Overall

The visual anthropological perspective on religious visual practice provides a valuable complementary approach to the study of S-E European media and religion
In order to employ that perspective the religious and socio-political systems influential in the various S-E European regions must be taken into account
In the context of Orthodox Christian icon devotion the theological formulations and religious practices associated with visual representation and materiality are key issues

Anthropological study of religion in S-E Europe

Eliminating the theoretical and political biases from the previous work of both Western and S-E European scholars is crucial for the future study of media and religion in S-E Europe. Local scholars with anthropological training are instrumental in this process
Visual anthropologists are particularly well equipped for studying the interplay between media and religion in S-E Europe

Visual Anthropology

VA implies more than using visual media for collecting fieldwork data, and visually illustrating the results of text-based anthropological research
VA: sub-discipline of anthropology with a dual (theoretical and methodological) agenda:
theoretically VA studies people’s ‘visual systems’, i.e. how their conceptual universes and visual/material worlds intersect the social/ economic/ political expressions of their group existence
methodologically VA employs visual in addition to textual means in order to carry out, and present results of, anthropological research

VA and the study of Orthodox Christian ‘visual systems’

VA is particularly well equipped for the study of OC ‘visual systems’:
Visual representation and materiality are key theological issues for Orthodox Christianity, pointing at the crucial issues of Incarnation and Transfiguration
The inter-determination of religious formulation and religious practice is an important OC identity mark, often emphasized in comparison with Catholic and Protestant views

Orthodox Christian theology of icons

Icons are devotional objects meant to convey spiritual energies between visible humans and invisible divine characters
Devotional character of icons is based on:
the OC understanding of the relationship between religious image and divine prototype: the rightful veneration of an icon by a devotee will pass on to the depicted prototype
the OC understanding of matter: a worthy complement of the Spirit, equally necessary for the deification of man and the transfiguration of the created cosmos
Icons are not images only, but indivisible compounds of religious images and material supports. Accordingly the devotional practices associated with their veneration consist of a mixture of verbal, mental and bodily devotion (kneeling, crossing, kissing)

Matter in Orthodox Christian theology

Particular understanding of matter - rooted in the OC cosmology and teleology:
the world was originally made good by God (Genesis), and even after the Fall was deemed worthy of bearing Spirit, as proved by God’s Incarnation
At the Last Day both natural world and man’s creation will be turned by God into a qualitatively superior realm (Revelation)
St Maxim the Confessor: the Creator endowed each created thing with an inner principle (logos), which makes each thing uniquely what it is, and at the same time connects it with God in an essential yet invisible manner. Through these subtle cosmic links, nourished by the divine energies, the world is being preserved and developed
The world is a yet unfinished work of the Creator. Man as a synergic partner with God can bring into fulfillment through his labour and creative imagination the potentialities yet unrealized within Creation
Man is a ‘cosmic priest’. His main task and inner vocation is to offer the world adorned through his work back to its Creator in thanksgiving (Evdokimov, Staniloae)

Objects/ religious objects/ icons in OC theology

Objects created by man are part of his work of transforming nature. To the divine logoi originally implanted in materials, and the continuous flow of divine energies keeping them into existence, man is asked to make his own contribution. In the virtue of his free will he can make and use objects either towards or against the fulfillment of nature’s sacred potentiality - hence his responsibility for both the natural world and his own creation
Religious objects - particular category of objects made and sanctified by man in collaboration with God as a means of prompting and supporting human-divine dialogue
Having been ritually sanctified, religious objects become spiritual channels by means of which divine energies can be captured and re-directed to human and non-human, animated and unanimated, visible and invisible elements of the cosmos
OC icons are both religious objects and representational objects:
as religious objects they act as potential spiritual channels that are being activated when the characters at the two ends (divine prototype and devotee) are ‘tuned’ into each other
as representational objects they act as potential spiritual addresses that are being called at when devotees activate them through prayer

Matter and religious objects in S-E European socialist contexts

Soviet-backed S-E European regimes treated matter differently at various moments:
valued during the ideologically active periods, when materials and messages conveyed through visual propaganda were carefully matched
downgraded during the shortage economy periods, when population was deliberately deprived materially in order to be better controlled
Various degrees of control of the visual and material expressions of religious faith in different S-E European countries and periods
Often production/distribution of religious objects was kept under state control (as was church service, pastoral & social activity, monastic life, theological education & publishing)

Religious life in the Orthodox Church in S-E Europe

In the OC the various spheres of religious life are strongly inter-related
When atheist communist regimes took over in S-E Europe some of the local Orthodox Churches did not want to abandon any of these aspects in communist hands. They vigorously opposed the atheist regime and were decapitated.
Others however offered communists full control of the socially most visible areas (such as social assistance and education), and obtained in exchange the right to maintain the celebration of sacraments in churches, and a tolerated status at the periphery of socialist society.
Most religious hierarchy who took such decisions relied on the elasticity of the spiritual structure connecting the various aspects of Orthodox religious life. In analogy with the metaphor of the Church as body of Christ, they were aware that by allowing certain elements of religious life to be inflicted through the communists impositions the Church as a whole suffered, but at the same time they believed that, as long as through at least one of them the communion with Christ was preserved, the Church as a whole would survive.

