This book explores the changes underwent by the Orthodox Churches of Eastern and Southeastern Europe as they came into contact with modernity. The movements of religious renewal among Orthodox believers appeared almost simultaneously in different areas of Eastern Europe at the end of the nineteenth and during the first decades of the twentieth century. This volume examines what could be defined as renewal movement in Eastern Orthodox traditions. Some case studies include the God Worshippers in Serbia, religious fraternities in Bulgaria, the Zoe movement in Greece, the evangelical movement among Romanian Orthodox believers known as Oastea Domnului (The Lord's Army), the Doukhobors in Russia, and the Maliovantsy in Ukraine. This volume provides a new understanding of processes of change in the spiritual landscape of Orthodox Christianity and various influences such as other non-Orthodox traditions, charismatic leaders, new religious practicesand rituals.

Autorentext

Aleksandra Djuri Milovanovi is a research fellow focusing on the anthropology of religion and church history at the Institute for Balkan Studies Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Belgrade, Serbia.

Radmila R. Radi, is a research professor and historian at the Institute for Recent History of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia.

Inhalt

1. Introductory: Understanding Renewal Movements in Orthodox Christianity.- 2. Ritual, Ecclesia, and the Reform of Russian Orthodoxy: The Life and Thought of Ioann Verkhovskii, 181891.- 3. The New Doctrines of the Dukhoborite Fasters and Tolstoianism.- 4. The 'Renovationists' and the Soviet State.- 5. Maliovantsy: Orthodox Christianity and the Ukrainian 'Evangelical' Peasants of Late Imperial Russia.- 6. The Nazarenes among the Serbs: Proselytism and/or Dissent?.- 7. The God Worshipper Movement in Serbian Society in the 20th Century: Emergence, Development, and Structures.- 8. The Influence of 19th- and 20th-century Religious Renewal Movements on the Language Policy and Religious Service of the Serbian Orthodox Church.- 9. The Prayer Chanting of the God Worshipper Movement.- 10. The God Worshipper Movement and Pilgrimage: Religious Revival in the Past and Present.-11. The Romanian Lord's Army: A Case Study in Eastern OrthodoxChurch Renewal.- 12. The Oastea Domnului (Lord's Army) Movement in the Serbian Banat.- 13. The Brotherhood of Theologians Zoe and Its Influence on 20th-century Greece.- 14. The Case of the Christiyanka Journal: The Bulgarian Orthodox Charity Network and the Movement for Practical Christianity after World War I.- 15. Epilogue: Looking West, but Walking East: the Dilemma of Orthodoxy in a Modernising World.