Thank God younger generation goes to church because the old communist mentality made a lot of old people atheist or searching God in far eastern beliefs (Astrology, precious stones, Buddhism, Joga teachings ect.)
Grew up in the USA. Whenever I said "I'm Orthodox" they assumed I was Jewish (as in Orthodox Jew). I honestly think most Americans were unfamiliar with it until the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"
There are very few, as far as I know. My motherās family are North Caucasian immigrants, and I donāt know much about their history. Weāre members of the community in Ankara, but itās not very large.
There arenāt many problems in my surroundings. Universities are generally understanding about such matters. However, daily life is difficult , thereās no career advancement, youāre seen as a foreigner, and it causes problems in personal relationships.
As a legacy default. Most people are not religious, but many of the irreligious would identify as "Orthodox Christian" culturally. Also, most people, both religious and not, have some distrust for the church - not only the Orthodox one, but in general.
> Most people are not religious, but many of the irreligious would identify as "Orthodox Christian" culturally.
To be fair, I never understood this one. What does "not religious, Orthodox Christian, culturally" mean? Is it just "I don't want to upset my grandma"? Or "We need a way to separate us vs. them"? Or anything else?
Religion was the main factor in preserving the national identity during Ottoman rule, so it's historically ingrained in it. People mean that they are identifying with the cultural aspects of the Eastern Orthodox Slavic identity, without actually believing in the Church.
> Religion was the main factor in preserving the national identity
Yes, mostly.
But from what I can see, Balkan culture has a lot of Ottoman (Oriental, to be precise) influences: language, cuisine, music, clothing, etc.
Also, don't forget that some of these "Orthodox" traditions actually date back to pagan times before Orthodoxy.
In any case, I don't think all these things matter that much anymore. The Ottoman Empire has been gone for more than a century.
In 10 years time Eastern Europe will probably start importing foreign workers in larger numbers to combat its catastrophic birthrates and population decline
Croatia already started doing it in 2021, and although the number decreased in 2025, there is no way it will be stable in the next decade. Already most Croats have a really positive opinion on foreign workers from ex-yu countries, and it is a normal occurence that many Serbs work in services and only the neo-nazis have a problem with that
In 10 years time once bangladeshis overflow local labour market, people will start treating Serbs as Crpats basically, would it be fear, would it be racism, you never know
Serbian Orthodox Church ruined it's reputation by supporting Vucic, Dodik and other corrupt politicians, but Orthodoxy as a religion remains popular, even among young people.
Croatia: just means you're a Serb. With a predominant catholic population (more than 80%) nobody really cares about the Serbian Orthodox church. They serve as a bridge between the national majority and Serbian minority during the religious holidays.
The Serbian Orthodox Church framed the war in Kosovo and Bosnia as sacred therefore in a way legitimizing the massacres that happened.
I'm aware that not all religious leaders shared this view but the rhetoric has been used to justify the violence.
So yeah it's not perceived in a positive way.
Yeah, because trying to live together in peace is clearly worse than worshiping old books and dividing people forever. Brilliant logic. At least Yugoslav āunitariansā didnāt blow each other up over invisible friends in the sky.
Personal opinion, the true chain and ball to the region's development, if Romania had dropped Orthodoxy the way and when it dropped the Cyrillic scribblings, we would have been at least where Hungary is now.Ā
"if Romania had dropped Orthodoxy the way and when it dropped the Cyrillic scribblings, we would have been at least where Hungary is now"
What do u mean by this ?
Romania is pretty much on-par with Hungary now economically. You guys are on a pretty long uptrend now, while we have fucking Orban and Co leeching us dry š
I meant in Greece, obviously a joke lol. We Pomaks are a small peaceful community. Working hard, abstain from crimes, pray and respect fellow citizens. We generally don't dislike anyone tbh.Ā
If you ask Leo XIII he would say the only Church founded by Jesus was the Catholic one as published in Satis cognitum.
