Dr. Efstathios Kessareas

Efstathios Kessareas is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Religious Studies of the University of Erfurt, where he is the principal investigator (“Eigene Stelle”) of the DFG–funded research project “Hellenic Polytheism in Contemporary Greece: Beliefs, Practices, and the Symbolic Struggle over Hellenicity/Greekness”. 

Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the same department, a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Sociology (Center for Social Theory) of Ghent University, and a guest researcher at the Institute for Greek and Latin Philology of the University of Hamburg. 

He holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Crete and a MA in Religious Studies from the University of Leeds. He obtained a BA in Sociology from the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences (Athens) and a BA in Greek Philology from the University of Crete. 

He is author of the book Church, Ideology, and Politics in Post-Dictatorial Greece: A Sociological Approach (Papazisi, 2022). His articles have been published in The Sociological Review, Social Compass, Journal of Modern Greek Studies, Social Science Tribune, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, and Religions, among other outlets.

Hellenic Polytheism in Contemporary Greece: Beliefs, Practices, and the Symbolic Struggle over Hellenicity/Greekness

This DFG research project examines the multi-layered  scene of Hellenic Polytheism in Greece today. A research desideratum in several respects: For although religious movements and people who feel connected to pre-Christian natural religions can be observed internationally, in a number of European countries (and beyond), the followers of the ancient Greek religion and tradition in contemporary Greece have a number of special features, particularly because of their connection to Hellenic polytheism and their fierce criticism of the producers of the dominant Orthodox culture and official ideology in Greece. The “Hellenic polytheists” or “Ethnic Hellenes”, as they prefer to call themselves, aim to restore the ancient Greek religion and tradition in contemporary Greece. They promote Hellenic polytheism and a related way of life as a key solution to the rapid transformations and acute crises that not only Greece, but also the whole world faces today. The project intends to examine these religious groups and organizations both “internally” (e.g., beliefs, values, ritual practices) and “externally” (e.g., conflicts, public relations) in a differentiated, detailed and systematic way. To this end, it will use a variety of methods; for instance, interpretive content analysis, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation. The results will be made available to both academic and non-academic audiences in conferences, scholarly papers, blog posts, and a monograph on the subject.

Books

• 2022: Kessareas, E. Church, Ideology, and Politics in Post-Dictatorial Greece: A Sociological Approach [in Greek]. Athens: Papazisi. [Monograph, 326 p.]
  https://papazissi.gr/product/ekklisia-ideologia-kai-politiki-stin-ellada-tis-metapoliteysis/
• 2022: Kessareas, E. Faith, Economy, and Politics: Religious Tourism in Contemporary Greece. Erfurt: University of Erfurt. [Book Series: Erfurter Vorträge zur Kulturgeschichte des Orthodoxen Christentums, no. 21/2022]
  www.academia.edu/90363133/Faith_Economy_and_Politics_Religious_Tourism_in_Contemporary_Greece_2022_Erfurt_University_of_Erfurt

Edited Volumes

• Forthcoming (2026): Vasilios N. Makrides, Efstathios Kessareas and Pantelis Kalaitzidis (eds.) Orthodox Christianity Between Pre-Modern Commitments, Modern Challenges, and PostModern Relevance. Paderborn: Brill. 

