#misticizam

Hristos nije poslao apostole u samoću pustinje nego da osvajaju svet za carstvo nebesko

The topos of the ugly and sorcerous old woman, who combines more demonic than human traits and disturbs the peace of the village at night as a legendary figure, seems to be omnipresent in Europe. Nevertheless, her perception varies considerably in the various culturally specific contexts, and this despite or precisely because the Inquisition defined the concept of witchcraft as heresy. For the semantization of the topic in the ethnological research context in chapter 1, syncretism as a meta-category therefore plays an important role. For it shows that magic and religion need not necessarily be mutually exclusive. Instead, in Southeastern Europe they developed in dependence on each other and now exist in parallel against the background of a rational worldview. Even if religion appears as the dominant system there, magical practices retain their status because they are neither subject to hegemonic interests nor to a dogmatic definition. In order to be able to understand syncretism as a hybrid form of belief, the consideration of the historical framework conditions was crucial.  While inquisitorial ideas spread much faster in the Catholic regions, they migrated only partially and much later to the areas of the so-called "Ottoman Europe". For example, witchcraft was considered a criminal offense even in nineteenth-century Serbia, but not in the sense of a maleficium or harmful spell, but as a "spreading of superstition". At the same time, alleged witches were rehabilitated as healers within their village communities and were tolerated by the local clergy. Thus, we are dealing with different perspectives and modes of attribution based on an ambivalent perception of magic.