Serbian Orthodox Fundamentals

The Quest for an Eternal Identity

Christos Mylonas

• Publisher: Central European University Press
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN:
  9789639241619
• eBook ISBN:
  9786155211201
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Historiography

This book is a comprehensive exposition of the interaction of a national (the Serbian people) and a religiou (the Orthodox Christian faith) content, in the formation of a distinctive national identity and a mode of being. Its interdisciplinary approach, drawing on sociology, social anthropology, theology, political theory, Balkan historiography, and Serbian folklore, is deployed to provide a powerful and original analysis of how Serbian Orthodoxy has resulted in the sacralisation of the Serbian nation by framing the parameters of its existence. Addresses the following questions: what 'makes' a Serb? Are meaningful assumptions possible by introducing Serbian Orthodoxy as the primal point of reference? Why does religion appear to have an especially strong appeal?

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• CONTENTS
• PREFACE
• Chapter One NATION, RELIGION AND FUNDAMENTALISM
• Synopsis
• The Basic Argument
• “And the Earth Was without Form and Void”
• What is Religion?
• “If God Does Not Exist, He Would Have to Be Invented”
• Communio in Sacris
• Defining the “National” within the “Serbian”
• The “Fundamentalist” Discourse
• Accounting for “Fundamentalism” in Serbia
• Conclusion
• Chapter Two ORTHODOXY AND SERBIAN NATIONAL IDENTITY
• Synopsis
• Introduction
• The “Doctrinal” Content of Orthodoxy
• The Creation of Man in the “Image and Likeness of God”
• The Triune God–Father, Son and the Holy Spirit
• The “Functional”—Cultus—Content of Orthodoxy
• The Role of the Orthodox Liturgy
• The “Normative” Expressions of Orthodoxy
• Baptism and Chrismation
• The Eucharist
• The Holy Matrimony of Marriage
• Orthodox Iconography
• Serbian Orthodoxy
• The Foundations of the Serbian Orthodoxy
• Orthodoxy as the Sacralisation of the Serbian Identity
• Krsna Slava
• The Religious (Non) Affinity of the Serbs
• Conclusion
• Chapter Three HOMO SERBICUS
• Synopsis
• The Moral and Ethical Construction of the Serbian Cosmology
• Homo Serbicus (Historical and Territorial Hypostases)
• The “Love Ethic”
• Honour
• The Concept of Heroism
• The Concept of Freedom
• The Concepts of Justice and Vengeance
• Unity in Diversity
• The Zadruga
• Kumstvo
• Homo Serbicus (Balkan Mentality)
• Homo Serbicus (Mere Stereotypes?)
• Conclusion
• Chapter Four THE PURSUIT OF “SECULAR” SALVATION
• Synopsis
• Vox Populi or Vox Dei?
• Serbian Orthodoxy and Yugoslav Communism
• Josip Broz Tito
• The Serbian Monarchy
• The Chetnik Movement
• Slobodan Milosevic
• Orthodoxy and the Culture of Power in Serbia
• Serbian Orthodoxy and Democracy
• Conclusion
• Chapter Five THE PURSUIT OF “SACRIFICIAL” SALVATION
• Synopsis
• National Myth(s) and Mythogenesis
• The Kosovo Battle (1389)
• The Legend of Kosovo
• Kosovo: The Continuous Dialogue between the Present and the Past
• The Kosovo “Sacrifice”
• Conclusion
• Chapter Six “TO LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF”
• Synopsis
• Homo Homini Lupus
• (Instrumental) Violence and Orthodoxy
• The Serbian Warrior
• The “Distortion” of Brotherhood and Unity
• God of Life and Death
• Homo et Femina Nervis Laborans (Psychosis)?
• Conclusion
• Chapter Seven THE BALKAN ORTHODOX COMMONWEALTH
• Synopsis
• Orthodoxy as the Sacralisation of Serbianhood
• The Greek Orthodoxy
• The Bulgarian Orthodoxy
• The Romanian Orthodoxy
• Conclusion
• CONCLUSION
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• INDEX