Contested national and digital space, the Orthodox Church, and the new forms of religious engagement: Comparative insights from Georgia and Greece

Kristine Margvelashvili^1,2*

• ¹University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
• ²Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia

Orthodox Churches (OCs) as sophisticated political actors with their institutional agenda to convey and alliances to hold, tend to abate exclusionary religious nationalism. Hence, they attempt to dominate in a discursive struggle of the national space and intend to define the national signifiers. Georgia and Greece are among the most religious societies in the Orthodox world, where religious markers are crucial to discourse on national identity. There are differences in the two countries' historical-political paths; however, similarities are endogenous and linked to Orthodoxy's nature. This paper explores new forms of religious engagement in Orthodoxy and analyses major OC platforms on social networks to identify the main markers of religious discourse online. The study found that discursive chains regarding national identity are less in conflict in Greece due to the political presuppositions. While in both countries the church leans on cultural capital to advance in the discursive struggle for national identity and capitalises on this power to mobilise as a societal veto player. These discursive dynamics are reflected on social media, but are more intense in Georgia, where the church's political influence is more affluent. In Greece, the church is more cautious and limits its authority to religious matters, avoiding high-stakes political debates. The interplay between national identity, religion, and digital space continues to shape political landscapes in Orthodox societies, with church-driven nationalism remaining a potent force.