Apparitions of the Virgin Mary and the church/state relations. A view from the Ukrainian-Slovak borderland

Halemba, Agnieszka

doi:0137-4079

This publication is protected by copyright. Access to its digital version is possible on computer terminals in the institution that shares it.

Title: Apparitions of the Virgin Mary and the church/state relations. A view from the Ukrainian-Slovak borderland

Abstract:

The article presents a comparative analysis of the development of two Greek Catholic Marian apparition sites which have recently emerged in two locations at the Ukrainian-Slovak border, on a territory that until the end of the Second World War belonged to a single administrative unit of the Greek Catholic Church. The analysis focuses on the manner in which the apparitions were treated by the institutional church in both countries, linking the Church's responses with particular constellations of the church/state relations in Slovakia and Ukraine. Contemporary arrangements of those relations in both countries generate the specific character of interactions between the institutional church, local priests and parishioners. In the case of Slovakia (1) independence of church authorities from the opinion of believers is greater, and subsequently (2) among the believers there emerges a lack of interest in church-related matters or possibility to influence them. In the Ukraine, in turn, the contemporary church/state relations engender (1) a dependency of the institutional church on the believers and their financial contributions, and (2) a feeling of influence and responsibility for the church matters among the believers

References:

Bax M. 1995, Medjugorje: Religion, Politics, and Violence in Rural Bosnia, Amsterdam
Bendas D. 1999, Sviashcheniki-mucheniki, spovidniki virnosti, Zakarpattia, Uzhgorod
Brettell C. 1990, .The Priest and His People: The Contractual Basis for Religious Practice in Portugal., [in:] Religious Orthodoxy and Popular Faith in European Society, ed. Ellen Badone, Princeton University Press, pp. 55-75
Buzalka J. 2007, Nation and Religion. The Politics of Commemorations in South-East Poland, Berlin
Cannell F. 2006, Introduction, [in:] The Anthropology of Christianity, ed. F. Cannell, London, pp. 1-150
Chautur M. 2004, Vyhlásenie k údajným zjaveniam Panny Márie pri Brale (Seèovce), published on 19.08.2004, 14: 23 on http://www.grk-secovce/texty10.htm
Christain W. A. Jr. 1984, .Religious Apparitions and the Cold War in Southern Europe., [in:] eds. Eric R. Wolf, H. Lehmann, Religion, power and protest in local communities: the Northern Shore of the Mediterranean, Mounton Publishers, Berlin, New York, Amsterdam, p. 239-266
Davie G. 2004, New Approaches in the Sociology of Religion: A Western Perspective. Social Compass 51 (1), pp. 73-84
Gradoš J. 2004, Vzt’ah štátu a cirkví na Slovensku. Slovo 34 (4), pp. 10-11
Halemba A. In print, Virgin Mary, Ukraine and the underground Greek Catholic Church, [in:] Agnieszka Gąsior ed. Maria in der Krise
Halemba A. 2008, Greek Catholics of Zemplin: Dilemmas of Contemporary Identity Politics, [in:] Stephanie Mahieu and Vlad Naumescu eds. Churches In-between: Greek Catholic Churches in Postsocialist Europe, Halle Studies in the Anthropology of Eurasia, Münster, p. 299-318
Halemba A. 2008, Virgin Mary and the Border: Identity Politics of the Greek Catholic Church at the Ukrainian/Slovak Borderland, Sociológia, Vol. 40 (No. 6), p. 548-565
Hann Ch. 2003, Creeds, Cultures and the Witchery of Music, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 223-239
Hann Ch. 2007, The anthropology of Christianity per se, European Journal of Sociology, No. 48, pp. 383-410
Istoriya. 2006: Istoriya Poyavi Presvyatoi Rodini u Dzhubliku na Zakarpatti. Strim, L’viv
Jelenski V. 2003, "Náboženstvo, cirkev a .štát na Ukrajane”, [in:] ed. Silvia Jozefčèiaková Štát a cirkev v postsocilialistickej Európe. Ústav pre vzt’ahy štátu a cirkví, Bratislava
Kralik J. 1997, Financial and Legal Development of Securing the Churches at the Territory of the Slovak Republic., [in:] Modely ekonomickégo zabezpečenia cirkví a nábož.enských spoloèností, ed. Peter Mulik, Bratislava
Jozefčiaková S. (ed.), 2003: Štát a cirkev v postsocilialistickej Európe. Ústav pre vzt’ahy štátu a cirkví: Bratislava
Mahieu S. 2008, .Statues and/or Icons? The Greek Catholic Divine Liturgy in Hungary and Romania, between Renewal and Purification., [in:] Chris Hann (ed.) Eastern Christianities in Anthropological Perspective, Berkeley
Mahieu S., Naumescu V. (eds) 2008, Churches In-between. Greek Catholic Churches in Postsocialist Europe. Halle Studies in the Anthropology of Eurasia, Münster
Maksimishinec V. 2004, Istoria Pravoslavnoi Cerkvi v Karpatskoi Rusi, Uzhgorod
Matter A. E. 2001: Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in the Late Twentieth Century: Apocalyptic, representation, Politics, Religion, vol. 31, pp. 125-153
Moravcikova M. 2003, “Štát a cirkev v Slovenskej republike. [[in:] ed. Silvia Jozefciakova Štát a cirkev v postsocilialistickej Európe, Ústav pre vzt’ahy štátu a cirkví, Bratislava
Mulík P. 1997 ed. Modely ekonomickégo zabezpeèenia cirkví a nábo.enských spoloèností, Bratislava
Mulík P. 1997, .Outlooks and Possible Options of Financial Support to the Churches and Religious Societies in the Slovak Republic., [in:] Modely ekonomickégo zabezpeèenia cirkví a nábo.enských spoloèností, ed. Peter Mulik, Bratislava
Naumescu V. 2008, Modes of Religiosity in Eastern Christianity. Religious Processes and Social Change in Ukraine, Berlin
Perry N., Echeverria L. 1998: Under the Heel of Mary, London and New York
Vasil’ Cyril n.d., Má Košický exarchát .dejiny.? Published on http://www.grkat.nfo.sk/Texty/historiaex.html, accessed on 22.03.2007
Zimdars-Swartz S. 1991, Encountering Mary: From La Salette to Medjugorje, Princeton