Emphasizing the fact that the religion 1 is the actual phenomenon which represents the collective spirit, and having in mind that this phenomenon is also quite important for shaping and comprehending each individual or national identity, with this paper - we would like to show how the problem of the religion syndrome 2 in the Balkans influences the individual and even national mentality, its identification with the national origins up to its numerous deviations as a result, through many examples from the Balkan literature in the XX century.
        This context comes from the domination of the western civilization upon the Balkans with its relaxed, even quasi-belief in God, practicing - mainly - the traditional church rituals. Their understanding depends on the idea that the life is a kind of a struggle. Accordingly to that, the weaponry appears as an instrument for life's maintenance and preservation. With such logic of overcoming the obstacles with violence, the freedom comes to a form of an absurd. In such kind of a context, the human virtues, empathy and the correct treatment of the Other and everything that is foundation of the religious understanding - is lost.
        Because of the specific development, the Balkan is especially compatible for the implementation of the western logic and increasing of the religious conflicts. At the Balkans, the main contemporary religion groups have their origins in the Middle Ages, which mean that they traditionally bear the characteristic of the society in which they were originally established. These characteristics are xenophobia, centralized hierarchy, permanent manifestation of latent conflicts and external tension within different social forces. The face of Evil, or the Devil - the enemy, at first, concerns the heretics, unbelievers; afterwards, it spreads onto the social order and society in general. That structure has been valid during the five-century-long presence of the (Muslim) Ottoman Empire at the Balkans and later it has been replaced with the idea of the religiously orientated (Christianity) nation. The change from the religious beliefs epoch to the national states epoch on the Balkans happened in the second half of XIX century. The national and linguistic links - then - have become the new identity signifiers. Under the influence of the strong social process and external influences of the large Christian community at the Balkans, the region divides to numerous and separate national communities. Religion was put aside as a secondary in the processes of shaping the new national identities. Christians in the Balkan started to understand each other with the language of nationalism, while their notion of the Muslims remains at the domain of the non-differentiated discourse between the religious communities. That makes the problem even more difficult, because the religious communities (with their "ghettoization") remain to be a potential threat for bigger conflicts at the Balkan. This situation endures up to the moment when the antagonistic interactions between the social and religious groups (with conflicting interests upon the same territories, the same privileges in the society, etc.) will stop. All this is happening at the Balkans, even at this moment. The roots of the Balkan religious intolerance and hate are primevalInstead of the Reign of understanding, toleration, collaborations and common-life spirit, they insist on partial and unchanging, frozen image of the world. That presents an illusion as a base for the creating of rigid and static society, always as a base for potential struggles and conflicts.
         There are more people in the Balkan then anywhere else who, in unconscious state, for different reasons and excuses are able to kill and able to let to be killed. Today (as well as before in the XX century), this context is being used by the western politicians in accordance with their own interests at the Balkan and wider.

Myth of the wild Homo Balkanikus which we can find in the reports of the western itinerary writers and intellectuals from the past centuries is - slowly - changing. The society and economic life in the second decade of XX century impose the need of collaboration and toleration, which will overcome the problems that are originally perpetuated by religious groups, nations or states. The political and cultural factors are becoming more and more integrative-inspiring. The people's awareness of the mutual similarity increases, although they are apart with their different religious and national beliefs. That context was evident up to the 90's, when the disintegration of the Yugoslav community started - along with the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Nowadays, the world balance is lost. The mythic Balkan territory, which stands as the cradle of the European history and culture, and as the crossing point between the East and the West, now is in the center of the worldwide interests - again.

The cruel God, or the dethroning the dead God - like Nietzsche's idea of God, also appears as a practice at the Balkans in the XX century, where only a few real believers, so few in comparison to the unbelievers that use the religion cover only to justify their egoistic acts.
        Considering all this, all of us who live at the Balkans, in our moments of danger and menace - we can't do anything else, but to try to understand the universal messages from the religion, such as patience, hope and calmness. This brings us the power for the spiritual breakthrough - further and beyond the phantasms of domination. Having the patience with the other opinions and beliefs, we can get the real understanding for every difference that stands in our way; and only in that way - we can really and fully understand our own beliefs. Of course, this kind of patience understands putting and respecting the clear limits between the Good and Evil, between the Truth and False. And, by the way, all of the world's religions do agree in (at least) two things: they all preach patience, and all of their Holly Books contain the same foundations of morality.

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1 . The term "religion" comes from the Latin language verb religare that means linking/gathering/connecting. It is the spiritual link between God and man. The basic of every religion is the faith in God. The other main characteristics are: the dogma, the cult and the morality. See: Macedonian Theology Terminology, MANU, Skopje, 1999, p.93.
2 . The term faith in the Old Testament refers to the term/idea of Hope (to confirm and prove one's submission to God). In the New Testament, the term faith refers exclusively to the Christian believing in God. See: New Concise Bible Dictionary, editor D. Williams, Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship, 1989, p.93.

Jasmina Mojsieva Guševa Blesok, 2004 Babylonia CD-ROM