Ecclesial Boundaries and National Identity in the Orthodox Church

Tamara Grdzelidze is a professor of religious studies at Ilia State University in Tbilisi and former ambassador of Georgia to the Holy See. She is the author and translator of Georgian Monks on Mount Athos: Two Eleventh-Century Lives of the Hegoumenoi of Iviron.

Contents Introduction 1. Emerging Ecclesial Boundaries in the Eastern Roman Empire 2. National Borders and Secular Boundaries 3. Autocephaly and a Secular Age: painful adaptation to Pluralism 4. Autocephaly and Studying Nationalism/studies on N 5. Contextualization of Autocephaly: Russian Orthodox Church Orthodox Church of Georgia Orthodox Church of Ukraine 6. Eucharistic Vision as Hermeneutics for Orthodox Synodality Conclusions

"The present crisis in Eastern Europe has highlighted the deep problems around the relation of Orthodox Christianity to state power and national mythology. In this wonderfully learned and wide-ranging book, Tamara Grdzelidze brings together historical, sociological, and theological reflections to argue that the connections between Orthodoxy and national identity are far more diverse and fluid than many imagine, and that it is time for some serious rethinking of conventional attitudes-and even canonical structures-in the Orthodox world. A vital book for understanding the current challenges in the Eastern Christian world." -Rowan Williams, 104th Archbishop of Canterbury "This book is a precious exercise in building a bridge between different areas of global Christianity and even different areas within the Orthodox Churches." -Massimo Faggioli, author of The Church in a Change of Era "This book does not speak simply to an Orthodox audience or to ecclesiological issues. Engagement with this concept of autocephaly is crucial to understanding the role of religion in the politics of Russia and Eastern Europe." -Aristotle Papanikolaou, co-editor of Fundamentalism or Tradition