Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States

now the myths of the Yugoslav brotherhood and unity? Also, as in the case
of the warring Balkan ethnic myths, the contradiction between myth and
reality almost invariably results in conflict. Typically, myth solidifies certain
social order by obscuring its contradictions, which then continue to work
under the surface only to erupt like a volcano, disrupting the order momentarily
consolidated by myth. Likewise, myth strengthens and unites “communities
of fear.” It can help the survival of a group and even propel its
rise. Yet this success simultaneously brings about hostile responses in rival
groups whose myths are challenged. It is true that without myth there is
no dignity and identity, but sooner or later myth turns against its creators.
234 balkan idols
The Balkan Nightmare Continues
I shall now conclude this journey where it began—in the Balkan land of
Byzantine domes, gothic spires, and Islamic minarets. These have been
razed, damaged, and newly built and renovated, and they still stand side by
side, defying all attempts to profoundly change the legacy of the Balkan
past. Today, however, there exists a changed broad context known as “the
new Europe.” Instead of rushing to identify it as another new or rejuvenated
old myth, it must be acknowledged that in contrast to nineteenth-century
western and central European statesmen, princes, and emperors, who looked
with much contempt on the Balkans and their peoples, the leaders of the
European Union (EU) look on Europe’s southeastern corner with mixed feelings
of concern, contempt, and compassion. Today European leaders seem
prepared for and capable of healing the Balkan malady.
Prominent intellectuals of Yugoslav descent, such as, for example, the
authors Ivo Andrić and Miroslav Krlezˇa, died before the invention of the
new Europe. These two Slavic intellectuals, among many others, despised
western Europe and were notorious pessimists regarding the prospects for
stability and civilization in Europe’s southeastern corner. Among others,
they believed that the Yugoslav peoples are damned. According the famous
metaphors from Andrić’s and Krlezˇa’s stories and novels, moments of peace
and light in the history of the Yugoslav peoples are short-lived, as opposed
to long-lasting violence and darkness. Short moments of peace and light are
always brought to an end as someone “turns the lights off,” thus giving a
signal for a mass slaughter in this “Balkan Inn.” Hatred, frustration, and
anger emanating from ignorance, superstition, prejudice, and misrule are
never fully cured—they only change forms, from lethargy to vehement outburst.
The local establishment is everywhere composed of “fools” and “newly
enriched bastards,” while the wise are for most of the time silent and ignored.
Needless to say, both literary giants were outspoken anticlericalists.
For Andrić, the clergy of all major faiths in Bosnia are carriers of the fateful
everlasting hatred, and for Krlezˇa, bishops and archimandrites march down
the streets in front of a “schizophrenic mob” while ruling elites “worship