’s world, of which he served as editor-in-chief from 2002 to 2024 and to which he continues to contribute. The author of numerous studies, Jean-François Mayer is also the Assistant Editor of Religion Watch, a monthly newsletter on religion currently published by Baylor University.
Jean-François Mayer is himself an Orthodox Christian and takes part in the life of an Orthodox parish in Switzerland. He occasionally addresses Orthodox themes in academic settings, though this is not his primary field of research. In 2014, he co-edited (with Maria Hämmerli) the volume Orthodox Identities in Western Europe: Migration, Settlement and Innovation (Routledge). He is the founder and administrator of Orthodoxie.ch, a directory of Orthodox parishes in Switzerland that has been in existence since 2003. He is also the editor of the Western Rite Orthodox Information website, which was established in 2011.
28 March 2026