TY - JOUR
T1 - Eastern Orthodoxy, geopolitics and the 2016 'Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church'
AU - Leustean, Lucian N.
N1 - This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Geopolitics on 28/7/17, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14650045.2017.1350843
PY - 2018/2
Y1 - 2018/2
N2 - In March 2014, at the time of Russia’s takeover of Crimea, the heads of 14 Orthodox churches convened under the leadership of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Istanbul-based primus inter pares in Eastern Orthodoxy, and announced that a ‘Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church’ would be held in 2016. The Synod, which took place in June 2016 in Crete, was a unique ecclesiastical gathering, bringing together competing geopolitical visions of religion, state and power. This article examines the political mobilisation of Orthodox churches by contextualising the holding of the Synod in relation to Russia’s advancement of spiritual security after the end of the Cold War. It provides a textual analysis of Synodical documents and highlights the patterns of religious and political structures in the contemporary Eastern Orthodox world.
AB - In March 2014, at the time of Russia’s takeover of Crimea, the heads of 14 Orthodox churches convened under the leadership of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Istanbul-based primus inter pares in Eastern Orthodoxy, and announced that a ‘Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church’ would be held in 2016. The Synod, which took place in June 2016 in Crete, was a unique ecclesiastical gathering, bringing together competing geopolitical visions of religion, state and power. This article examines the political mobilisation of Orthodox churches by contextualising the holding of the Synod in relation to Russia’s advancement of spiritual security after the end of the Cold War. It provides a textual analysis of Synodical documents and highlights the patterns of religious and political structures in the contemporary Eastern Orthodox world.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85026393420&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14650045.2017.1350843
DO - 10.1080/14650045.2017.1350843
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85026393420
SN - 1465-0045
VL - 23
SP - 201
EP - 216
JO - Geopolitics
JF - Geopolitics
IS - 1
ER -