Catholicism and Orthodoxy have been foes since the ninth century.
Four hundreds years later, Byzantine wars against the Moslems were a
distant thunder and raised little curiosity and interest in the
Balkan. The Orthodox church was acquainted with the tenets of
Islamic faith but did not bother to codify its knowledge or record
it. Islam was, to it, despite its impeccable monotheistic
credentials, an exotic Oriental off-shoot of tribal paganism.
Thus, the Turkish invasion and the hardships of daily life under
Ottoman rule found Orthodoxy unprepared. It reacted the way we all
react to fear of the unknown: superstitions, curses, name calling.
On the one hand, the Turkish enemy was dehumanized and bedevilled.
It was perceived to be God's punishment upon the unfaithful and the
sinful. On the other hand, in a curious transformation or a
cognitive dissonance, the Turks became a divine instrument, the
wrathful messengers of God. The Christians of the Balkan suffered
from a post traumatic stress syndrome. They went through the
classical phases of grief. They started by denying the defeat (in
Kosovo, for instance) and they proceeded through rage, sadness and
acceptance.
All four phases co-existed in Balkan history. Denial by the many who
resorted to mysticism and delusional political thought.
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