Elensky Victor
The dilemma what is the essence of post-communist religious changes in Central and Eastern Europe, and in what way these changes give rise to social, political and cultural development of the region is discussed. The article reveals that post-communist societies are returning to the natural patterns of their own religious culture – patterns shaped through the centuries by their historical development, cultural heritage, distinctive socio-psychological features, and sense of belonging to a certain culture and civilization. The author argues that the sphere, in which religious changes in post-communist countries take place, is more at the institutional level than at the individual conversion’s realm. These changes are more evident in the field where religion turns into a serious factor of political and ethnical mobilization. This phenomenon has distinctly manifested itself in some episodes of the post-communist decade.
Keywords: socio-religious changes, cultural heritage, post-communism, religiosity.