Category: Eastern and Southeastern Europe
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Ukrainian Nationhood, “Russkii Mir,” and the Abuse of History
by Thomas Bremer Many observers of the current war in Ukraine who try to analyze its deeper reasons refer to the idea of a “Russian World,” “Russkii Mir.” This idea, they claim, is the key concept behind the Russian aggression, and shows the tight connection between religion and politics in Russia. A glance at the […]
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When Putin Takes Revenge on His Own History
by Assaad Elias Kattan | български | ქართული | Русский A Greek version of this text is available at Polymeros kai Polytropos, the blog of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies At the time of writing, the tsar’s fighter jets are pounding the gorgeous Kyiv, and air raid sirens are echoing everywhere. “Who has believed […]
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Help Ukraine by Recognizing the OCU’s Autocephaly
by Andreja Bogdanovski | български | ქართული | ελληνικά | Română | Русский | Српски Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the West has displayed a significant level of unity and solidarity with Ukraine. Comprehensive sanctions against Russia’s leadership coupled with military support to the Ukrainians have been at the forefront […]
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Patriarch Kirill and Vladimir Putin’s Two Wars
by Sergei Chapnin | български | ქართული | ελληνικά | Română | Русский | Српски It’s hard to talk. It’s hard to think. It’s very hard to pray. It’s a shock. And it’s scary to realize that I was wrong not to believe there would be a war. No, I did not believe it at […]
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Hitler and Putin: 1938 and 2022
by Paul Gavrilyuk | български | ქართული | ελληνικά | Română | Русский | Српски Hitler delivered his speech of September 12, 1938 to the German Reichstag a few weeks before the German tanks rolled over the German-Czech border to invade Czechoslovakia; Putin delivered his speech of February 21, 2022 to the Russian nation as […]
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Why Orthodox Art in Eastern Europe Matters
by Alice Isabella Sullivan and Maria Alessia Rossi | български | ქართული | ελληνικά | Română | Русский | Српски The Orthodox art of the predominantly Eastern Christian regions of Eastern Europe has much to offer, yet it has been relegated to the margins of inquiry. Outside of local communities and circles of academic specialists, […]
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The Belarusian Protests and the Orthodox Church
by Archimandrite Cyril Hovorun | ελληνικά | ру́сский In Russia, there is a widely spread superstition that August brings national-scale catastrophes. The mass protests in Belarus against Alyaksandr Lukashenka are seen as such a catastrophe for the regime of Vladimir Putin. Even though Mr. Lukashenka struggled to preserve some independence for his country from Russia, Belarus under his rule represented […]
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Behind Montenegro’s 2019 Law on Religious Freedom and Institutions
by Ilijana Todorovic | ελληνικά | српски [This article assesses Montenegro’s controversial religion legislation approved by parliament in December, 2019.] The main subject of the Montenegrin law is ownership of religious property. Although every single article of the law has legal deficiencies, the most significant problems are presented in Articles 62 and 63. These two articles […]
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When Icons Make You Sick
by Elena Romashko | ελληνικά | Română | српски The publication of this essay coincides with the anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, Saturday, April 26, 1986. In March 2020, we were asked to work from home because of the pandemic of coronavirus. We could not even imagine how quickly the situation would escalate to a […]