Exploring cultures and communities – the slow way

Okay, there is the Latin or Roman Church in western Europe and the Orthodox Church in eastern Europe. Easy to remember! But what happens at the boundaries?

article summary —

For years my mental map of Europe nicely included religion as a boundary marker: Orthodox Christianity held sway in the east, while the Church of Rome generally had the upper hand in the west. Of course that was too simplistic; it neglected a dozen flavours of Protestant belief, not to mention Judaism, Islam and other faiths. But somewhere around the western boundaries of the former Soviet Union, the alphabet seemed to change into exotic Cyrillic, and at about the same point Catholicism gave way to the onion domes, soulful chant and Slavonic rites of the Orthodox Church.

The real world turns out to be a shade more complicated.


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About the authors

hidden europe

and manage hidden europe, a Berlin-based editorial bureau that supplies text and images to media across Europe. Together they edit hidden europe magazine. Nicky and Susanne are dedicated slow travellers. They delight in discovering the exotic in the everyday.

This article was published in hidden europe 19.