Serbian Orthodox Church Research Articles

On the crossroads of faith: the catholic church and the Serbian Orthodox Church in the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes/Yugoslavia through the eyes of US ministers and consuls in Belgrade and Zagreb

On the crossroads of faith: the catholic church and the Serbian Orthodox Church in the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes/Yugoslavia through the eyes of US ministers and consuls in Belgrade and Zagreb

RUSSIA’S HYBRID WARFARE IN THE WESTERN BALKANS: GEOPOLITICAL STRATEGIES AND PROXY ACTORS

This paper examines Russia’s hybrid warfare tactics against the Western Balkans, focusing on using direct and indirect methods to exert influence in the region. The study delves into Russia’s strategic use of media manipulation, cyberattacks, and disinformation campaigns, alongside its employment of proxy state and non-state actors such as Serbia, Republika Srpska, and the Serbian Orthodox Church. Leveraging historical, cultural, and religious ties, Russia seeks to destabilize the Western Balkans and prevent closer integration with NATO and the European Union. Special attention is given to the geopolitics of elections, where Russia manipulates electoral processes in countries like Montenegro and North Macedonia to favour pro-Russian or anti-Western political forces. By analyzing key case studies, this paper explores how Russian hybrid warfare exploits regional vulnerabilities—such as ethnic divisions and weak political institutions—while employing tactics of soft power and military cooperation. The findings indicate that Russia’s hybrid warfare, including electoral manipulation, poses a significant threat to regional stability and international security, underscoring the need for strengthened Western engagement to counter Russian influence. This study offers critical insights into the evolving nature of hybrid warfare and its implications for the geopolitical landscape of Southeast Europe.

RUSSIA’S HYBRID WARFARE IN THE WESTERN BALKANS: GEOPOLITICAL STRATEGIES AND PROXY ACTORS

This paper examines Russia’s hybrid warfare tactics against the Western Balkans, focusing on using direct and indirect methods to exert influence in the region. The study delves into Russia’s strategic use of media manipulation, cyberattacks, and disinformation campaigns, alongside its employment of proxy state and non-state actors such as Serbia, Republika Srpska, and the Serbian Orthodox Church. Leveraging historical, cultural, and religious ties, Russia seeks to destabilize the Western Balkans and prevent closer integration with NATO and the European Union. Special attention is given to the geopolitics of elections, where Russia manipulates electoral processes in countries like Montenegro and North Macedonia to favour pro-Russian or anti-Western political forces. By analyzing key case studies, this paper explores how Russian hybrid warfare exploits regional vulnerabilities—such as ethnic divisions and weak political institutions—while employing tactics of soft power and military cooperation. The findings indicate that Russia’s hybrid warfare, including electoral manipulation, poses a significant threat to regional stability and international security, underscoring the need for strengthened Western engagement to counter Russian influence. This study offers critical insights into the evolving nature of hybrid warfare and its implications for the geopolitical landscape of Southeast Europe.

Sites of the Memory of the Serbian Nation in Kosovo and the Place of Kosovo in the Collective Memory of the Serbs

Drawing on the conceptual framework of sites of memory and collective memory, the study examines Kosovo as a crucial site of Serbian national memory, focusing on the historic Battle of Kosovo in 1389. Through a qualitative analysis based on primary and secondary sources, it addresses the question of why, when, and how Kosovo became a prominent part of the Serbian collective memory. In this regard, the study explores the contribution of the Serbian Orthodox Church, historical narratives, myths, monuments, memorials, songs, poems, and other cultural expressions in both achieving and maintaining Kosovo's distinctive position within the collective memory of the Serbian nation. Moreover, the study explores Serbian perceptions and socially constructed images related to Kosovo, the Battle of Kosovo, and the national heroes central to this significant event. Finally, it scrutinizes the resurgence of the Kosovo narrative for political objectives orchestrated by Serbian political elites, with particular attention given to the influence of Slobodan Milosevic.

Carrying the Cross of Discord

This article investigates the traditional procession of the cross of Vladimir of Dioclea, known as Jovan Vladimir among the Serbians. The ritual is annually held on Trinity Day in June near the city of Bar in Montenegro. Vladimir ruled over the Principality of Dioclea at the beginning of the eleventh century and is venerated as the first Serbian as well as the first Montenegrin saint. Orthodox pilgrims had been carrying the cross up to Mount Rumija for centuries alongside the Catholic and Muslim communities of southern coastal Montenegro, where the saint’s relic has been equally respected by all confessions. After being discouraged by socialist Jugoslav authorities, the ritual was fully restored in the 1990s. However, in 2005 a metal church was erected on the peak of the mountain by the Serbian Orthodox Church, recalling the myth of an old church demolished by the Ottomans in the sixteenth century. This unilateral action induced the other groups to give up the ritual. The dispute over the legitimacy of the metal church in Rumija reveals forms of conflict, negotiation and interaction that redefine the inter-religious and political landscape of Montenegro. Based on fieldwork conducted in 2022 and in 2023, this article pays specific attention to the nationalistic discourse pervading the cult, the myth, and the ritual of Saint Vladimir. It reflects on the attitude of both Serbian Orthodox clerics and believers towards this important procession, but also the volatile degree of inter-religious (in)tolerance.

