Negotiating Marian apparitions : the politics of religion in transcarpathian Ukraine.

Includes bibliographies and index.

This book concerns the politics of religion as expressed through apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Dzhublyk in Transcarpathian Ukraine. On the one hand, the analysis provides insights into the present position of Transcarpathia in regional, Ukraine-wide, and European struggles for identity and political belonging. The way in which the apparitions site has been conceived and managed raises questions concerning the fate of religious communities during and after socialism, the significance of national projects for religious organizations, and the politics of religious management in a situation in which local religious commitments are relatively strong and religious organizations are relatively weak. The analysis contributes to the ethnography and history of this particular region and of the post-socialist world in general. On the other hand, the changing status of the apparition site over the years allows investigation of the questions concerning authority, legitimacy, and power in religious organizations, especially in relation to management of religious experiences. The analysis aims at clarification of such concepts as religious institutions, organizations but also religious experiences and is relevant to anthropology, sociology and religious studies. It is argued that the important question in analyses of religious apparitions should not be how an individual experience becomes institutionalized and instrumentalized, but how experience becomes a tool for negotiation and transformation in the religious field. Key word: 1. Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint--Apparitions and miracles-Ukraine-Zakarpats'ka oblast'. 2. Zakarpats'ka oblast' (Ukraine)-Church history.

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Introduction -- Religious Experiences, Institutions, and Organizations -- Religious Organizations in (Post)socialism -- Field Research -- Structure of the Book -- Dzhublyk Apparitions and Modern Apparitional Patterns -- Site -- Visionaries and the Managers -- Messages and the Visions -- Networks of Support and Transnational Connections -- Crisis Conditions -- Organizational Embracement, Organizational Rejection -- Concluding Remarks -- Nation and Church in Transcarpathia -- Transcarpathia in Today's Ukraine and the Rusyn Question -- Sui Iuris Eparchy within Present-Day Ukraine: A Brief History -- strong eparchy with an ambiguous status: from the Union of Uzhhorod to Soviet rule -- structure of the Greek Catholic Church in Transcarpathia during the Soviet era -- post-Soviet period -- Liturgical practice -- Virgin Mary at Dzhublyk and the Ukrainian Question -- Concluding Remarks -- Authority of the Priests -- Priests and their Relations with the Laity in Transcarpathia -- Who's in charge? -- effects of the work of underground Greek Catholic priests during the Soviet Era -- Dzhublyk and the underground priests -- economic and legal basis of parish life -- Clerical Strategies of Negotiation over Authority and its Legitimation -- Networking as a member of the local elite -- Withdrawal -- remaining aloof -- Caring for the flock and deepening the faith -- Charisma -- freeing the people from suffering -- Fear of black prayer -- Concluding Remarks -- Call for Unity and Management of "Divergent Devotions" -- Dzhublyk and Nyzhnie Bolotne Parish -- Practice of the Psaltyr -- From Community Cult to Religious Network: Dzhublyk and Mothers' Prayers -- Breaking up the Orthodox Imaginary -- Know-How of Religious Life -- Marian Apparitions as Divergent Devotions? -- Conclusion: Marian Apparitions as Sites of Transformation.