Piercamillo Falivene

The clash between the two main actors in Orthodox Christianity, the Ecumenical Patriarchate (EP) and the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), has long been fueling a rift that, if not theological, is in fact taking place on issues such as human rights, political ideology, social doctrine, ethnophiletism, inter-religious relations and pluralism. The overlapping of state, cultural identity, memory, genos and religious nationalism is one of the most complex problems that Orthodoxy still has to face. A comparison between the EP and the ROC reveals two different conceptualizations that imply alternative models of Christianity and often an instrumental use of the theological datum to justify politico-cultural affiliations and to weave certain strategies and relationships with national and international legal and political institutions. Starting from a comprehensive analysis of this dichotomy, the research project aims to trace the practical consequences of the opposing paradigms of orthodoxy and social doctrine promoted by the ROC and the EP, tracking the perception and the emic perspective of religious actors (community, clergy, etc.) on the war conflict, the peace-building process and the contemporary debate on human rights, through a field research carried out in the Orthodox ecclesiastical jurisdictions on the Italian territory.