The Role of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Relations with Muslims from 1920 to 2020

Relations between Orthodox and Muslims in the Western Balkans often become a world-class topic due to the interest of international factors actively involved in this process. The Serbian Orthodox Church is a key factor in the development of interfaith dialogue, to which it has made a significant contribution through its primates, bishops and priests. Her role came to the fore in the post-war years, when, despite great sacrifices among Orthodox believers, she called for interfaith peace and coexistence, thereby contributing to the stability of the Western Balkans. In historical retrospect, the article examines the relations of peoples and representatives of different religions in one common state in political circumstances. The facts presented in the article allow us to draw conclusions about the level of interfaith dialogue and the contribution of representatives of various faiths to interfaith reconciliation. The article is an experience of a comprehensive scientific study of interreligious relations between Orthodox and Muslims in Serbia: when writing it, the researcher turned to various sources: Christian and Muslim religious and apologetic literature, history, sociology, journalism, etc., aiming at an impartial presentation of the most accurate and diverse information on this topic.

Identity management by multiple identification – religious leaders and EU integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina

ABSTRACT This research examines the identity management strategies among Bosnian religious leaders belonging to the three major religious groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H), namely the Islamic Community, the Serbian Orthodox Church, and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vrhbosna. The research is based on 31 semi-structured interviews conducted with religious leaders from the aforementioned groups. It specifically focuses on how religious leaders manage negative in-group identities in the context of the country’s EU integration process. Identity management strategies described in the previous literature cannot explain how the respondents in the post-conflict environment of B&H deal with negative in-group perceptions. Instead, this research identifies a new strategy: multiple identification, i.e. identifying not only with the in-group but also with an out-group, thereby paving the way for a novel approach to identity management through multiple group affiliations, emphasizing shared values. With the help of thematic analysis, the article demonstrates how multiple identification with both the in-group and the perceived European society as an out-group evolves in this empirical case.

Vladika bački Irinej i odnosi između Srpske pravoslavne crkve i države (1944–1955)

The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Yugoslav state in Vojvodina and Bačka in the context of the new communist regime’s treatment of the bishop of Bačka, Irinej Ćirić, from the time of the bishop’s liberation (1944) until his death (1955). Irinej was imprisoned under house arrest for 17 months shortly aft er the partisans captured Novi Sad due to his connections to the Hungarian occupation regime. Upon his release, he was attacked and beaten by a group of locals in Odžaci in 1946. This event, known as the ”Odžaci Affair”, was one of the contentious issues that burdened relations between the church and the state for a long time. The research also looks at how the Diocese of Bačka operated from 1944 to 1955, the attitudes of the clergy - who were closely monitored by the secret service and under pressure from the new authorities - and Irinej and his associates’ positions on certain political and ecclesiastical issues. It also examines at how these issues were resolved through mutual adaptation and a shift in the state’s attitude toward the church.

Orthodoxy in Diplomacy: An Overview of the Serbian Orthodox Church’s Religious Diplomacy and Role in International Relations

Following the revitalization and politicization of religion that happened in Serbia during the late 20th and early 21st century, the Serbian Orthodox Church became an important non-state actor in the country. This article explores its involvement in Serbia’s relations with other countries, with a particular focus on the Church’s and the country’s religious diplomacy efforts. It provides an overview of the Church’s multifaceted roles, including advising Serbian and foreign diplomats, engaging in track II diplomacy, as well as other small-scale initiatives.

The role of popular music in Montenegro’s national propaganda: from referendum to the “Litije” movement (2006–20)

ABSTRACT This article explores the uses of popular music as a propaganda tool during political events in Montenegro’s recent past. The ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) employed music as part of their propaganda campaign during the 2006 referendum to gain support for Montenegro’s independence. Patriotic songs, disseminated through state-controlled media and paid advertisements, celebrated a modern, multicultural, independent Montenegrin state. However, after the referendum, important political issues remained unresolved (especially the role of the Serbian Orthodox Church and Serbian–Montenegrin relations in general). Tensions over these culminated after the adoption of the Law on Freedom of Religion at the very end of 2019, which triggered protests throughout Montenegro known as the “Litije.” In 2020, with the ample assistance of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the opposition won the parliamentary elections that ended the rule of the DPS. The propaganda that surrounded the Litije movement relied on music as an essential medium. This time, it conveyed messages calling for a stronger role of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro and closer political ties with Serbia. By analyzing both periods’ most influential popular songs, the author highlights the intricate interplay between music, popular culture, national narratives, and the ever-evolving political climate in Montenegro.

