The forging and forgetting the cult of St. Jovan Vladimir in contemporary Montenegro

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. (Less)