About Us

The Project: Rewriting Global Orthodoxy: Oriental Christians in Europe between 1970-2020

Between 1970 and 2020, Europe witnessed the migration of Oriental Orthodox Christians (Armenians, Copts, Syriacs/Arameans, Ethiopians and Eritreans) from the Middle East and Africa who settled in Europe, fleeing war-related violence and societal pressures. One of the prominent aspects of religious practice of these transnational Oriental communities has been their strong emphasis on the writing and publishing of texts. These include traditional religious texts (from liturgy to history), re-translated and re-contextualised texts, and completely new texts.

The ERC project “Rewriting Global Orthodoxy: Oriental Christians in Europe between 1970-2020”, led by Prof. Heleen Murre-van den Berg from October 2019 to October 2024 at the Radboud University Nijmegen, took these textual practices as its main source. The project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 834441 GlobalOrthodoxy).

These texts - newly written or traditional texts that are edited, translated, adapted - form the basis to understand how these Oriental Christians have inscribed themselves in European societies amidst transformations related to national, transnational and global Orthodox and non-Orthodox churches. In addition to the Four-Corners-of-the-World database, the project included case studies of the textual practices of Oriental Christian churches in Europe on the Syriac Orthodox, Ethiopian/Eritrean Tawahedo and Coptic Orthodox, complemented by comparative and interpretative studies.

The Database: Four Corners of the World

The Four-Corners-of-the-World database collected these publications by Oriental Orthodox Christians over the past fifty years as they are (and were) used in European communities. It also includes some publications from closely-related churches, such as the Assyrian Church of the East. This includes publications produced in Europe as well as in other parts of the world, in a large variety of languages.

This database, therefore, maps the wide extent of what is published in the context of the churches and religious communities, varying from simple leaflets and near-private productions to well designed and church-sanctioned liturgical and theological books. (Thus leaving aside publications by political or strictly cultural organizations.) The database does not include pdfs of the full publication in order not to infringe of the rights of those that have produced them. It often includes various images of the publication, in order to show not only what the contents are about, but also emphasize the aesthetic and iconic qualities that play a large role in these publications.

This public part of the database provides a number of ways to search and access these publications, comparing within the various Oriental traditions as well as over the boundaries of the distinct churches, according to language, author & translator, genre and imagery. Researchers who are interested in using these materials more extensively for their research are encouraged to get in touch with Heleen Murre-van den Berg.

Conferences & Workshops

“Global Orthodoxy: Transnational Oriental and Eastern Christian Communities in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries” (30 September to 2 October 2020; online), jointly organized with the Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at Radboud University of Nijmegen.
“Oriental Orthodox Visual Cultures in Europe” (7-9 October 2021), Lindenberg Cultural Centre and Huize Heyendael, Nijmegen.
“Rewriting Global Orthodoxy: Oriental Orthodox Textual Traditions in the present” (29 September to 1 October 2022), at Soeterbeeck conference hall in Ravenstein.
“Oriental Orthodox Communities in a Transnational World” (25-27 January 2024), Huize Heyendael in Nijmegen

Project Team

Heleen Murre-van den Berg (Project Leader)
Elise Aghazarian (Program assistance/coordination)
Gaétan du Roy (Post-doc researcher)
Christopher Sheklian (Post-doc researcher)
Jan Gehm (PhD student)
Matija Miličić (PhD Student)
Habtom Johannes (PhD Student)
Wessel Stoop (IT consultant and programmer)
Emmanuel Chamilakis (programmer)

Papers Published by ERC Rewriting Global Orthodoxy Researchers

Highlight: (2025) Labour of Love. Text and Tradition in Contemporary Transnational Oriental Orthodoxy (Radboud University Press Nijmegen); ISBN: 978 94 6515 163 2; DOI: 10.54195/utqa4903. Read more

Miličić, Matija

(2025) Dissertation: “Boundary-making, belonging, and continuity: The rewriting of Coptic Orthodox communities in Europe” Link
(2021). “Coptic Orthodox Communities in Europe: An Overlooked Diaspora”. Egypt Migrations.
(2021). “The Coptic Orthodox Church in the Netherlands”. Egypt Migrations.
(2022). “Preserving, adapting and self-inscribing: The case of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Italy”. Egypt Migrations.
(2022). “The Coptic Orthodox Church in the Netherlands: Shedding light on overlooked European Coptic diasporas” In: Europe and the Migration of Christian Communities from the Middle East. Edited by Martin Tamcke. (Published by Harrassowitz Verlag)
(2023). “Rooting the Coptic Diaspora: Mediating Familiarity and Adapting Churches in the Netherlands”. Etnofoor 3: 2.

Yohannes, Habtom

(2022). “Some Reflections on the "aba-nefs" WhatsApp of an Eritrean Priest Queshi-Afwerki". In Europe and the Migration of Christian Communities from the Middle East. Edited by Martin Tamcke. (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag).
(2021). “The Tigray Crisis and the Possibility of an Autocephalous Tigray Orthodox Tewahdo Church”. In Public Orthodoxy. Fordham University
(2023) “Ethnicity Tears the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church Apart Prime Minister Ahmed forced to talk to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church”. In Public Orthodoxy. Fordham University.
(2020). “Eritreërs: natievorming op de vlucht”. In Afrikanen in Nederland. Edited by Ineke van Kessel, Nina Tellegen, Erik van den Bergh, Angèle Etound Essamba. (Amsterdam: Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen).

