Authors

Discussion

The breakdown of communism in South Eastern Europe made it possible for several rituals devoted to St. Jovan Vladimir in Albania, North Macedonia and Montenegro to be revived. These rituals are closely entangled with the rising national movements of the countries and the local Orthodox Church. Each national movement and church claim the saint as theirs, which is a centre of the public celebration and rituals. However, all rituals include various local Muslim and Christian groups that partake in the celebration. This transreligious character is assessed and discussed in this paper, because it raise the question, whether the saint is celebrated most as a religious or a national memory – or a combination. The collective memory of the saint after communism seems to be caught between a negotiation of national and religious institutions and groups, which this paper tried to unfold.