Nowadays, in contemporary Diaspora studies, the concept of “space” is ef- fectively being revised and significantly expanded, moving from a geographically limited ter- ritoriality to a social structure. The article explores the proposition that ethnic and religious spaces in diaspora environments transcend their role as purely physical places of residence and ritual performance. Rather, they emerge as social constructs that afford a deterritorialised community the means to re-establish its spatial moorings. Ethnic space is conceptualised as a system of symbolic boundaries that upholds collective identity amid conditions of deterritori- alisation, whereas religious space functions as a mechanism of “sacred emplacement,” through which rituals concretize and sustain connections to both the ancestral homeland and religious tradition. In theoretical frameworks, these dimensions are frequently investigated separately, resulting in the spatial interplay between ethnic and religious factors in diasporic contexts. This pattern has produced a theoretical divide between the sociology of ethnicity (Barth 1969; Brubaker 2005) and the spatial anthropology of religion (Knott 2005). The article based on comparative and integrative theoretical analysis examines the components of ethnic and reli- gious spaces as theorized by scholars in sociology, social anthropology, religious studies, and other disciplines, in the context of deterritorialisation.
Local cults—expressions of universal piety anchored to a specific place and its history— remain among the most enduring forms through which religion manifests in the contemporary world. Despite profound shifts in the sociocultural landscape of the postmodern era, these localized devotional complexes continue to shape believers’ lives, drawing pilgrims in search of an immediate encounter with the sacred and the promise of miracles. This study examines the veneration of the Virgin Mary Three-Handed in Bulgaria by focusing on the prin- cipal local cults centered at three monasteries from the Stara Planina region: those of Troyan, Arbanasi, and Sokolski— all dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos. From a diachronic perspective, I examine their origins as distinctive reproductions of a prestigious prototype, drawing on both historical evidence and local foundation legends. Focusing on the contempo- rary landscape, I utilize fieldwork conducted between 2019 and 2025 to explore the constitu- tive elements of each local cult: sacred images, sanctuaries, festive days, rituals and invented practices, consecrated items and relics, and miracle narratives. A comparative analysis of these three cases reveals both shared devotional patterns and site-specific expressions, offering fresh insights into the dynamics of local devotion in modern Orthodox Christianity. This study thus contributes to broader debates on lived religion by demonstrating that the global and the local are mutually constitutive: Orthodox tradition provides shared frame- works, while communities give them distinctive shape and sustained vitality. The universal tenets of Orthodoxy emerge not as monolithic dogma but as a living mosaic of local voices and practices.
The present paper aims to examine the practice of installing tall crosses in Bulgaria, especially from the beginning of the 21st century onward, through the concept of ‘ambient faith’ [Engelke 2012]. To what extent, and in what ways, is the erection of giant il- luminated crosses near settlements an expression of religious faith? This is the main research question I pose. Empirically, the paper is based on the following: a) written sources; b) a brief ethnographic study in one village. I will address the following topics: the concept of ‘ambient faith’; the first known case of installing a giant cross in Bulgaria (Krăstova Gora [Mountain of the Cross]) in the Rhodope Mountains); a comparison between contemporary cross markers and traditional obrok [shrine] open-air crosses; and parallel to similar practices in cross-cultural perspective. In conclusion, I will offer an interpretation of the Bulgarian examples through the lens of the concepts of ‘ambient faith’ and ‘material religion’. I argue that giant Bulgarian illu- minated crosses implicitly emphasize that Bulgarian identity is inseparable from its Orthodox genealogy, regardless of the degree to which an individual Bulgarian is a practicing Christian or not. By reinforcing the public aspects of religiosity, ambient faith contributes to the introduction of new forms and a renewed life of religion.
This paper uses as a starting point Annis Pratt’s concept that “the novel per- forms the same role in women’s lives as do the Eleusinian, dying-god, and witchcraft rituals,” providing the reader with “the potential for personal transformation” through its archetypal pat- terns. Specifically, it explores three contemporary Greek novels that deal with women’s libera- tion and development and employ ancient mythology and Christian religion motifs to enhance their messages and narrative structure. First, it looks at feminist author Lena Divani’s novel The Women of Her Life (1997), which relates intertextually to Dante’s Purgatory and bridges 13th century Christian imagery with the personal purgatory of a woman trying to understand herself and her life beyond social prescriptions. Christian imagery as well as ancient Greek mythol- ogy motifs plays a central part in the awakening process of the female protagonist in Eugenia Fakinou’s The Great Green Sea (1987)—a story about an artist who reproduces Byzantine icons and embarks on a journey of self-growth. While Fakinou and Divani draw symbols from ancient Greek and medieval Christian traditions, anti-feminist and atheist Lili Zografou op- poses and rejects the Orthodox doctrine—especially its moral teachings—in both her fictional and non-fictional writing and, inspired by studies on matriarchal societies, promotes women’s power, sexuality, and self-sufficiency, thus elevating the feminine almost to the state of a cult. Her novel Love Arrived One Day Late (1994) is presented as a counterpoint to the works intro- duced earlier, followed by concluding remarks on the adoption of religious ideas and symbols by different female writers in their literary projects, fostering women’s search for authenticity and self-realization.