Journal Articles and Collective Volumes

• Forthcoming (2026): Kessareas, E. “Orthodox Christian Fundamentalism as a Mode of Thought and Action: Fighting the New Faces of the Antichrist”. In Vasilios N. Makrides, Efstathios Kessareas and Pantelis Kalaitzidis (eds.) Orthodox Christianity Between Pre-Modern Commitments, Modern Challenges, and Post-Modern Relevance. Paderborn: Brill.  
• Forthcoming (2026): Kessareas, E. “Leaving the Orthodox Church: Institutional Responses” [In French]. In Philippe Portier, Anne Lancien, and Anne-Laure Zwilling (eds.) Dictionnaire des non-religieux. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.  
• Forthcoming: Kessareas, E. “Dekonversion: Kritische Reflexionen”. In Vasilios N. Makrides / Sabine Schmolinksy (Hg.), Konversionen: Religion – Lebensführung – Weltanschauung. Münster: Aschendorff.  
• 2024: Kessareas, E. “The ‘Gordian Knot’ of Ethnocentrism and Universality: Comparing the Political Theologies of the Church of Greece and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople”. In Mihai-D. Grigore and Vasilios N. Makrides (eds.) Orthodoxy in the Agora: Orthodox Christian Political Theologies Across History, p. 375-411. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. https://www.vr-elibrary.de/doi/10.13109/9783666302565.375   
• 2023: Kessareas, E. & Makrides, V. N. “Symphonie als tragfähiges Modell von Kirche-StaatBeziehungen in der orthodoxen Welt heute? Bestandsaufnahme und kritische Würdigung” [“Is Symphony a Sustainable Model of Church-State Relations in the Orthodox World Today? A Survey and Critical Appraisal”], Catholica: Vierteljahresschrift für ökumenische Theologie 77 (3): 201-221. https://www.aschendorff-buchverlag.de/detailview?no=16801   
• 2023: Kessareas, E. “Holy Communion in Greek Orthodoxy in the Time of Coronavirus: Ideological Perspectives in Conflict”. In A. Flescher and J. Zimbelman (eds.) Religion and Public Health during the Time of COVID-19, p. 57-73. Basel: MDPI (Special Issue Reprint, 2023, Religions 14: no. 647). https://www.mdpi.com/books/reprint/7780-religion-andpublic-health-during-the-time-of-covid-19
• 2023: Kessareas, E. “Holy Communion in Greek Orthodoxy in the Time of Coronavirus: Ideological Perspectives in Conflict”. Religions 14 (5): no. 647 (pp. 1-17). https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/14/5/647
• 2023: Kessareas, E. “Signs of the Times”: Prophecy Belief in Contemporary Greek Orthodox Contexts”. Social Compass 70 (1): 73-90. https://doi.org/10.1177/00377686231154110
• 2023: Kessareas, E. “Οικονομική κρίση, ευρωπαϊκός προσανατολισμός και ελληνορθόδοξη ιδεολογία” [“Economic Crisis, European Orientation, and Greek Orthodox Ideology”], Το Βήμα των Κοινωνικών Επιστημών-Social Science Tribune 20 (76): 28-63. https://doi.org/10.26253/heal.uth.ojs.sst.2023.1723
• 2022: Kessareas, E.  “The Controversy over Ancient Greek as a School Subject: Education, Ideology, and Politics in Times of Crisis”, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 46 (1): 98117. https://doi.org/10.1017/byz.2021.4
• 2022: Kessareas, E. “Geistliche Väter und ihre Idolisierung im orthodoxen Christentum” [“Elder idolization in contemporary Orthodox Christianity”], Religion & Gesellschaft in Ost und West, 11: 3–5. https://www.academia.edu/90381867/_Geistliche_V%C3%A4ter_und_ihre_Idolisierung _im_orthodoxen_Christentum_Religion_and_Gesellschaft_in_Ost_und_West_50_11_3_5
• 2022: Kessareas, E. “The Church in Times of Crises: A Refuge or a Driver for Change?”, The Wheel Journal, 28/29: 66–71. https://www.academia.edu/76834877/The_Church_in_Times_of_Crisis_A_Refuge_or_ a_Driver_for_Change
• 2022: Kessareas, E. “Saints, Heroes, and the ‘Other’: Value Orientations of Contemporary Greek Orthodoxy”, Religions, 13 (4): no. 360 (pp. 1-17). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13040360
• 2019: Kessareas, E. ‘The Orthodox Church of Greece and Civic Activism in the Context of the Financial Crisis’. In Rupert Graf Strachwitz (Ed.): Religious Communities and Civil Society in Europe. Analyses and Perspectives on a Complex Interplay, p. 61-118. Berlin: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110645880-005
• 2018: Kessareas, E. ‘The Greek Debt Crisis as Theodicy: Religious Fundamentalism and Sociopolitical Conservatism’. The Sociological Review. 66 (1): 122-137. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038026117695491
• 2015: Kessareas, E. ‘Orthodox Theological Currents in Modern Greece after 1974: Ongoing Tensions between Reform and Conservatism’. Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 33 (2): 241-268. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/602016

Blog Posts

• 2023: Kessareas, E. “Should the British Museum Return the Parthenon Marbles? The Response of the ‘Ethnic Hellenes’”, LSE Religion and Global Society, September 28th. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2023/09/should-the-british-museum-returnthe-parthenon-marbles-the-response-of-the-ethnic-hellenes/
• 2023: Kessareas, E. “Εκσυγχρονιστές, φονταμενταλιστές και ο «τρίτος δρόμος» στην Ορθόδοξη Εκκλησία” [“Modernizers, Fundamentalists, and the 'Third Way' in the Orthodox Church”]. Polymeros kai Polytropos, February 15th. https://www.polymerwsvolos.org/2023/02/15/eksighronistes_fondamentalismos_tritosdromos/#more-2226
• 2022: Kessareas, E. “Analysing Religious Public Discourses: Categories of Thought and Value Differences”, Sociology Lens Insights, December 12th. https://www.sociologylens.net/article-types/opinion/religious-public-discourses/43655
• 2022: Kessareas, E. “Inequality: Orthodox Christian Responses and Limitations”, Public Orthodoxy, January 11th. https://publicorthodoxy.org/2022/01/11/inequality-orthodoxchristian-responses/
• 2021: Kessareas, E. “When shall we be free?” Conceptualizing Freedom in Orthodox Christianity, Political Theology Network, September 30th. https://politicaltheology.com/when-shall-webe-free-conceptualizing-freedom-in-orthodox-christianity/ 
• 2021: Kessareas, E.  “Late Modernity, Time, and Orthodoxy”, Public Orthodoxy, April 12th. https://publicorthodoxy.org/2021/04/12/late-modernity-time-orthodoxy/ 
• 2021: Kessareas, E. “Between the Kingdom of God and the Spirit of the World: Christian Churches in Front of Old and New Challenges”, LSE Religion and Global Society, March 25th. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2021/03/between-the-kingdom-of-godand-the-spirit-of-the-world-christian-churches-in-front-of-old-and-new-challenges/ 

Interviews

• Forthcoming (2025): GZ-Interview mit Dr. Efstathios Kessareas, „Glaubensvorstellungen und Ritualen der alten Griechen wieder beleben“, Griechenland Zeitung.

https://uni-erfurt.academia.edu/EfstathiosKessareas