Ecumenism, Religion and Human Freedom in the Orthodox Context: Slovak Lutherans in Vojvodina

Abstract

This text focuses on the Slovak Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession, the largest Protestant church in Serbia, which functions as both a religious and ethnic minority within a predominantly Orthodox environment. It highlights the wide network of relations and interactions surrounding this church, emphasizing that the church cannot be understood in isolation from them. The analysis approaches the church's context on both micro and macro levels. On the micro level, it offers theological reflections on practices and rituals within the church, including diaconia and social work, interconfessional marriages, religious education, and ecumenical cooperation. On the macro level, it examines the church's legal position and the laws regulating religious communities, the ecumenical orientation within Orthodoxy, and the ecumenical dialogues of the Serbian Orthodox Church.