Though even Irenaeus of Lyons back in the 2nd century AD would probably say the church in Rome was the one actually founded by Jesus and Peter and Paul
https://preview.redd.it/3e9chxqc6wxf1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d898b89627afdf318c362b82a1db75a586ca76d8
While the BG patriarch is an asshole, we have not reached Russian levels of retardation.
San Stalin š¤£ we could get used that. There is a Turkish joke about communists. So when a communist dies and goes to heaven, almighty God is curious to know about such soul who denies his existance. So he calls him to his office. So the communist enters, stays there for a while and then exits. Other souls, curious of this encounter ask him what did God say to him. And he responds: "What God?!" š¤£š¤£š¤£
In Greece, I'd wager that we have like an 5% of atheists, a small Muslim, Hindu and other religious minorities, and then the vast 80% of people are some sort of practicing orthodoxy.
Churches are always packed, most people I know have a ĻĪ½ĪµĻ Ī¼Ī±ĻĪ¹ĪŗĻĻ to confide in, monasteries are all hundreds of years old and still visited by people constantly to get blessings, and Ortthodox customs are ubiquitous and omnipresent in every facet of our lives.
There is no non-Orthodox Christian in Greece, even the few that aren't Orthodox have all adapted some form of Orthodox tradition into their practises.
Makes sense too. Orthodoxy makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and Orthodox temples make you feel the Christ immediately the minute you step into one. It's why Muslim copied Orthodox architecture for their mosques after all. In contrast, Catholicism feels like a creepy cult where you're expected to obey without feeling anything. And Protestantism isn't even Christianity.
Because they are praised for taking scripture literally even though their translations of the scripture loses almost all the nuance of the original Greek and Aramaic most of the books were written in. Nobody is rewarded for explaining how reading the New Testament made them feel and how they understand it, they're only praised when they can recite it with rote memorization.Ā
I'm not saying Orthodoxy is perfect, but at least it seems to understand that if you punish people for asking "why" or "how" they will turn into atheists. If you ask an Orthodox priest what a contentious passage means, he'll offer like 5 interpretation by renowed monks and then give you a history lesson about life in the Roman Empire. If you ask a Catholic priest, he'll cite some Pope who made up some bullshit, and then threaten you to pretend you agree or burn in hell.
Catholics are the ones who literally convinced millions of the erroneous myth that Mary Magdalene was a whore, because some Pope couldn't differentiate between the different Marie's in the scripture because he was illiterate or something. If you can't even get right something as basic as which Mary is which in every passage then what sort of "authority" could you claim to be?
Apart from hysteria of the 90s when Janullatos became archbishop, now everyone is relieved that an Albanian is in charge. Our perception of the church as institution was tainted by our tense relations with Athens then. Both sides, media and politicians, played the drums of past grievances and ordinary Albanians in Greece who were there for a better life, suffered the most, unfortunately. Of course, such opinions belong to those who had never stepped inside a church. Practicers of religion know better about the situation than i do. I am just saying my observation. It is our attitude to talk with high esteem when someone is deceased also, but there is some truth in it. When Janollatus died, first time i listened through the media about his deeds and such, and the bias he had to endure from both Albanians and Greeks. One priest, in an interview, even insinuated that Orthodox church was treated better during Ottoman period than it was in the 90s by Albanian state.
Those no familiar with our shitstorm of reality in the 90s, will probably not be able to connect the dots. I was speaking about a mediatic climate. Orthodox people here get along very well with muslims. At least my family in the past lived in the midst of orthodox as muslims, and the only time i have been in a cult object is the church.
Canada: Not really a factor, although some people in the Gen Z right wing movement see it as ābasedā and some (very rare but Iāve seen it happen on multiple occasions) even get baptized orthodox as they see it as a way to join a religion that upholds traditional values.
