Routledge Religion, Society and Government in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet States
About the Book Series
This Series seeks to publish high quality monographs and edited volumes on religion, society and government in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet states by focusing primarily on three main themes: the history of churches and religions (including but not exclusively Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism) in relation to governing structures, social groupings and political power; the impact of intellectual ideas on religious structures and values; and the role of religions and faith-based communities in fostering national identities from the nineteenth century until today.
The Series aims to advance the latest research on these themes by exploring the multi-facets of religious mobilisation at local, national and supranational levels. It particularly welcomes studies which offer an interdisciplinary approach by drawing on the fields of history, politics, international relations, religious studies, theology, law, sociology, and anthropology.
If you wish to submit a proposal, please contact the series editor:
Lucian N. Leustean, Aston University, Birmingham, UK: [email protected]
and Dorothea Schaefter, Senior Editor, Routledge: [email protected]
Orthodox Christianity and the COVID-19 Pandemic
1st Edition
Edited
By Tornike Metreveli
April 14, 2025
This book probes into the dynamics between Orthodox Christianity and the COVID-19 pandemic, unraveling a profound transformation at institutional and grassroots levels. Employing a multidisciplinary approach, and drawing upon varied data sources, including surveys, digital ethnography, and process ...
Russia and the Making of Modern Greece, 1800-1850
1st Edition
By Lucien Frary
March 31, 2025
The Greek War of Independence, 1821-1830, is usually viewed as resulting from French Revolutionary ideas about national liberation. This book takes a different view, arguing that the Greek nation developed out of a religious community, the Orthodox Christian millet of the Ottoman Empire, and that ...
Global Tensions in the Russian Orthodox Diaspora
1st Edition
By Robert Collins
August 26, 2024
This book explores the tensions that have arisen in the diaspora as a result of large numbers of Russian migrants entering established overseas parishes following the collapse of the Soviet Union. These tensions, made more fervent by the increasing role of the Church as part of the expression of ...
Communism, Atheism and the Orthodox Church of Albania: Cooperation, Survival and Suppression, 1945–1967
1st Edition
By Artan Hoxha
January 29, 2024
This book examines the relations between the Albanian communist regime and the Albanian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (AAOC) from 1945, when the communists came to power, to 1967, when Albania became the only atheistic state in the world, and religion of all kinds was completely suppressed. Based ...
The Secret Police and the Religious Underground in Communist and Post-Communist Eastern Europe
1st Edition
Edited
By James A. Kapaló, Kinga Povedák
May 31, 2023
This book addresses the complex intersection of secret police operations and the formation of the religious underground in communist-era Eastern Europe. It discusses how religious groups were perceived as dangerous to the totalitarian state whilst also being extremely vulnerable and yet at the same...
Religion and Politics in Contemporary Russia: Beyond the Binary of Power and Authority
1st Edition
By Tobias Köllner
August 01, 2022
Based on extensive original research at the local level, this book explores the relationship between Russian Orthodoxy and politics in contemporary Russia. It reveals close personal links between politicians at the local, regional and national levels and their counterparts at the equivalent level ...
Orthodox Christianity and the Politics of Transition: Ukraine, Serbia and Georgia
1st Edition
By Tornike Metreveli
May 30, 2022
This book discusses in detail how Orthodox Christianity was involved in and influenced political transition in Ukraine, Serbia, and Georgia after the collapse of communism. Based on original research, including extensive interviews with clergy and parishioners as well as historical, legal, and ...
The Albanian Orthodox Church: A Political History, 1878–1945
1st Edition
By Ardit Bido
May 30, 2022
Religion in Albania has had a complicated history, with Orthodoxy, Bektashi and Sunni Islam, Catholicism coexisting throughout much of the history of this Balkan nation. This book traces the rise of the Albanian Orthodox Church from the beginnings of Albanian nationalist movements in the late ...
Orthodox Revivalism in Russia: Driving Forces and Moral Quests
1st Edition
By Milena Benovska
May 06, 2022
Orthodoxy has achieved a large scale revival in Russia following the collapse of Communism. However, paradoxically, although there is a high level of identification with Orthodoxy, there is in fact a low level of church attendance. This book, based on in depth ethnographic fieldwork, explores the ...
Russian Orthodoxy, Nationalism and the Soviet State during the Gorbachev Years, 1985-1991
1st Edition
By Sophie Kotzer
September 30, 2021
This book examines how the Russian Orthodox Church developed during the period of Gorbachev’s rule in the Soviet Union, a period characterised by perestroika (reform) and glasnost (openness). It charts how official Soviet policy towards religion in general and the Russian Orthodox Church changed, ...
The Making of the New Martyrs of Russia: Soviet Repression in Orthodox Memory
1st Edition
By Karin Christensen
December 12, 2019
Following the end of the Soviet Union, the Russian Orthodox Church has canonized a great number of Russian saints. Whereas in the first millennium of Russian Christianity (988-1988) the Church recognized merely 300 Russian saints, the number had grown to more than 2,000 by 2006. This book explores ...
The Catholic Church and Soviet Russia, 1917-39
1st Edition
By Dennis Dunn
April 20, 2018
This book, based on extensive research including in the Russian and Vatican archives, charts the development of relations between the Catholic Church and the Soviet Union from the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 to the death of Pope Pius XI in 1939. It provides background information on the animosity ...