Eastern Christians in Anthropological Perspective

Sociocultural anthropologists have taken increasing interest in the global communities established by Roman Catholic and Protestant churches, but the many streams of Eastern Christianity have so far been neglected. Eastern Christians in Anthropological Perspective fills this gap in the literature. The essays in this pioneering collection examine the primary distinguishing features of the Eastern traditions—iconography, hymnology, ritual, and pilgrimage—through meticulous ethnographic analysis. Particular attention is paid to the revitalization of Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches that were repressed under Marxist-Leninist regimes.

Chris Hann is a founding Director of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle, Germany. Hermann Goltz holds the chair for theology and culture of the Eastern Orthodox Churches at the Theological Faculty of the Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.

Contents
List of Illustrations

Preface and Acknowledgments
Chris Hann

Introduction: The Other Christianity?
Chris Hann and Hermann Goltz

PART ONE. IMAGE AND VOICE: THE SENSUOUS EXPRESSION OF THE SUBLIME

1. Eastern Christians and Religious Objects: Personal and Material Biographies Entangled
Gabriel Hanganu

2. A Dual Quarrel of Images on the Middle Volga: Icon Veneration in the Face of Protestant and Pagan Critique
Sonja Luehrmann

3. Icons and/or Statues? The Greek Catholic Divine Liturgy in Hungary and Romania, between Renewal and Purification
Stéphanie Mahieu

4. The Acoustics and Geopolitics of Orthodox Practices in the Estonian-Russian Border Region
Jeffers Engelhardt

PART TWO. KNOWLEDGE AND RITUAL: MONASTERIES AND THE RENEWAL OF TRADITION

5. The Spirit and the Letter: Monastic Education in a Romanian Orthodox Convent
Alice Forbess

6. Exorcising Demons in Post-Soviet Ukraine: A Monastic Community and Its Imagistic Practice
Vlad Naumescu

7. Monasteries, Politics, and Social Memory: The Revival of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch in Syria during the Twentieth Century
Anna Poujeau

PART THREE. SYNCRETISM AND AUTHENTICITY: (SHARED) SHRINES AND PILGRIMAGE

8. Orthodox-Muslim Interactions at “Mixed Shrines” in Macedonia
Glenn Bowman

9. Empire Dust: The Web of Relations in Saint George’s Festival on Princes Island in Istanbul
Maria Couroucli

10. Pilgrimages as Kenotic Communities beyond the Walls of the Church
Inna Naletova

11. Avtobusniki: Russian Orthodox Pilgrims’ Longing for Authenticity
Jeanne Kormina

PART FOUR. PERSON AND NATION: CHURCH, CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY, AND SPECTRES OF THE SECULAR

12. Indigenous Persons and Imported Individuals: Changing Paradigms of Personal Identity in Contemporary Greece
Renée Hirschon

13. Individual and Collective Identities in Russian Orthodoxy
Alexander Agadjanian and Kathy Rousselet

14. The Russian Orthodox Church, the Provision of Social Welfare, and Changing Ethics of Benevolence
Melissa L. Caldwell

Epilogue: Ex Oriente Lux, Once Again
Douglas Rogers
Contributors
Index