Greece: Obviously overwhelming majority of Greeks are Orthodox or baptized Orthodox, its part of our culture and identity, though the younger generation isnāt very religious (to my understanding, I donāt live there)
There are lots of Orthodox people in Canada from different diasporas so I felt like adding a section for it, plus I think its pretty obvious how different Balkan countries feel about Orthodoxy if you know the history of the regionā¦
Tbf a lot of greeks in canada are very well connected to the balkans, just one generation removed, still have family there they keep in contact with, still go back yearly, still speak the language and pay attention to the pop culture, etcā¦ example I work with someone who came from greece at 12 years old he even went back to do his military service
Younger generation are not as religious but we still hold it very close to our hearts by following the traditions and attending church on special occasionsĀ
The True Path.
The path is difficult. If you truly walk, it is blood, sweat and tears which is worth it for the love of God.
Its church is His people on earth weather you like it or not.
Its liturgy is the hymns of the angles where The Mother watches over you once you step in.
Its Bread is the Holy Flesh that was sacrificed for good
and its Wine is the Holy Blood that keeps you alive - in this world and the next.
Please don't fight and hurt each other. Spread love and compassion and may God bless you all now and forever.
Orthodoxy is often viewed negatively in my country Turkey, as the Greek Orthodox Church was involved in several massacres of indigenous Anatolian populations, such as the Paulicians, and later against Muslims. Fortunately, the Turks ultimately succeeded in conquering Istanbul.
On the contrary, the Turks did not set the region back. Under their rule, the area experienced a long period of multiculturalism, whereas the Greek period was marked by massacres targeting other cultures, including Muslims, pagans, Paulicians, and various non-orthodox christians religions
That region was under Roman empire for centuries, so multiculturalism didnt come with seljuk tribes from asia, they just conquered dying empire and continue the rule of that region,yes they were tolerant(for some part) in the beggining but as the empire crumbled into decadence so the ottomans did horrific crimes on the local non muslim population, not to mention millions of young boys they took away and sent to Istanbul as Janissaries, what about Armenian genocide, you forget about that?
Serbia was completely Latin-speaking before the Slavs arrived, and you managed to Slavize it in just a century.
Thanks, but I donāt need your lessons you might want to take a look at your own backyard first.
I really don't understand what are you referring to and how this have anything with your lack of knowledge what your countrymen did to the balkans and how many genocides they committed
The Serbs went even further:
Before the Slavs arrived, nobody spoke Yugoslav.
You carried out ethnic cleansing in Serbia itself, targeting the Latins, who had been the majority.
You do realise that serbs weren't came to the balkans and were not some homogeneous group but a fraction of various slavic tribes that settled together in the balkans, also Yugslav language? First of all that was never a thing, I mean Yugoslavian language didn't exist like ever, it was Serbo-Croatian in Yugoslavia, and Serbs, Croats and other slavic nations are born together with the concept of nationalism, same as French, Italians etc
Modern Serbs are descendents of those various slavic tribes and native population in the balkans, like illyrians, thracians, dacians and all others, even in the middle ages the lands and the people weren't knows as Serbs/Serbia but Rascia/Rascians, the reason why slavic culture remained is because they settled the last
What Latins, what are even talking about? Still don't know how this have anything with the subject, and the subject was the ottomans and their awful rule on the regions, various genocides, taking young boys for centuries, converting christian population in Bosnia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia etc into muslims
If you have a hard time talking with Serbian just imagine I'm south African, maybe then you will acknowledge for ex Armenian genocide
You talk about massacres and assimilation with the arrival of the Turks in Anatolia and Constantinople.
Iām talking about the 7th century in Serbia.
Whatās surprising is that you donāt even know which language your country spoke before the Slavs arrived, which proves exactly what Iām saying.
Eighty percent of Serbian territory spoke Latin, just like Romania, and the assimilation of these Latin-speaking locals was far harsher than the Turkification of Anatolia, where the local languages never truly disappeared, even today.
A Turk has no lesson to give to the Serbs. Sorry.
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