The State, the Church, and the Demarcations of the Occult in Serbia

Abstract

The paper examines the complex social dynamics of publicly articulated attitudes toward esotericism in present-day Serbia within the last three decades of its history. The focus of my analysis is twofold: the changing attitude of the State towards esotericism, and the role of the Serbian Orthodox Church in shaping its public perception. I am interested in the ways the Church articulates its impact on the State and the public and how it delineates the phenomenon of the occult as a menacing Other, a threat to the traditional Orthodox Christian and national values posed by the processes of globalization and liberalization. I argue that, in some of its aspects, public discourse on esotericism in Serbia is dominated by an exclusivist, anti-modernist, and totalizing approach that views all the alternative forms of spirituality as harmful and potentially dangerous. The paper, thus, contributes to a better understanding of the complex web of interactions between the Church, the State, and the public concerning the phenomenon of the occult.