Eastern Orthodoxy and the Processes of European Integration

The European Union Blowback? Euroscepticism and its Consequences in the Western Balkans

“…Rather, the lingering persistence of conceptual dichotomies of East versus West intertwines with a negative image of Europe as promoter of values -such as human rights, pluralism and the separation between church and state -which are supposedly in contrast with Orthodox culture (Lis 2014). In particular, while Orthodox Churches officially support the existing or future EU membership of their countries, they are associated with the political camp of EU sceptics (Olteanu and de Nève 2014).…”

Promoting Ancestry as Ecodomy in Romanian Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The Role of Ancestors in Contemporary Romanian Orthodox Rhetoric

“…In times like these, when politics and religion join forces—a reality aptly presented by Tina Olteanu and Dorothée de Nève (Olteanu and de Nève, 2014: 189)—in a symbiosis between the desperate Romanian politician and the compliant Romanian Orthodox cleric, the idea of ancestry surfaces time and time again in an effort to underline the necessity that Romanians show their Romanian-ness regarding the situation of the nation, their Eastern Orthodox faith, and their ancestral history, so powerfully embodied in the Cathedral for the Salvation of the Nation. This colorful ideology combining ancestry, nationalism, and ethnicity was eventually given free rein when politicians and clerics conceded, after numerous quarrels, that the Cathedral for the Salvation of the Nation should be built in the immediate vicinity of the Romanian Parliament as indicative of how church and nation work together in ancestral Romania (Stan and Turcescu, 2007: 59-60).…”