This collection contains the papers of the participants of the international scientific conference „The Church and Otherness“, organized by the Institute of Balkan Studies with the Centre for Tracology „Prof. Alexander Fall“ at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The conference was held from the 8th to the 10th of November 2023 in Acad. Ivan Evstratiev Geshov Hall in the central building of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The scientific forum was financed by the Fund „Scientific Research“ of the Ministry of Education and Sciences under contract No. КП-06-МНФ / 25 (08.08.2023). The partner of the event was the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria. The international conference aimed to examine and present various aspects of „otherness“ through the prism of the church paradigm, and to raise the question of the mechanisms and stages of the construction of the image of the „other“ - who falls into the categories of „us“ and „them“, how they are located in time and space in relation to each other, who these „others“ are, how their image is constructed and in what context. The discussion forum „Otherness: Yesterday and Today“ was held on the 9th of October 2023 in which Dr. Sava Kokudev (Sofia University „St. Kliment Ohridski“, Dr. Evlogi Stanchev, Dr. Kristiyan Kovachev and PhD candidate Milen Petrov (Institute of Balkan Studies) participated. Dr Sava Kokudev focused on the formation of the image of the other in the context of the confrontation between Rome and Constantinople in the 13th century. Dr Evlogi Stanchev offered a historical-anthropological view of the problem of otherness. PhD candidate Milen Petrov gave several historical examples of the perception of otherness. Dr Kristiyan Kovachev commented on the dual nature of otherness and emphasized the two approaches to the construction of the image of the other – verbal and visual, giving examples from polemical writings as well as from the iconography of Orthodox churches. The discussion aroused great interest among the representatives of the academic community present in the audience. The discussion forum was a side event of the major international conference. The conference was attended by 46 speakers representing 30 scientific institutes, universities, and museums from the country and abroad. The wide range of topics demonstrated the ability of scholars from different fields to come together and try to clarify and analyze the images of „otherness“ in their entirety. At the same time, the conference became a platform where established names in the humanities came into contact with young scholars, PhD candidates, and PostDoc fellows who are now entering the world of science. This collection contains articles that reflect different perceptions of otherness through the prism of the church paradigm. With these studies, the researchers contribute to an increasingly interesting area of scholarship that has stimulated the research interest of some scholars in Europe. We hope that the articles included in this collection will outline and condition new theoretical-empirical horizons and research perspectives that can be further developed in the future.No matter how trivial it may seem, it is also necessary to express our thanks, first of all, to the participants, without whom this conference and this collection would not have been realized. First, we would like to express our personal thanks to our colleagues Assoc. Prof. Zlatomira Gerdzhikova, Dr. Alexandra Milanova, Dr. Dimitar Atanasov, PhD candidate Todor Todorov, PhD candidate Milen Petrov, and PhD candidate Eli Filipova, who embraced the idea of a conference and were „burning“ with indescribable energy and passion in its implementation and the realization of this collection. We also thank all the moderators who participated in the conference. We are also grateful to the administrations of the Institute of Balkan Studies with the Center for Tracology „Prof. Alexander Fol“ at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Fund „Scientific Research“ of the Ministry of Education and Sciences, the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria and the National Museum of History. Last but not least, we thank the colleagues who agreed to be part of the Editorial Board of this collection.
25.11.2023
Sofia, Republic of Bulgaria