The Baltic Sea Region the Baltic Sea Region
TTHEHE BBALALTTICIC SSEAEA RREGIONEGION Cultures,Cultures, Politics,Politics, SocietiesSocieties EditorEditor WitoldWitold MaciejewskiMaciejewski A Baltic University Publication Religion 11 Lennart Tegborg 1. Two borderlines In the Baltic Region there is still a borderline between East and West – concerning religion. The “Icon Wall” has replaced the “Iron Curtain”! There is, however, a big difference between these two borderlines. The “Iron Curtain” was a real barrier guarded by armed forces in order to block the free movement of people and limit exchange of ideas. The “Icon Wall”, taken as a symbol eastern liturgy and church architecture, is a cultural border, where East and West have met for one thousand years, a line feasible to cross for contacts, exchange and dialog. This borderline between East and West follows the western border of Russia-Belarus- Ukraine. It is the result of the historical development in the Middle Ages that established the boundaries between the Western Church, under the leadership of Rome, and the Eastern Churches. Through the actions of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine were incorporated into the fellowship of Greek Orthodox churches. The map also reveals that there is another borderline in the area, the one between North and South. North of this line, in the four Nordic Countries, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, and in Estonia, Protestantism is dominant. (In Latvia, the majority is hard to determine.) This dividing line was drawn during the time of the Reformation in the 16th century and confirmed during the era of the Confessional Wars in the 17th century. In Germany, the dividing line goes from North West to South East, including the Northwestern part of the former West Germany (BRD) and the entire former East Germany (DDR) in the region, where Protestantism is the dominant religion.
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