The end of endless reign in Montenegro: identifying factors in DPS’s loss of power after thirty years of rule

ABSTRACT After thirty years of uninterrupted rule, the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro (DPS) lost the elections in 2020. This paper explores four competing, yet not mutually exclusive, hypotheses that examine the factors contributing to the fall of the DPS. These factors include the conflict between the DPS and the Serbian Orthodox Church, a perception of the country moving in the right direction, the deceleration of the EU integration process, and the declining authority of DPS party leader Milo Djukanović. Bivariate statistics, trend analysis, and regression analysis have been used as methods to test specific hypotheses. Through statistical analysis, it becomes evident that these factors are interconnected and hold significance. However, it can be argued that the negative trends in the country’s direction and the decline in the authority of the party leader were more significant factors compared to the EU support or the conflict with the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Сербское православие как сторона, фактор и предмет культурных войн

The article defines Orthodoxy as an essential component of Serbian spirituality and national identity. Nowadays, Orthodoxy and the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) have become simultaneously a party, factor and subject of cultural wars waged on a global level between traditionalists/patriots, on the one hand, and globalists/universalists/ultra-liberals, on the other (A. C. Webb). A cultural war is understood as an irreconcilable conflict between parties that transmit opposing values that affect the spirituality, mentality and identity of individuals, as well as entire peoples and civilizations. It demonstrates both the unacceptability of Orthodoxy for globalism and the globalist desire to subjugate it, deform it and use it in its own interests. The SOC is an active party in this conflict, being both the guardian and defender of Serbian spirituality. Its position is complicated by the course of the “third way between East and West” of the Serbian authorities, oriented towards European integration, and the extremely aggravated situation with the ancestral home of Serbian spirituality – Kosovo and Metohija. Negative trends are associated with the policy of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which seeks to limit the influence of the SOC with the Republic of Serbia and establish its control over the remaining territories. Representatives of the “other Serbia” present Orthodoxy as outdated, irrelevant for modern people, and even covering up “Serbian chauvinism.” Patriots see in it the basis of Serbian identity and a spiritual bond with the Russian people.

The Serbian church, clergy and war damage to the temples in the area of Toplica county in the First World War

The subject of the work is the situation in the Serbian church in Toplica under occupation in the First World War. The goal is to determine how much damage was done to the church, clergy and its property in this area. The consequences in this area in the Great War were further increased due to reprisals after the collapse of the Toplica Uprising in 1917. Individual and group liquidations, internment, terror, violent bulgarisation were frequent occurrences, which inevitably led to the outbreak of armed resistance. The liquidations and internments of the clergy were followed by the looting of movable material church goods, which were taken to Bulgaria in an organised manner. Local Serbian priests were replaced by Bulgarian ones. After the war, in the broader process of determining war damage, among other things, the looted property of the Serbian Orthodox Church was listed in detail. After involvement of the civil and church authorities, a smaller part was returned, while the larger part remained irretrievably lost. The research results show the following consequences: it was established that during the Bulgarian occupation, seven priests were killed and eleven were interned. The movable property of fourteen churches was looted (bells, books, registers, icons, crosses, furniture, heating stoves, priests? clothes, liturgical ritual objects, actually everything that could be carried away). In a methodological sense, the work was created on the basis of the collection, processing and analysis of original documentary material from the funds of the Ministry of Religion (Archives of Yugoslavia in Belgrade), the collection of church registry books (Historical Archives of Toplica in Prokuplje), published sources, testimonies of contemporaries and relevant literature.

IZVEŠTAJ PROTOJEREJA MIHAILA POPOVIĆA O RESTITUCIJI CRKVENE IMOVINE OTUĐENE POD BUGARSKOM OKUPACIJOM U PRVOM SVETSKOM RATU

Under the Bulgarian military, civil and church authorities in the territory of the occupied Kingdom of Serbia in the First World War, in addition to other crimes, the various movable property of the Serbian Orthodox Church was confiscated. In this connection, the paper will analyze in more detail and present t he report of archpriest Mihailo Popović, parish priest of Belgrade, who was entrusted with the mission of returning church property from Bulgaria in 1921. This document is a valuable historical source that testifies not only to the factual consequences of the Bulgarian occupation administration and the attack on Serbian spiritual and cultural heritage, but also to Popović’s personal impressions of the situation in the Bulgarian church and the attitude of its dignitaries towards the past war and Serbian-Bulgarian relations. The document is stored in the fund of the Ministry of Religion Archives of Yugoslavia.

