Healing Chains, Relationships of Power and Competing Religious Imageries in the Monastery of Saints Kosmas and Damian in Kuklen (Bulgaria)
Healing Chains, Relationships of Power and Competing Religious Imageries in the Monastery of Saints Kosmas and Damian in Kuklen (Bulgaria)
Author(s): Magdalena LubańskaSubject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, Anthropology, Customs / Folklore, Theology and Religion, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
Published by: Tartu Ülikool, Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Eesti Kirjandusmuuseum
Keywords: healing chain; Orthodox Christians; Deunovians; religious imageries; Bulgaria; ekstrasensi;
Summary/Abstract: This article offers an anthropological analysis of a conflict over the use of a set of healing chains’ and other focal objects kept in the Orthodox Christian monastery of Saints Kosmas and Damian in Kuklen, Bulgaria. In a nutshell, the conflict captures the leading religious imageries propagated by the custodians of the monastery on the one hand, and the spiritual leaders of a new religious movement,so-called Deunovians, on the other. The analysis helps situate some of the signifcant changes currently affecting the religious culture of Orthodox Christians in Bulgaria within a broader social and cultural context.
Journal: Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics
- Issue Year: X/2016
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 71-99
- Page Count: 29
- Language: English