Human Migration and Security in the Orthodox World

Some--typically reactionary American fantasists and recent converts, the two often being the same dreary little group--like to put it about that "holy Orthodoxy," especially in places like Russia or Greece, is somehow immune to the social problems of "the West." Anyone familiar with this thing called a newspaper, or more recently Google, knows how easy it is to disprove such romantic rubbish. A new book will further aid in that. 

First published in 2019 in hardback, and newly released in a more affordable paperback edition, is Forced Migration and Human Security in the Eastern Orthodox World, ed. Lucian N. Leustean  (Routledge, 2021), 336pp.

About this book the publisher tell us this: 

The conflict in Eastern Ukraine and the European refugee crisis have led to a dramatic increase in forced displacement across Europe. Fleeing war and violence, millions of refugees and internally displaced people face the social and political cultures of the predominantly Christian Orthodox countries in the post-Soviet space and Southeastern Europe. This book examines the ambivalence of Orthodox churches and other religious communities, some of which have provided support to migrants and displaced populations while others have condemned their arrival. How have religious communities and state institutions engaged with forced migration? How has forced migration impacted upon religious practices, values and political structures in the region? In which ways do Orthodox churches promote human security in relation to violence and ‘the other’? The book explores these questions by bringing together an international team of scholars to examine extensive material in the former Soviet states (Ukraine, Russia, Georgia and Belarus), Southeastern Europe (Turkey, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania), Western Europe and the United States.