This project seeks to analyse competing notions of the sacred and the way they shape political sensitivities surrounding existing and historical borders in Central- and Eastern Europe. Specifically, it compares the notion of the “Russian World” (Holy Rus) with two European right-wing and far-right derivatives: the “Hungarian World” (Greater Hungary) and “Holy Serbia” (Greater Serbia or Serbian World). They share a projection of current borders (as defined throughout the twentieth century) as incongruent with the spiritual borders of nation or civilisation. Even though assertions about the “spiritual home” of Russia in Ukraine, Hungary in Transylvania, and Serbia in Kosovo play a significant role in political rhetoric, current discourse has poorly understood the role of religion in these assertions, much less so the contestation thereof within the main Christian traditions.

While the latter two may be understood as appropriations of Russia’s illiberal, authoritarian, and anti-Western agenda, there are also meaningful differences: for example, these imaginaries as associated with ethno-nationalism in Hungary and Serbia, whereas the notion of the Russian World serves a civilisationalist and neo-imperialist audience. Yet, each of these imaginaries rely on a vaguely defined idea of Christian Europe and have used (and captured) religious institutions to legitimate certain political goals — notably Orthodoxy in Russia and Serbia, and a range of preferred religious traditions in Hungary. These developments raise significant questions about the entanglement of religion, ethnicity, nationalism and civilisationalism in Central- and Eastern Europe.