Giuseppe Giordan · Siniša Zrinščak Editors Global Eastern Orthodoxy Politics, Religion, and Human Rights [email protected] Global Eastern Orthodoxy [email protected] Giuseppe Giordan • Siniša Zrinščak Editors Global Eastern Orthodoxy Politics, Religion, and Human Rights [email protected] Editors Giuseppe Giordan Siniša Zrinščak University of Padova University of Zagreb Padova, Italy Zagreb, Croatia ISBN 978-3-030-28686-6 ISBN 978-3-030-28687-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28687-3 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland [email protected] Contents Introduction. Global Eastern Orthodoxy: Religion, Politics and Human Rights. 1 Giuseppe Giordan and Siniša Zrinščak Part I Human Rights Between Religion and Politics Orthodox Christianity and Modern Human Rights: Theorising Their Nexus and Addressing Orthodox Specificities . 13 Vasilios N. Makrides The Russian Orthodox Church and the Global World . 41 Kathy Rousselet The Russian Orthodox Church’s Approach to Human Rights �������������������� 59 Kristina Stoeckl The Great and Holy Council and the Orthodox Churches in the Public Sphere . 77 Emmanuel Clapsis Religion and Human Rights in Greece . 101 Effie Fokas Religious Freedom in Context: A Comparison Between Belarus and Romania �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 125 Olga Breskaya and Silviu Rogobete Greek-Cypriot Religiocultural Heritage as an Indicator of Fundamental Rights and a Means to Cultural Diplomacy ���������������������� 149 Georgios E. Trantas v [email protected] vi Contents Part II Orthodox Diaspora and Identity in the Global World Orthodoxy Going Global: The Quest for Identity ���������������������������������������� 175 Maria Hämmerli Singing an Old Song in a New Land: Orthodox Christian Churches in the Twenty-First Century America . 193 Alexei Krindatch Orthodox Christianity in a Western Catholic Country �������������������������������� 219 Marco Guglielmi Greek Diaspora in Germany: Church as the Ecclesia’s Forerunner and Point of Reference ���������������������������������������������������������������� 241 Eleni D. Tseligka Index ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 259 [email protected] Contributors Olga Breskaya University of Padova, Padova, Italy Emmanuel Clapsis Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Brookline, MA, USA Effie Fokas Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), Athens, Greece Giuseppe Giordan University of Padova, Padova, Italy Marco Guglielmi Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Trento, Italy Maria Hämmerli University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland Alexei Krindatch Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA, Berkeley, CT, USA Vasilios N. Makrides University of Erfurt, Erfurt, Germany Silviu Rogobete West University of Timisoara, Timișoara, Romania Kathy Rousselet Sciences Po, Centre de recherches internationales (CERI), CNRS, Paris, France Kristina Stoeckl University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria Georgios E. Trantas Aston University, Birmingham, UK Eleni D. Tseligka Aston University, Birmingham, UK Siniša Zrinščak University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia vii [email protected] Introduction. Global Eastern Orthodoxy: Religion, Politics and Human Rights Giuseppe Giordan and Siniša Zrinščak Abstract This introductory chapter explains the state of the art, the objective, and theoretical perspectives of the current volume. It dwells into the discourses of reli- gious, political, and human rights issues, which are presented in this book and ana- lyzed as a continuum from a shared Eastern Orthodox vision to different national Orthodox Churches’ positions. By reflecting on recent arguments from sociology, political science, international relations theory, and political theology, we suggest the need to overcome the challenges of understanding Global Eastern Orthodoxy solely through one disciplinary perspective. On the contrary, we invite the readers to explore the variety of research approaches and investigate Eastern Orthodoxy as a transnational and global religion within challenging conditions of modernization and globalization. In addition, the introductory chapter explains the structure of the volume and thematic focuses of individual chapters. It navigates the theoretical linkages and clarifies the specificity of socio-political, economic, and cultural changes that force Eastern Orthodox tradition to elaborate its institutional positions towards political, human rights issues, and international Orthodox political and identity-building processes. Keywords Eastern Orthodoxy · Global religion · Politics · Human rights · Identity · Pluralism · Globalization Over the past decades, the interest of social science in religion and globalization has grown due to the novelties caused by socio-political, economic, and cultural changes, which forced existing religious organizations and groups to revise and redesign their own institutional structures, practices, and agendas. In addition, over the last 30 years the role and place of Orthodox Christianity has been affected G. Giordan (*) University of Padova, Padova, Italy e-mail: [email protected] S. Zrinščak University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 1 G. Giordan, S. Zrinščak (eds.), Global Eastern Orthodoxy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28687-3_1 [email protected] 2 G. Giordan and S. Zrinščak worldwide by multifaceted societal changes: end of communism, international migration, growth of religious diversity, European Union enlargement, seculariza- tion processes, and human rights challenges. Lately, a significant body of literature has been flourishing in different disciplinary fields highlighting the changing public role of Eastern Orthodoxy in civil societies and international relations. It explored the topics of Orthodox encounters with modernity in the context of globalization and political transformations (Swatos 1994; Roudometof 2014, 2015; Roudometof et al. 2005; Bremer 2008; Brüning and Van der Zweerde 2012; Krawchuk and Bremer 2014; Stoeckl 2014; Simons and Westerlund 2015; Demacopoulos and Papanikolaou 2017; Koellner 2018). These studies stressed the novelty of civil, political, human rights, and socio-religious conditions that forced Eastern Orthodoxy to negotiate the processes of identity building within national societies and develop inter-Orthodox relations in a continuity of historical dynamics. Nevertheless, the role and place of Orthodox Christianity is still understudied, in particular compared to other major world religions. With the intention of filling the gap, this volume seeks to highlight three intertwined aspects – religion, politics, and human rights, − related to the global context of Orthodox Christianity. From this perspective, religion is an unavoidable variable in explaining how global politics works, as much as politics and overall social changes explain the role of religion both globally and in particular contexts. Orthodoxy is an important part of this ongoing dynamic specificity, bringing into the discussion its uniqueness. This speci- ficity is also linked to a particular geopolitical space, which includes Eastern and South-Eastern European countries, Middle East, and North America. However, as the papers in this collection markedly demonstrate, these particularities – religious, political, spatial – are not entirely different from the processes in other parts of the world, which underlines the need for bringing “specific Orthodoxy issues” into the broader social science scholarship on religion, politics and human rights. As is evident already from its title, this volume intends to problematize what Peter Beyer (2006) would call ‘Orthodox global religious system’ and what Viktor Roudometof (2014, 2015) describes by using the concept of ‘transnational religion’. Globalization, in particular migration flows, has fostered the spread of religious traditions outside of their territorial boundaries, reconfiguring the religious land- scape globally. Whether these can or cannot be labeled in terms of globalization,