Abstract
Though Orthodoxy may not qualify as an ideal-typical example of global religion, it is however being deeply affected by globalization. Its recent worldwide geographical spread and the intense transnational connectivity this generated have brought about unprecedented religious identity questions. This chapter discusses Orthodox identity recompositions in the context of the global spread of this religious tradition: what does it mean to be Serbian, Russian or Greek Orthodox and live in contemporary France, Great Britain or Germany? And what does it mean to be French, British or German and be Orthodox? The chapter focuses on three aspects of this large topic: after a brief overview of the various waves of migration to Western Europe, I consider the main factors that impact the reconstruction of Orthodox identity in a global context, such as minority status, secularization and the recent transformations of religion in the West, and religious pluralism.
Last, this chapter discusses two local instantiations of the global spread of Orthodoxy (glocalizations), as described by V. Roudometof (Religions 5:1017–1036, 2014a, Globalization and orthodox Christianity: the transformations of a religious tradition. Routledge, London/New York, 2014b), namely verncularization (the blend of Orthodoxy’s universalism with local languages, such as French and English) and indigenization (the blend of Orthodox universalism with a specific ethnicity). The chapter concludes with the idea that globalization has challenged Orthodoxy to reconsider its relationship to ethnicity, “the world” (i.e. the secular) and other religions.
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Notes
- 1.
This commonly designates a family of six autocephalous church bodies, comprising the Ethiopian, Coptic, Armenian, Syrian, Indian and Eritrean Churches, which are in close dialogue, yet not in communion with the Eastern Orthodox Churches, with whom they share great similarities in doctrine and religious practice.
- 2.
This this figure is based on estimates of Orthodox believers in Great Britain (approximately 460.000, according to https://faithsurvey.co.uk/uk-christianity.html), Germany (1.5 million, according to Bremer et al. 2016), Italy (1.5 million, according to Giordan 2015) and France (500.000, according to the Annuaire de l’Assemblée des Eglises orthodoxes de France 2017).
- 3.
See: https://www.ort.fi/ru. Accessed 12 November 2018.
- 4.
The acronym stands for: Action chrétienne des étudiants russes (en France ).
- 5.
http://www.acer-mjo.org/fr/congres-de-l-acer-mjo-8-9-octobre-2016. Accessed 12 November 2018.
- 6.
The liturgy is the central text and act of worship in Eastern Christianity, because it contains the main Orthodox theological assumptions that command and orient collective and private devotional practices. It is mainly about Saint John Chrysostom’s liturgy, which dates back to the fourth century. Two other liturgies are celebrated in the Orthodox Church on specific occasions: the Liturgy of Saint Basil (used only ten times a year) and the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts (performed only on the weekdays of the Great Lent).
- 7.
For example in French: acathiste, acédie, kondakion, épitrachilion, épitaphios.
- 8.
L’Age d’Homme was founded in Lausanne in 1966 by a Serbian Orthodox immigrant , Vladimir Dimitrijevic, and extended in France .
- 9.
At times, this amounts to archaeological work that consists in compiling fragments of liturgical texts that were preserved here and there in other contexts.
- 10.
The practice of venerating local Western saints reached the Orthodox heartland, as testifies the addition of saint Patrick of Ireland to the Russian Orthodox Calendar, a decision announced by the Moscow Patriarchate in March 2017. This is another indication of the fact that in a global context the flow of religious influence can be reverted from the periphery to the centre, as argued in section “Factors that impact Orthodox identity reconstruction in a global context: Minority status, secularization, and religious pluralism” of this paper.
- 11.
- 12.
The Pentecost is considered the feast that marks the beginning of the Church, with the synaxis (gathering) of all the apostles. The Sunday following the Pentecost is dedicated to “all the saints of Orthodoxy”. National Churches introduced a feast dedicated to the synaxis of their local saints, celebrated the second Sunday after Pentecost. Similarly, the Orthodox in the West celebrate the Western local saints the second or the third Sunday after Pentecost.
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Hämmerli, M. (2020). Orthodoxy Going Global: The Quest for Identity. In: Giordan, G., Zrinščak, S. (eds) Global Eastern Orthodoxy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28687-3_9
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