PILGRIMAGE AS A SOCIAL AND COMMUNICATION INSTITUTION IN THE CONTEXT OF CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL PROCESSES (ON EXAMPLES OF UKRAINIAN AND GERMAN CITIES)
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Published:
Jun 11, 2025
Abstract
The author described authentic sacred objects on the example of pilgrimage routes in Lower Bavaria and Transcarpathia, and offered a virtual pilgrimage to German and Ukrainian sacred sites. The researcher recreated the sacred routes in Lower Bavaria on the example of the city of Passau and the village of Sammarei, Transcarpathia, to attract attention to cataloging pilgrimage sites, preserving authenticity, restoration, and creating virtual sites with recreated tourist routes for people with disabilities and young people who often prefer online travel to physically going there and visiting. Digital catalogs, interactive maps, development of digital catalogs, virtual booklets with QR codes, online presentations, and online lectures can become a powerful virtual tool for preserving sacred monuments and the memory of them in the public space. The pilgrimage to Lower Bavaria made it possible to borrow the structure and organization of pilgrimage in Ukraine, as the institutionalization of pilgrimage at the regional level is quite relevant, especially with the rapid development of digital technologies in the modern media space.
How to Cite
Panchenko, S. (2025). PILGRIMAGE AS A SOCIAL AND COMMUNICATION INSTITUTION IN THE CONTEXT OF CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL PROCESSES (ON EXAMPLES OF UKRAINIAN AND GERMAN CITIES). Baltic Journal of Legal and Social Sciences, (2), 145-156. https://doi.org/10.30525/2592-8813-2025-2-18
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Keywords
pilgrimage, religious tourism, communication links, the socio-communication space, digital pilgrimage catalog, digital pilgrimage guide
References
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20. Paschinger, E. (2019). Pilgrimage tourism and social media: A way forward in the 21st century? In Tourism, pilgrimage and intercultural dialogue: interpreting sacred stories (pp. 115-120). Wallingford UK: CAB International. https://doi.org/10.1079/9781789241129.0000
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23. Sargent, S. D. (1986). Miracle books and pilgrimage shrines in late medieval Bavaria. Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques, 455-471. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41298865
24. Shandor F. (2017). Sotsiolohichna model turyzmu yak hospodarchoho sotsialnoho instytutu [Sociological model of tourism as an economic social institution]. Redaktsiina kolehiia, 106-111 [in Ukrainian]. URL: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Volodymyr-Saienko/publication/322007503_Strategicnij_rozvitok_organizacii_mist_ta_regioniv/links/5a3d20b30f7e-9ba8688e6b7d/Strategicnij-rozvitok-organizacii-mist-ta-regioniv.pdf#page=106
25. Štefko, R., Kiráľová, A., & Mudrík, M. (2015). Strategic marketing communication in pilgrimage tourism. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 175, 423-430. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.1219
26. The Way of St. James in Bavaria: 290 kilometers in 12 days. URL: https://bavaria.travel/stories/pilgrimage-time-out-the-way-of-st-james/
27. Tserkvy Zakarpattia u hotychnomu styli − unikalni: analohiv v Ukraini nemaie [The wooden churches of Transcarpathia are the pride of the region and a world heritage]. URL: https://uzhgorod.net.ua/news/92815 [in Ukrainian].
28. Way of St. James from Krumau in the Bohemian Forest via Altötting to Breitenbach in Tyrol. URL: https://www.altoetting.de/en/tourism-altoetting/pilgrimage-routes/pilgrimage-routes-to-altoetting/way-of-st-james-bohemia-bavaria-tyrol/
29. Wünsch, T. (2018). Space and Remembrance. St. John of Dukla (ca. 14141484) as a Religious Memorial Place in the Polish-Ukrainian Border-land of Ruthenia from the Middle Ages to Present Times. Chronicon. URL: https://integro.bs.katowice.pl/32904890128/wunsch-thomas/space-and-remembrance
30. Xiarhos, Michael G. 2016. The Connected Pilgrim: The Potential for Transformation in the Social Media Age. Newport: Salve Regina University.
