This paper focuses on the contemporary controversy in the Orthodox Church regarding the non-existence of the monasteries, where monks and nuns cohabit (so-called “double-monasteries”), which were prohibited by the Byzantine legislation and the Seventh Ecumenical Council (Nicea 787). The article attempts to demonstrate that, in spite of the centuries-old prohibition, the Orthodox Monastery of St. John the Baptist is an exceptional contemporary case of such cohabitation: monks and nuns live under the roof of the same monastery, sharing common places and certain activities. Furthermore, the paper envisions a possible accommodation in the monastic vision and practice regarding gender cohabitation in Orthodox monasticism. The research employs the historical-critical method, which is based on literary, archeological, and documentary sources, as well as interviews.

The purpose of this article is to study the Romanian Orthodox place of worship of Lunghezza in Rome, utilizing the expression ‘shared religious place’ and thus referring to the shift from secular to religious and asserting that it is now a camouflaged religious place. Using GIS mapping and Digital Humanities methods and tools, the paper analyses the geographical presence of Orthodox Romanians in the Metropolitan City of Rome territory and the architectural typologies of their places of worship. The history and geography of the church in Lunghezza, a former stable converted into a house of worship, reveals the form of the resilience of the Romanian Orthodox parishes, forced to find various and compelling solutions in order to survive as places of worship.

The Romanian Orthodox Diaspora in Italy: Strategies and Dynamics in Establishing and Use of Places of Worship. This paper presents the reality of religious diversity in contemporary Italy, which has in its center one of the largest and most mediatized religious and ethnic groups, that is, the Orthodox Romanians. In the last decade, this religious group has undergone an extensive process of stabilization and settling, which is visible both in material (through the purchase or construction of their own places of worship) and demographic terms (through the growing number of those who apply for Italian citizenship). Despite the number of believers and the multitude of parishes, this religious group still has difficulties building its own places of worship because they are not recognized as religious entities by the Italian state. Based on some representative examples, the article focuses primarily on the dynamics and strategies of establishing and managing the places of worship of Romanian Orthodox parishes. We use an interdisciplinary method, combining historical, social, and ethnographic tools.