Problems of the Macedonian Orthodox Church in the modern Greek memorial politics

Abstract

Introduction. The purpose of the article is to analyse the perception of the problems of the history of the status of the Macedonian Orthodox Church in the politics of memory of modern Greece. Materials and Methods. The study is based on the analysis of texts that form the perception of the Macedonian church problem in the politics of memory in Greece. Analysis. The article analyses the perception of the Macedonian ecclesiastical problems in modern Greek memorial culture. The article also shows that the politics of memory forming the perception of the history of the Macedonian Church in modern Greek society simultaneously depends on the development of civic and ethnic nationalism, burdened by ties with theOrthodox Church. It is assumed that the mass media and political elites of modern Greece, as the main agents of historical politics, use the problems of the history of the Church in the territory of Macedonia to consolidate their own national identity and conduct a policy of memory aimed at promoting the narrative of territorial unity and the exclusively Greek character of the territory of Macedonia in modern Greece. Results. The results of the study suggest that the memorial culture of modern Greek society in contexts of the perception of the history of the Church on the territory of Macedonia is distinguished by a nationalistic character, and the perception of church history in the collective memory of Greece develops in contexts of moderate memorial contradictions with Macedonia. It is shown that the transformation of the viewpoint of the Greek memorial culture emerged as the result of consultations with the Macedonian elites and an agreement to change the name of the modern Macedonian state. It is assumed that the policy of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the settlement of the formal status of the Macedonian Church significantly reduced the level of the memorial confrontation between Skopje and Athens.

Keywords

• greece
• macedonia
• historical memory
• historical politics
• politics of memory
• church history
• macedonian orthodox church – ohrid archdiocese
• memorial culture
• wars of memory