On October 2–3, 2026, the Yerevan Center for International Education (YCIE), together with the Groupe Sociétés, Religions, Laïcités (GSRL) — a research center of the CNRS and EPHE–PSL — and the Institut français de recherche sur l’Europe orientale, le Caucase et l’Asie du Nord (IRECA), hosted an international conference in Yerevan, titled “What Makes a Church ‘National’ in the 21st Century? Politics and Poetics of Religious Nationalism in the South Caucasus, the Balkans, and Eastern Europe.”

Across the two days, we brought together scholars researching religion, nationalism, and Eastern Christianity in the South Caucasus, the Balkans, and Eastern Europe to discuss not only the relationship between churches and nation-states, but also the everyday practices through which a church becomes — and sometimes ceases to be — perceived as national.

Many thanks to all our participants, chairs, and colleagues who made the conference possible!