Continuity and change in the Parish civilization of contemporary Romania ; Continuité et changement dans la civilisation paroissiale de la Roumanie contemporaine ; Continuity and change in the Parish civilization of contemporary Romania: Study of two Orthodox parishes: Corporal Alexa and Nemţişor ; Continuité et changement dans la civilisation paroissiale de la Roumanie contemporaine: Etude de deux paroisses orthodoxes : Caporal Alexa et Nemţişor

Abstract

In this work we propose to study Orthodoxy in an ex-communist country of Eastern Europe, which has just integrated the European Union: Romania. It is simply a matter of observing closely the religious milieu of two basic Orthodox communities, that is to say two rural Romanian parishes.The object of the study corresponds to those of the phenomena, understood as "facts of civilization", observable in two rural Orthodox parishes of present-day Romania. We seek, more precisely, to study parish civilization within the specific framework of two villages: the first, Corporal Alexa; the second, Nemţişor. The first is a village located in the West of Romania, in a rich plain, near the Hungarian border, and therefore, with a mixed population, ethnically and denominationally. The second is located in a hilly region in the east of Romania, in the province of Moldavia, whose history is influenced by the culture of the Slavic peoples and by monasticism.The work of the thesis is based on a study of observation and description of the specific features of the fields concerned. The ultimate goal is to understand today's orthodox parish civilization, understanding based on the work of observation and description. The understanding of what is happening today in this type of parish is based in order to deepen, on the analysis of the universe of thought of the parishioners.The description of the exterior aspect of the parish and village is completed by the description of the parish, of the people, by the way they represent the orthodox world and their position vis-à-vis the church, the rites, the priest and others. To better understand people's experiences, we conducted some 30 in-depth interviews.The plan of the thesis is divided into three main parts: a part devoted to the village of Corporal Alexa, a second part to the village of Nemţişor; the third part, which concerns the two villages, presents a typology of the parishioners.The first two parts strive to reconstruct the past and the socio-economic and cultural conditions of each ...