Panel: PHD RESEARCH IN THE STUDY OF RELIGION



86.2 - EASTERN SLAVIC ORTHODOX IDENTITIES IN GERMANY

AUTHORS:
Kunte M. (LUISS ~ Rome ~ Italy)
Text:
Eastern Slavic Orthodox Identities in Germany examines the current state of the Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox tradition in Germany. Over the past decades, the Russian Orthodox Church has been able to reclaim parishes founded in Germany after the Bolshevik Revolution and has become the dominant Eastern Slavic Orthodox Church in the country. Ukrainian churches have recently expanded in Germany due to the large refugee population and now challenge the status and spiritual monopoly held by the Russian Orthodox Church. Alongside these developments at the global Orthodox level, church divisions have emerged concerning the competencies of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, ecclesiastical organization, and the political values and social ethics of the Orthodox Church. The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Russian Orthodox Church's support for it have entrenched these divisions and have led to the fragmentation of the Moscow Patriarchate, with Baltic and Ukrainian parishes positioning themselves against the Russian Orthodox Church. This paper investigates how these tensions have manifested in Germany. This research consists of two main focuses. The first focuses on the positioning of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine regarding the current church divisions, and whether these positions are consistent with those of the institutions' representations in Germany. The second focus is on Eastern Slavic Orthodox communities in Germany. This section employs an ethnographic approach to uncover the everyday religious lives of Russian and Ukrainian parishes in Germany. It also examines how these church divisions are experienced at the local level and the positions these communities hold regarding divisions within the Orthodox world.