New Ecclesiastical (Dis)order: The Serbian Orthodox Church in Serbia’s Raška after 2000

The contemporary confl icts in the Balkans have brought about a genuine growth of religiosity among the people and increased the importance of spiritual organizations. The Serbian Orthodox Church and its leaders closely cooperated with the political parties and governments of both the left and the right. This article surveys the career of Bishop Filaret who is the head of the Mileševa see. It aims to provide evidence that this cleric was able to retain a powerful position in post–Milošević Serbia even though he had been very close to that regime during the 1990’s. Lastly, the analysis will illustrate the negative consequences of the fusion of politics and religion in this part of South-eastern Europe.