Orthodoxy and political myths in Balkan national identities

Abstract

This article analyses the relationship between Balkan national identities and the region's dominant religion: Eastern Orthodox Christianity. After examining the concept of 'symphonia' between Orthodoxy and politics that developed during the Byzantine Empire, this article argues that the political myths that have emerged from Orthodoxy are the most potent in the Balkan mythical imaginary. Political myths have a direct impact on contemporary politics developing a threefold structure: the sacralisation of politics; the perception of the nation as a divine manifestation; and, the construction of a divine realm on earth.

Religion and nationalism: four approaches*

“…Most of the literature in this tradition focuses on particular cases, specifying the ways in which particular religious traditions have shaped particular forms of nationalism. Thus, for example, scholars have traced the influence of Puritanism (and Protestantism more generally) on English nationalism (Greenfeld 1992; Kohn 1940), of Pietism on German nationalism (Lehmann 1982), of Catholicism on Polish nationalism (for a critical review, see Zubrzycki 2006), of Orthodoxy on nationalism in the Balkans (Leustean 2008), of Shinto on Japanese nationalism (Fukase‐Indergaard and Indergaard 2008), of Buddhism on Sinhalese nationalism (Kapferer 1988) and of the Hebraic idea of covenant on Northern Irish, Afrikaaner and Israeli nationalism (Akenson 1992).…”

A New Political Scarecrow? The Political Program and Activity of the ”Serbian Right“

“…At the very beginning of the SD's political program, we encounter a slew of old, extremely traditional and patriarchal values. The emphasis on "patriarchal society" follows a long line of patriarchy in Serbia and the Balkans together (Halpern, Kaser, & Wagner, 1996;Kaser, 1992Kaser, , 2008; the insistence on Orthodoxy has been one of the prime points of the establishment of what the right in Serbia understands as a "Serbian identity", with the Church playing an important role in daily life (Iveković, 2002;Leustean, 2008;Malešević, 2005;Perica, 2002); some scholars have noticed the relevance of the Serbian Orthodox Church in shaping government policies (Barišić, 2016;Vukomanović, 2008).…”

Reconstructions of Serbian National Identity in the Post-Yugoslav Era: A Thematic Survey

“…The autocephalous Serbian Orthodox Church emerged around the tenth century (Vlasto 1970, 208), making it the oldest Serbian institution that has been in continual existence since its inception. Much of Serbian history has been intimately tied up with the Church (Iveković 2002;Kitromilides 1989;Vukomanović 2008;Leustean 2008), although during communist-era Yugoslavia, the state actively discriminated against it and suppressed its influence. The collapse of communism, followed by the collapse of Yugoslavia, reinvigorated the Serbian Orthodoxy, establishing it again as playing a role at the forefront of reconstructed Serbian national identity.…”