Reagovanje i planovi rukovodstva Srbije i Crne Gore tokom kosovsko-metohijske krize (17-19. mart 2004)

The article analyzes the reactions and plans of the state leadership of Serbia and Montenegro during the crisis in Kosovo and Metohija in March 17-19, 2004, when radicalized groups of Kosovo Albanians expelled more than 4,000 Serbs from their homes. The same radicalized groups burned and destroyed 35 churches of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The state leadership of Serbia and Montenegro monitored the situation in Kosovo and Metohija and was ready to engage the army with the task of creating the humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija to Serbia. During the crisis, the state leadership of Serbia and Montenegro did not send the army to Kosovo and Metohija because KFOR units stopped the expulsion of Serbs and the destruction of the cultural heritage of Serbian people

The Serbian Orthodox Church in Western Historiography: Maria Falina, Religion and Politics in Interwar Yugoslavia: Serbian Nationalism and East Orthodox Christianity, (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023)

This essay is a review of Maria Falina’s book, which investigates the complex interaction between the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC), nationalism, and politics in Yugoslavia during the interwar period. It delves into Maria Falina’s ideas, historical context, and various perspectives that she offers. Falina questions commonly held beliefs about the natural relationship between religion and Serbian nationalism, and digs into the SOC’s changing role as a political actor during a period of profound social and political change. Falina investigates the influence of people such as Nikolaj Velimirović and Justin Popović, the Church’s reaction to the Yugoslav state, religious competition, and modernity issues.

ТЕРТИЈ ИВАНОВИЧ ФИЛИПОВ И СРПСКО ЦРКВЕНО ПИТАЊЕ

The paper sheds light on Terty Ivanovich Filippov (1826–1899), a Russian civil servant and publicist, who was active within the Slavophile circle, especially within St. Petersburg Department of the Moscow Slavic Benevolent Committee – as of 1877 the St. Petersburg Slavic Benevolent Society. A focus is also placed on his relations with Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox Church. We look for answers in the personal fund of Terty Ivanovich Filippov No 1099, kept in the State Archive of the Russian Federation in Moscow.

Dominika Gapska, "Woman. Church. State. Cults of the Female Saints in the Writings of Serbian Orthodox Church", Scriptym, Cracow 2021, pp. 208

Dominika Gapska, "Woman. Church. State. Cults of the Female Saints in the Writings of Serbian Orthodox Church", Scriptym, Cracow 2021, pp. 208

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION AMONG SERBS AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE FOR PRESERVING NATIONAL IDENTITY

The subject of our work is to point out the importance of religious education among Serbs, starting from the historical paradigm – the first half of the 18th century when Slavic and Latin schools were opened in Sremski Karlovci, thanks to the activities of the then Metropolitan of Belgrade, Mojsej Petrović, and later Vićentije Jovanović. Within these schools begins the education of Serbian students and the development of the school system in the Russo-Slavic language, the official language of the Serbian Orthodox Church and equivalent to the first Serbian literary language. It is indisputable that the Serbian people joined the community of civilized nations, with a clearly recognizable and strong national identity thanks to Orthodoxy. Serbian Orthodox Church played the essential role in the national integration and preservation of national consciousness and identity. Therefore, it becomes quite clear that any current “speech” on the renewal and development of the Serbian national identity cannot “put out of sight” its Orthodox component, nor declare it anachronistic and outdated. Further, the paper considers the need for higher quality religious education in the Republic of Serbia, as well as the assumptions (conditions) for their implementation. The provision of Religious Education in primary and secondary schools in the Republic of Serbia is of great importance for the improvement of educational system, mostly because it provides the insight of the connection between religion and science. Its introduction into the educational system has a significant impact on the evaluation, nurturing and preservation of national values. The provision of Religious Education in primary and secondary schools also provides students with a complete religious view of the world and enables the building and preservation of national and cultural identity. Also, the introduction of Religious Education has a great impact on the construction of a multi-ethnic and multicultural society within the community of European states.

Chistians and Ottomans in 16th Century Timișoara

The city of Timişoara was one of the most important urban settlements in the southern parts of the Hungarian medieval kingdom. In 1552, following a brutal military campaign, Timişoara and its surroundings were occupied by Ottomans and integrated in the Empire. Although in the beginning was a real shock for the Christian communities inside the city (Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox), the religious life continued under Turkish rule. A lot of documents from the second half of the 16th century offer information about the cohabitation between different Christian denominations and, of course, the Christian-Muslim relation. The Ottoman authorities had established the best relations with Serbian Orthodox church, recognizing many of its privileges, even allowing the foundation of a Serbian Orthodox bishopric inside the city. The Catholic and Protestant communities felt much stronger Ottoman pressure, because the two Christian denominations tried to get support from Turkish authorities in their dispute over faith.