Gehm, Jan

(2021).“Von marginalisierten Dorfgemeinschaften in der Südosttürkei zur etablierten Kirchengemeinde, Das Beispiel der syrisch-orthodoxen Kirchengemeinde in Herne 1961-2021". In Migrationskirchen Internationalisierung und Pluralisierung des Christentums vor Ort. Edited by Gregor Etzelmüller, Claudia Rammelt Book chapter (Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt).
and Alena Höfer (2021). “Schmerzhafte Migration. Grenzüberschreitung zwischen Leben und Tod. Syrisch-orthodoxe und eritreisch-orthodoxe Perspektiven“. In Dem Schmerz begegnen. Theologische Deutungen. Edited by Katharina Greschat (Bielefeld: transcript Verlag).
(2022). “Microhistory of a Syriac Orthodox community in Germany: The example of the Syriac Orthodox congregation in Herne from 1961 to 2021". In Europe and the Migration of Christian Communities from the Middle East. Edited by Martin Tamcke. (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag).
and Claudia Rammelt. (2022). “Georg-Günter Blum - Kirchenväter des Ostens und die Mystik im Blick“.In Perspektiven der Ostkirchenkunde, Ausgewählte Ansätze evangelischer und katholischer Ostkirchenkundler. By Martin Illert, Andriy Mykhaleyko (Eds). Brill Schöningh).
(2021). “Martin Tamcke, Christliches Leben in islamischer Welt: Exemplarische Erkundungen und west-östliche Interaktionen. Ausgewählte Vorträge und Aufsätze 2003-2018”. In Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft, 47:1.
(2021). “Martin Tamcke und Egbert Schlarb (Hrsg.) — Überleben, Pilgern, Begegnen im orientalischen Christentum. Festschrift für Wolfgang Hage zum 85. Geburtstag.“. In Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft 47: 1.
(2021). “Martin Tamcke und Egbert Schlarb (Hrsg.) — Überleben, Pilgern, Begegnen im orientalischen Christentum. Festschrift für Wolfgang Hage zum 85. Geburtstag.“. In Göttinger Orientforschungen, Syriaca, 60. (Bibliotheca Orientalis (BiOr) LXXVIII 5/6).

Du Roy, Gaétan

(2022). “Coptic Traditions' Digitization in Francophone Europe”. In Europe and the Migration of Christian Communities from the Middle East, 2022. Edited by Martin Tamcke (Published by Harrassowitz Verlag).
(2022). “Christian and Muslim Home Missions in Egypt in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries: Between Preaching and Social Care”. In Missions and Preaching. Connected and Decompartmentalised Perspectives from the Middle East and North Africa (19th-21st Century). Edited by Norig Neveu, Karène Sanchez Summerer, and Annalaura Turiano.

Sheklian, Christopher

(2022). “Their Compatriot St. Servatius” Armenian emplacement in Maastricht. Edited by Martin Tamcke. In Europe and the Migration of Christian Communities from the Middle East (Published by Harrassowitz Verlag)
(2023). “Het einde van de Armeense aanwezigheid in Artsach [The End of the Armenian Presence in Artsakh”. Platform Oosters Christendom.

Murre-van den Berg, Heleen (profile)

(2025) “Labour of Love: Introductory Notes on Religion, Books, and Learning.” In Murre-van den Berg (ed), Text and Tradition in Contemporary Transnational Oriental Orthodoxy (Radboud University Press, Nijmegen) 13-38; DOI 10.54195/UTQA 4903_CH01.
(2025) “Rewriting Global Orthodoxy: Contemporary Oriental Orthodox Textual Traditions in Europe.” In Murre-van den Berg (ed), Text and Tradition in Contemporary Transnational Oriental Orthodoxy (Radboud University Press, Nijmegen) 231-259; DOI 10.54195/UTQA 4903_CH10.
(2023). “The Church of the East, Catholicism and Literary Culture in the Eastern Ottoman Provinces (1500-1800).” In Livres et confessions chrétiennes orientales. Une histoire connectée entre l'Empire ottoman, le monde slave et l'Occident (XVIe-XVIIIe siècles). Edited by Aurélien Girard, Bernard Heyberger, Vassa Kontouma, 99-124. Turnhout: Brepols, 2023 [Bibliothèque de l'école des hautes études sciences religieuses, vol. 197] ISBN 978-2-503-60440-4. Link
(2022). “Voice of the East: The Transnational Messenger of the Assyrian Church of the East”, in Diaspore nel vicino oriente. Melodie Ebraiche in Benedetto Marcello. Edited by Mirella Cassarino, Lydia Cevidalli, Rosa Bianca Finazzi, Claudia Milani, Marco Moriggi. ISBN 978-88-6894-671-5. Milan: Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana, 59-89; Link
(2022). 'Rewriting Global Orthodoxy. Oriental Christians in Europe between 1970 and 2020', 15-29. Link
(2021). “Language and Religion in the (Re)Making of the Syriac Orthodox Communities in Europe”, in Birgit Meyer, Peter van der Veer (eds), Refugees and Religion: Ethnographic Studies of Global Trajectories (Bloomsbury Academic: London etc.), 179-197; Chapter DOI 10.5040/9781350167162.0019 Link
(2021) “Protestantism, the Middle East and Europe: A Hundred Years of Action Chrétienne en Orient” Transformation, 23 Dec. 2021, 1-7. DOI: 10.1177/02653788211068198
(2020). “The Transformation of the Syriac Churches: Writing, Reading and Religion in the Ottoman period” In B. Heyberger (ed.), Les chrétiens de tradition syriaque à l'époque ottomane, 77-92 (Paris: Geuthner); Link