Orthodox Church Rebuilds Devastated Societies
By Jeremy Bransten
Many of the countries in which the Orthodox Church has a significant following were devastated by communism and by the interethnic conflicts that followed its collapse. Some say the church is uniquely poised to help these societies rebuild, but others question whether Orthodoxy itself -- and its historical ties to nationalism -- may be part of the problem. In this second of a two-part series on the Orthodox Church, RFE/RL reports that the church's potential for good remains great.
When Serbs are asked to name the institutions they respect and trust the most, the Orthodox Church is at or near the top the list.
That is hardly surprising to Branko Bjelajac, a Belgrade-based journalist who covers religious affairs.
"The Serbian Orthodox Church is the longest existing institution of the Serbian people," Bjelajac said. "It has gone through difficult times but it is, as memory goes back, the longest existing ongoing institution in Serbia, so it's no wonder why people trust the church."
Experts say the clergy in Serbia and other mainly Orthodox countries -- now in the process of rebuilding after years of war and political upheaval -- can put this trust to good use. They say that traditional Christian values like tolerance, charity, and compassion are the very things needed to help heal societies torn apart by ethnic and political divisions.
Paschalis Kitromilides, a political-science professor at the University of Athens and the author of numerous books on politics and Orthodoxy, said the church has much to offer postcommunist countries. But he said that
before the church can do this, it must renounce the past nationalist excesses of some of its members.
"The Orthodox churches, once they distance themselves from nationalism, can contribute in a tremendous way -- I would say in a fundamental and critical way -- to the moral reconstruction of these societies, which have been morally destroyed by communism and the kind of totalitarianism that has been bred by communism," Kitromilides said. "So I think the churches can play this role and we see this, for instance, in a small way, in the way the Orthodox Church is acting in Albania today. But unless the church distances itself from nationalism, it will not be able to fulfill this mission, which I think is critically important."
As Kitromilides notes, the example of Orthodox Archbishop Anastasios of Albania, who stresses the need not just for interfaith tolerance but active cooperation, can serve as a model for the region.
When Albania emerged from decades of enforced atheism at the start of the 1990s, the country's three traditional religions -- Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Islam -- experienced a revival.
Throughout this period, Archbishop Anastasios worked with the clergy of other faiths to transform Albania into a model of religious coexistence, which has largely worked.
As Anastasios put it in an interview with a Macedonian newspaper in 2004: "We attend all the celebrations of the other religious communities, and they attend ours. It is not simply a formality. We have genuinely cultivated friendly relations and, above all, a substantial dialogue."
Radmila Radic, a historian at the Institute of Contemporary History in Belgrade, sees an important role for the Serbian Orthodox Church in social affairs and hopes it will retreat from the overtly political role it has sometimes played in the past.
"I think [the church] can help in returning moral values, helping refugees, helping young people in the struggle against drugs, alcoholism, prostitution, children without parents, sick and old people, etc.," Radic said. "But I think that the most important point for me is that the church in Serbia could help most if it did not get involved in the political struggle among political parties. For me, this is the most important question." "Respondents were asked: 'What religion are you?' And they would write: 'Orthodox.' And the next question was: 'Do you believe in God?' And people would answer: 'No.'"
Serbian journalist Bjelajac said the church is already making positive contributions. He points to religion classes in schools, which were instituted on an elective basis in 2001. Bjelajac said the classes have been well-received by both parents and students -- though the results will only start to become clear years from now.
"To be able to evaluate the value of the religious education, we need a decade," Bjelajac said. "We need a generation to come out of the school system and really get engaged in society and [then we can] see if the level of corruption and transparency is going to be better, if the government is going to improve and so on and so forth."
The Russian Orthodox Church, similarly, is poised to help rebuild Russian society. The church is now attempting to revive itself after more than seven decades of state-sponsored persecution -- but observers say it will be a long time yet before its impact approaches precommunist levels.
A couple of statistics illustrate the situation. In 1917, on the eve of the Bolshevik Revolution, the Russian Orthodox Church had more than 77,000 churches across the country. By the end of communism in 1991, there were only about 6,000. In the past decade, the number has risen to 19,000 parishes.
And there are signs the early wave of enthusiasm for Orthodoxy that swept Russia just after the fall of communism in the early '90s is subsiding.
"Churches are once again standing empty," said Deacon Andrei Yurchenko, who in the 1980s served in the external relations department of the Russian Orthodox Church. "They fill up only during the major feasts. In the villages, churches that were opened during the wave of spiritual and religious euphoria [immediately after the end of communism], many of them are totally empty. Priests are abandoning the villages and their churches."
Although 80 percent of Russians, when polled, list themselves as Orthodox, recent surveys show only a small percentage of them regularly attend services
. As in Serbia, most Russians tend to see Orthodoxy as a cultural bond rather than a religious one.
"Some public-opinion surveys were taken and you could find the following types of answers," Yurchenko said.
"Respondents were asked: 'What religion are you?' And they would write: 'Orthodox.' And the next question was: 'Do you believe in God?' And people would answer: 'No.'" Orthodoxy's sudden reemergence in Russia can be compared to the carpets of ready-made grass used in outdoor sports arenas.
Yurchenko said many people underestimate the work needed to become a practicing believer and this eventually turns them off.
"It's not as if you can simply anchor your boat at the dock, step onto firm land and that's it. No, it requires much internal effort, personal effort. And people are not ready for that," Yurchenko said. "This sudden attraction to religion and the church is not yet a motivation for people to make personal changes as they seek the kingdom of heaven. So therefore, they quickly become disenchanted and naturally their ranks thin and they gradually stop going to church."
Using another metaphor, Yurchenko compares Orthodoxy's sudden reemergence in Russia in the early 1990s and the appearance of thousands of new church buildings to the carpets of ready-made grass used in outdoor sports arenas. The carpets of grass look rich and green but have shallow roots. In time, they tend to dry out if not nurtured properly and even if they are regularly fertilized, it takes years for a carpet of grass to grow into a full-fledged lawn.
"These carpets of course survive but then they present a very mixed picture. Some fragments dry up but other fragments of this carpet put down roots and in principle, one can create a plot of grass in this way," Yurchenko said. "Perhaps, with great talent, it can even work over the whole surface. But in any case, the roots of this carpet are not deep and you need a lot of time. Maybe, as someone once said, it's like with an English lawn -- which requires 400 years for it to become [permanently rooted.]"
Yurchenko said he is heartened to see the beginnings of a spiritual revival in Russia, but he predicts it will take a long time for the church to contribute its full moral potential.
(Published on 26 October 2004)
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