VA and Romanian OC visual practice

Ph.D in anthropology on the ‘social lives’ of Romanian OC icons, based on extensive fieldwork in N-W Moldavia, Romania
Specific VA methodology employed: photo/video elicitation (photographed/videoed people who produced, circulated and employed icons, then showed them recorded images/sequences + prompted them for further comments)
Moldavian OC ‘visual systems’ are mainly influenced by three factors:
1.Theological concepts with direct impact on visual/material forms of religious devotion
2.Visual/material elements of religious practice that have been adapted by religious groups in order to avoid former restrictions imposed by the socialist regime
3.New visual/material forms of religious activity experienced by OC devotees as a result of Romanian opening to global communication
new visual media, including Internet and TV (currently four state + six private channels, after the only 3h/day national channel before 1989)
wide range of Christian and non-Christian religious objects produced/ imported/ reproduced locally
newly built/re-arranged spaces for collective and private devotion
alternative religious objects/ devotional spaces provided by various missionaries

Religious implications of the political changes in Romania after 1989

On the public level

religion could be freely practiced by everyone – unlike before 1989, when socially and politically prominent people (e.g. factory or school directors, senior military etc.) risked to loose their jobs if they attended religious services
people had more opportunities to think and learn about religious issues:
children at school – religion re-introduced as optional subject matter (after four decades of interdiction)
priests in churches – free to choose the content and form of their sermons (unlike before 1989 when no reference to the contemporary relevance of sacred texts could be made)
newly published religious literature + new forms of mass media
people could build/renovate churches (forbidden before 1989):
more personal involvement in parish life + more responsibility
new ways of defining one’s Christian identity (e.g. becoming a church sponsor)
people could get involved in socially visible religious activities (unlike before 1989 when OC was forbidden to carry out any form of social work)
parish life could expand beyond former ‘Sunday service’ community

On the private level

New domestic visual environment
new houses could be built according to people’s tastes (unlike before 1989 when most Romanian urban population was forced to live in standard state-owned block apartments)
new display spaces and materials
much wider choice of religious objects available for purchase
everyone could display religious objects for private devotion or decoration at home (again, some risked their jobs if they did that before)

Social and economic implications of the post-1989 changes

new work opportunities for builders & artists due to unprecedented rate of churches and private properties erected during the past decade
emerging competition between officially appointed and self-made religious builders and decorators (who challenged former OC monopoly of religious artists’ training and appointment)
new opportunities for economic activities related to the production and distribution of religious objects

Factors contributing to the modification of Romanian OC ‘visual systems’ after 1989

New visual and material religious environment:
at the exterior: new urban landscape affecting human relationship with space (daily visual experience of people who see churches in construction over long periods of time)
at the interior: new environment for collective devotion
more churches - therefore bigger/ less crowded spaces
basement location during the early construction phases
non-traditional building materials (concrete, agglomerated wood, cardboard)
unusual forms/ artistic styles/ materials of religious paraphernalia
new type of interior lighting (neon)
new spatial relationship with the altar/ celebrating voice due to the use of microphone and loudspeakers
at the interior: new domestic devotional spaces
more/ more diverse devotional objects available for purchase
mixture of traditionally religious (icons, crosses, oil lamps) and non-religious objects (photos, postcards, memorabilia) within the same ‘shrine’
similar framing of both religious and non-religious items
unusual/ non-existent display hierarchy

New religious experiences:
modified relationship with the invisible characters represented in icons (divine beings) and photographs (absent members of the family), due to new forms of religious practice determined by the unprecedented range of religious objects available for purchase

New visual/ material identity statements:
in addition to communicating with invisible/ remote/ absent realms, people also express themselves in relation to the tangible world by means of their displayed religious objects. Friends, neighbors, visitors are potential audiences expected to admire these composite ‘shrines’, and through them their owners’ cherished/ transitional/ newly acquired statuses

Gabriel Hanganu
PhD candidate
Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology
University of Oxford, UK
gabriel.hanganu@exeter.ox.ac.uk