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This article characterises and contrasts the most visible changes in the Serbian Church's public role with less visible and analysed trends among its believers. A very tight intertwining of the religious and the political elevated the Serbian Church's institutional position, secured an unprecedented construction boom, and even influenced some devotional practices of the faithful, especially through victimhood-oriented collective identity building. Yet our research demonstrates the ambiguous impact of these changes on believers, whose lives revolve around the liturgical cycle, fasting, and reverence for monasticism. These differences have already created rifts within the Church. In a trend that it is unrecognised by secular observers, it seems that some believers are increasingly differentiating between their ethnic and confessional identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the fall of Communism, the Serbian Orthodox Church has experienced a significant revival, part of which has been the recollection of past events, personas, sites and shrines in order to re-establish its position in the post-Yugoslav republics. One of these processes of recollection is devoted to the cult of St. Jovan Vladimir (d.1016) and the sites associated with him in southern Montenegro. This article analyzes the forging of this memorialisation in its material form in the Serbian Orthodox Church as well as the erasure of rival processes of memorialisation. The reconstruction of memories and re-consecration of shrines is taking place across Eastern Europe today and the purpose of this study is to identify the key factors that determine the success or otherwise of such projects. It is focussed, in particular, on the 'consecrating' of four key sites closely related to the cult, all of which have been trans-national and trans-religious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a brief overview of the history of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the article documents the dramatic changes in the last two decades that resulted in the unforeseen political, social and spiritual vigour the Serbian Orthodox Church currently enjoys. The images of vitality and growth, however, conceal problems and dilemmas which they bring along. Several of these are singled out, such as the clericalisation and centralisation of decision making, lack of transparency and the worrying neglect of many important spheres of church praxis - for example, education. The article concludes that the bitter division between conservatives and reformers among bishops will continue to haunt the church as it faces theserious challenges that lie ahead in relation to its mission. Furthermore, in theatmosphere of fragile peace in former Yugoslavia, all churches, including the Serbian Orthodox Church, need to dissociate themselves from extreme nationalism in their ranks before any attempts at inter-confessional dialogue and peace building can make sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]