Catholic and Orthodox Political Cultures in the Context of the Modern Model of a Democratic State

Abstract

The article provides a detailed analysis of the role of the religious factor in the formation of political culture. In this sense, a comparative analysis of the key distinctive features of the Orthodox and Catholic political cultures and social institutions and how it is carried out. The authors conclude that, despite the fact that these political cultures are closest to each other and have a single system of common Christian values, they also contain significant differences related to the configuration of state-power relations. In the case of Cyprus, the society is not only not secularised, but is also more ‘churched’ than other western countries. However, the existence of the institute of ethnarch or ‘head of the nation’ on the island, determines another model: ‘symphony’. Having received administrative power, Orthodox hierarchs were not just a living embodiment of the union of religion and state on equal terms, but also stood at the origins of the history of independent Cyprus.