Abstract
The chapter frames religious transnationalism as a pathway for the development of multiple religious glocalizations. Hence, it develops a theoretical view fitting with the book’s framework on religious glocalization. It then surveys church-state relations in Romania, which affect the transnational connections of Romanian Orthodoxy in Western Europe. The manifold glocalizations of the latter are thus discussed by relating the subject to the transnational social protection of fellow countrymen abroad, which comes about through an entanglement between church and state. Subsequently, the chapter studies the ongoing establishment of the Romanian Orthodox diaspora in Italy as a negotiated transnational organization through the enhancement of digital religion and flexible religious habits. Finally, the chapter concentrates on the forming of a transnational European identity by the Romanian Orthodox Church, which influences the hybridization of its parishes in Western Europe and its entanglement with the state.
Now the future—which is already before our eyes—brings with it new problems that Orthodox theology has not faced in the past. Let me mention a few of them here and raise the question of the importance of the legacy of Western Orthodox theology in confronting them. First, there is the rapid transformation of Western societies into multicultural communities. Orthodox theology has to face the fact that so-called pure «Orthodox nations» will no longer exist. Western Orthodoxy, which has learned to exist in an unorthodox environment, must teach the rest of the Orthodox churches not only how to survive but also how to influence their non-Orthodox environment. Ecumenical dialogue is a prerequisite for Orthodox theology in the future. And it must eventually include not only Christians but also other religions. Otherwise the Orthodox Church will be transformed into a «ghetto», unable to play a role in society.
—Bishop Joannis Zizioulas (2008) (My translation from Italian to English.)
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Notes
- 1.
Again, from a historical perspective, these transnational connections should not be seen as a novelty in world history. However, a significant increase of their flows has occurred because of the latest technological developments and innovations (Roudometof, 2016).
- 2.
Lastly, a further coinciding aspect is probably the most obvious one of an economic nature. The Romanian economy in Italy centers on domestic caregiving services and construction work (Perrotta, 2011). In 2015, the remittances of Romanians amounted to €871,621 (16% of total remittances occurring in Italy), while in 2016 they amounted to €777,110 (15.3% of the total remittances to the country). Romania is the country with the largest levels of economic remittance received from Italy, while the second one is Bangladesh (€435,333 in 2015 and €486,559 in 2016) (Luatti, 2017, p. 32).
- 3.
I am aware that I am not addressing the Romanian communist and postcommunist periods, nor their BOR-state relationships. Instead, I briefly concentrate on the policy paradigm shift in Romanian church-state entanglement just before entry to the EU. For detailed views on the previous historical periods, see Gillet (1997), Leustean (2009), Stan and Turcescu (2007a).
- 4.
As noted by Bratosin and Ionescu (2009), from the beginning of his mandate Patriarch Daniel has been acclaimed by the Romanian government for his strong commitment to assisting the Romanian communities scattered throughout Europe.
- 5.
Levitt distinguishes among extended, negotiated, and recreated transnational religious organizations.
- 6.
There follow the titles of some radio programs: Vocea română din lume (‘Romanian voice in the world’), Identitatea românească în lume (‘Romanian identity in the world’), and Români de lângă români (‘Romanians next to Romanians’). The quotation in the section is taken from the web page of the first radio program listed: https://www.radiotrinitas.ro/toate/vocea-romana-din-lume/ (accessed 19 October 2021).
- 7.
For instance, it is known that from the canonical perspective the Romanian Orthodox metropolises in Western countries have greater ecclesiastical autonomy established by the BOR’s statute (Grigorita, 2010, p. 98).
- 8.
Regarding the latter trend, there are no studies available. However, one may refer to the organization of the International Orthodox Youth Meeting since 2013. In this religious event, every year in a different Romanian city, young Orthodox meet to pray and discuss youth issues, together with some delegations of young people from other Orthodox churches. Also in this case, it seems possible to identify a ‘transposition’ of an experience already consolidated in Catholicism to Romanian Orthodoxy. This event seems to some extent a legacy of the World Youth Day (WYD) launched by Pope John Paul II in 1985.
- 9.
I refer to Fr. Roberto, an Italian Catholic priest of a parish in the center of Padua, who told me that he was able to recognize Orthodox faithful during his liturgies at the moment of the Holy Communion: they received it with their hands crossed over their chest as is customary in the Orthodox Christian tradition. Then Fr. Giuseppe, an Italian Catholic priest of a parish in the diocese of Ragusa in Sicily, told me about a Romanian Orthodox woman who asked him whether she could receive the sacrament of confession. However, she also asked him whether he would place the stole over her head during the sacrament, as would happen in the Orthodox ritual of confession.
- 10.
An example in this regard is provided by the construction of the place of worship of the BOR in Abano Terme. The building work began on 11 November 2016, after the first stone laying ceremony conducted by the Bishop Siluan at the beginning of the same month, which was attended by around 500 faithful. The work ended on December 24th of the same year, and the next night the Romanian Orthodox community celebrated Christmas Mass in the new church. As Fr. Costel told in an in-depth interview, five professional workers arrived from Romania for the construction, and they erected the church in just 40 days with the help of around 50 volunteer parishioners. From time to time, artists come from Romania to Abano to decorate the church with Orthodox frescoes. To sum up, these transnational forms of religious practice should be understood as both spontaneous and bottom-up experiences and as initiatives partially linked to the church in the homeland.
- 11.
For instance, soon after his election, Patriarch Daniel stated that “Romania has long developed as a bridge between the East and the West. Such a synthesis is the Romanian Orthodox Church itself, uniting in its own identity the Eastern Orthodox spirituality with the Western Latin spirituality” (Daniel, 2008, p. 169).
- 12.
For example, aspects of this narrative appear in some speeches by Bishop Siluan to Italian television channels. They are available at the URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89O9cw1I-hA; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcAZfqpeUHM; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNV8X9nB734 (accessed 16 December 2021).
- 13.
A similar process has happened in the cases of the Orthodox Church in America (which embraced the first identity pattern), and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in America (which is embracing the second identity pattern)—as discussed in Chap. 1.
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Guglielmi, M. (2022). Entanglement and Forms of Orthodox Transnationalism in Italy and Beyond. In: The Romanian Orthodox Diaspora in Italy. Religion and Global Migrations. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07102-7_4
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