Heritage Orthodoxy and the Right in Greece and Cyprus in a Balkan Perspective

This paper examines “heritage Orthodoxy” as a cultural frame that structures the religious-secular cleavage in Greece and Cyprus situating both cases in a wider Balkan perspective. The focus is on how the mainstream right and the far right calibrate appeals to Orthodoxy as civilizational inheritance, national authenticity, and moral boundary setting on education, family, LGBTQ+ rights, and migration. Three questions guide the study. When do mainstream right parties use inclusive heritage cues to bridge practicing believers and secular conservatives. When do far right actors sharpen the same repertoire into exclusionary identity claims. How do relations with ecclesiastical authorities shape agenda setting, candidate discipline, and coalition bargaining. The hypothesis is that heritage frames circulate across the right but are adapted to different responsibility constraints. Mainstream right parties blend heritage language with policy moderation and international commitments, which sustains broad coalitions. Far right actors emphasize identity protection and moral clarity, which raises issue salience but expose governments to implementation problems and court challenges. Convergence increases during moments of perceived threat, for example security incidents or high profile moral policy votes, then recedes when implementation costs become visible. The design is qualitative and comparative across the two cases. Evidence comes from party statutes, manifestos, leader speeches, parliamentary debates, campaign material, party social media, church communiqués, and mainstream media coverage. Examination of selected episodes, for example education reform, civil unions or family policy, and migration debates, connects frames to intra-party dynamics and party-church linkages. Elite interviews with party strategists, clerics, experts, and activists provide triangulation.