Suffering for and against the church. The politics of memory and repression in the Mukachevo Greek Catholic Eparchy
This article analyses the significance of martyrdom and suffering in struggles over collective memory in contemporary Transcarpathian Ukraine and beyond. Through an analysis of the discourses of suffering that developed around the canonisation process of the so-called priests-martyrs-votaries of fai...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2018]
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| In: |
Religion, state & society
Year: 2018, Volume: 46, Issue: 2, Pages: 123-138 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Ruthenische Kirche, Eparchie Mukatschewe
/ Martyr
/ Transcarpathia
/ Collective memory
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| Further subjects: | B
Virgin Mary apparitions
B Ukraine B Greek Catholic Church B Martyrdom B Soviet Union |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | This article analyses the significance of martyrdom and suffering in struggles over collective memory in contemporary Transcarpathian Ukraine and beyond. Through an analysis of the discourses of suffering that developed around the canonisation process of the so-called priests-martyrs-votaries of faith (sviashchenniki-muchenniky-ispovidnyki viry), I show that the notion of suffering under the Soviet regime is mobilised to strengthen the moral authority of the Greek Catholic Church in Transcarpathia, either as a whole or with regard to particular factions within this organisation. Suffering is instrumentalised in the internal politics of this church and it can be used both to legitimise and to challenge the church's authority. Moreover, the experience of suffering forms a part of autobiographical memory among Transcarpathian believers; at the same time, it quickly becomes a part of collective memory in Maurice Halbwachs' sense (see Olick and Robbins 1998, 111). In this article, I address the following questions: how do present collective and autobiographical memory, as well as Greek Catholic commemoration practices referring to religious activities from the Soviet times, shape and are shaped by internal church politics in Transcarpathia? Which survival strategy in times of repression is nowadays seen as crucial for contemporary Eastern Catholicism in this region? |
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| ISSN: | 1465-3974 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion, state & society
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/09637494.2018.1456781 |