Search

Balkan states have remained susceptible to Russian influence in the 21st century due to a concurrence of contemporary and historical factors. In Serbia, such factors have contributed to the high favourability of Russia among the general public, despite government leadership attempts to balance between these sentiments and relationships with the West. To best understand these trends, one of the most compelling examples is the role of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and the Serbian Orthodox Church in serving as forces to strengthen the shared history of these two nations. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the ROC has served as a vital partner to Putin and to the Russian government in justifying their ideologies, along with the strong transnational presence of the ROC as a soft power. Accordingly, the role of religious institutions as public diplomacy actors is exceedingly important to understand in today’s global setting. For states like Serbia, this presents a setup whereby Russian positions may be shared or reinforced through religious channels. It is, therefore, crucial for scholars, political analysts and public policy makers to better understand the link between religion and public diplomacy, and to formulate policies and programmes that specifically consider activities disseminated by religious institutions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examine the relationship between Church and state in Serbia since the election of the new patriarch in February 2021. They demonstrate the ways in which Church and state have begun to take divergent paths. This is not to suggest that political and ecclesiastical power are not deeply entwined in contemporary Serbia—they are. However, the authors show how—contrary to accounts which present Church and state as practically homologous—clerical and political leaders are increasingly pulling in different directions. They evaluate the key features of what has so far been a brief, but momentous tenure of the Serbian Patriarch Porfirije. A particular emphasis is placed on the new patriarch's ecclesiastical diplomacy, the ever-increasing role of the Church as a mnemonic agent, the Church's reaction to Belgrade hosting an LGBT pride parade and, finally, its rapport with the Serbian government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The area of Kosovo and Metohija represents the political, religious, economic and cultural center of the medieval Serbian state from the beginning of the 14th century until the Battle of Marica in 1371. The aim of this paper is to present to what extent the topics related exclusively to this space are present in scientific works in the last thirty years, which is an indicator of the attention paid to it in Serbian medieval studies in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

The goal of this article is to highlight the religious dimensions of the Covid-19 pandemic in Serbia through sociological interpretation of the institutional role of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC), including the process of the adjustment of clergy and believers to pandemic circumstances. Such an adjustment involves religious discourse, ritual practice, community and institution. A greater attention is thus dedicated to the uniqueness of the church institution in its relation to a broader social community, especially with regard to the discrepancies between the church practices and official state measures and restrictions. This also implies the necessity to mitigate tensions and prevent potential rifts between the religious and secular communities, or church and state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using documents, books and articles written by Nicola Velimirović during World War I, this article investigates his attitude towards this conflagration and shows how his Christian views influence his outlook on this topic. Shared during his visits to the USA and England and via lectures given in venues like Westminster Abbey or Oxford University, his ideas make him a militant for peace and, at the same time, a man who defends his country's cause in front of the AustroHungarian abuses. Investigating his writings from this point of view is important because he manages to show a different face of the future Serbian bishop and brings to the fore his concerns regarding his contemporary society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zbornik Radova Pravnog Fakulteta u Nisu is the property of Law Faculty in Nis and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper deals with the question of the dynamics of relations between the political power elite, the LGBT population and the Serbian Orthodox Church in the overall context of the Europeanization of Serbia. An insight is provided into the mechanism(s) through which the political elite in Serbia reproduces its dominant position. Serbian society is depicted as a captured one, and this is illustrated by empirical findings from a survey and in-depth interviews. This is followed by a focus on the political elite's instrumentalization of the issue of sexual freedom in obtaining international support for maintenance of power through "tactical Europeanization". After this the position of the Serbian Orthodox Church vis-à-vis the state and its alleged support for LGBT issues is considered. The Church seems to have "realized" that being silent on the LGBT issue is more profitable in a symbolic, as well as, in a material sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in the Kingdom of Serbia, under the Constitution and other laws, the Orthodox Church had a privileged position over other recognised religions such as Islamic, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish. Archival documents show that, in practice, legal provisions and international commitments regarding minority religious communities were not respected, and that there was proselytising i.e. conversion to the Orthodox faith, that was not voluntary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the fall of communism in 1989 religious communities has across Eastern Europe been rebuild and revived. The same development can be seen in Montenegro where both traditional and new religious groups has flourished. This development could be called a desecularization of the former communist societies. This paper investigates the revival of one of the major religious groups, the branch of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC), in Montenegro in order to track and identify the development in the particular community after the fall of communism. The purpose of the investigation is to discuss, if the revival of SOC has led to a desecularization of the Montenegrin society in the same manner, as the case is for Serbia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Istraživanja: Journal of Historical Researches is the property of Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A major goal of the Republic of Serbia's foreign policy since 2000 has been the country's integration into the EU. In this respect, in 2012, Serbia became a candidate for EU membership. However, there has been a growing skepticism among the Serbian people about this objective. This ambivalence can be correlated not only with the recent economic crises in some EU countries but also with what are regarded as profound differences in cultural and religious values between Serbia and the EU. This is particularly significant since the majority of Serbia's population are adherents of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which is widely regarded as the defender of traditional values, as well as a staunch opponent of Kosovo's independence, secularization and "so called' modern Western values. Nevertheless, my recent research among a sample of Serbian Orthodox believers regarding their attitudes about the cultural ramifications of Serbia's EU integration is far more nuanced than these attitudes might otherwise appear to be. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During its history of the formation and survival in the context of a direct territorial and political contact with challenges of Roman Catholicism and Islam, the Serbian Orthodox Church has developed a strategy of conservative reaction that does not accept changes or the challenges of modernity. As the counterweight to the lack of strong borders of the Serbian people, the Serbian Orthodox Church has developed strong boarders that protect the Orthodox identity. Paradoxically, although it was stronger than the state in which it developed the religious identity of the citizens, the Church has always remained in the shadow of the state, with the need to be protected and accepted. Of indicators of religiosity, the strongest part of the identity is the icon as a symbolically open system for the presence of the holy. Social aspects of Orthodox religiosity have been maintained for centuries by Slavas, family rituals that carry the message of ancestry and belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This piece takes stock of the current activities and influence of Serbia’s far Right, which inherited the extreme nationalism that informed Milošević and the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. That such nationalism was never fully driven from Serbia’s social and political life has led to the tacit support of fascist ideals in sections of the police, the Serbian Orthodox Church and certain government spokespeople. Violent attacks on LGBT and Roma communities and human rights violations are compounded by the state’s lack of response. The author explores the dominant political climate that fails to recognise the threat from the far Right and equates its political extremism with that of groups campaigning to protect human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Acta Historiae Artis Slovenica is the property of Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences & Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)