ABSTRACT
In 1991, Georgia declared independence from the Soviet Union. After being supportive of Gamsakhurdia during an anti-Soviet nationalist mobilization, the Georgian Orthodox Church shifted its position against him when his popularity fell and the country suffered a series of crises. The church gradually distanced itself from the ethnic nationalism of the ruling elites. Religion became one of the central pillars in a national mythology of the battle of Kosovo, a narrative that brought Slobodan Milosevic political fame. The Serbian Orthodox Church at first welcomed and backed Milosevic’s usurpation of power and nationalist policies, as long as his cause prevented Kosovo from being ethnically cleansed of Serbs. The Georgian Orthodox Church's role in the Rose Revolution became the final nail in the coffin of Shevardnadze’s regime. Unlike Serbia and Georgia, Ukraine experienced two revolutions in the proximity of a decade: the Orange Revolution and the Euromaidan Revolution.
