The object of interest in the present book is the Orthodox Christianity and more specifically the Orthodox Church - both as a holy place and as an institution. The modern conditions in which we live, insert into the sacred religious space the daily requirements with special force. Although the Orthodox Church is a sacred union of all believers, it needs material means for its existing, which necessities in conditions of a market economy increase more and more. By the means of an empirical research, this book, therefore, explores the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in conditions of a market economy through analyzing the ways, which are used by the Bulgarian orthodox clerics in order to provide material existence of the religious institution. This problem is put in a wider context with the question how religious values and norms correlate with the requirements of the market. This analysis helps to see the challenges faced by the Orthodox religious institutions today and will be particularly useful for the students and researchers of religion, who are interested in the way how these institutions work, and for every person concerned about the role of religious values ¿¿in the modern world.

Veneta Krasteva has a PhD degree in Sociology. Since 2010 is a chief assistant professor at the Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Research areas: Sociology of Religion, Economic Sociology, Study of Inequalities and Education. Lecturer in Economic Sociology at the Plovdiv University.