31. Yoo, Jaeho, Yunseon Choe, and Gyehee Lee. 2022. Exploring pilgrimage value by ZMET: The mind of Christian pilgrims. Annals of Tourism Research 96: 103466. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2022.103466
32. Zhou, Meng, Xiaoli Lu, and Bin Wang. 2023. Travel pictures authenticity in social media space. Annals of Tourism Research 101: 103581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2023.103581
33. Zika, C. (1988). Hosts, processions and pilgrimages: controlling the sacred in fifteenth-century Germany. Past & Present, (118), 25-64.
34. Zinko, Y., Malska, M., Hrynchyshyn, T. (2019). Religious-Pilgrim Tourism in the West of Ukraine: Main Centres and Shrines. Visnyk of the Lviv University Series Geography, (53), 144-166. URL: http://publications.lnu.edu.ua/bulletins/index.php/geography/article/view/10671
35. Shliakh sviatoho Yakova na Podilli: palomnytskyi i turystychnyi marshrut [The Way of St. James in Podillia: a pilgrimage and tourist route]. URL: https://zaxid.net/shlyah_svyatogo_yakova_v_ukrayini_palomnitskiy_i_turistichniy_marshrut_n1584642 [in Ukrainian]
2. Aulet S., Vidal D. Tourism and religion: sacred spaces as transmitters of heritage values. Church, Communication and Culture. 2018. Vol. 3(3), 237–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/23753234.2018. 1542280
3. Berghauer, S., Gyuricza, L. (2011). The role of the borderland position in the tourism of Transcarpathia. Geographica Timisiensis, 20(1), 47-57.
4. Couldry N. Pilgrimage in Mediaspace: Continuities and Transformations. Etnofoor, vol. 20, no. 1, 2007, 63–73. JSTOR. DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2009.10.016
5. de Sousa, M. T., & da Rosa, A. P. (2020). The mediatization of Camino De Santiago: Between the pilgrimage narrative and media circulation of the narrative. Religions, 11(10), 480. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11100480
6. Dereviani tserkvy Zakarpattia – hordist kraiu i svitove nadbannia [The Gothic-style churches of Transcarpathia are unique: there are no analogues in Ukraine]. URL: https://prokarpaty-tour.info/uk/dereviani-tserkvy-zakarpattia/ [in Ukrainian].
7. Durán-Sánchez, A., Álvarez-García, J., del Río-Rama, M. D. L. C., & Oliveira, C. (2018). Religious tourism and pilgrimage: Bibliometric overview. Religions, 9(9), 249. URL:https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9090249
8. Hjarvard, S. (2008). The mediatization of religion: A theory of the media as agents of religious change. Northern Lights: Film & Media Studies Yearbook, 6(1), 9-26. https://doi.org/10.1386/nl.6.1.9_1
9. Hjarvard, S. (2008). The mediatization of society: A theory of the Media as Agents of Social and Cultural Change. Nordicom review, 29(2). URL: https://intapi.sciendo.com/pdf/10.1515/nor-2017-0181
10. Kardash, O. (2020). An attempt at delineation of the eastern missionary route of the clergy of Passau on the lands of the post-Avar Danube region during the first half of the 9th century. Konštantínove listy [Constantine’s letters], (13), 2.
11. Krushynska O. Dereviani khramy Zakarpattia [Wooden temples of Transcarpathia]. URL: http://www.derev.org.ua/ [in Ukrainian]
12. Lepovitz, H. W. (1992). Pilgrims, Patients, and Painters: The Formation of a Tourist Culture in Bavaria. Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques, 18(1), 121-145.
13. Lo Presti, O. (2011). Church institution and digital world: new opportunities to profess the word of God. International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 7(1), 116-130. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJBG.2011.040850
14. Mariahilfstiege: Pilgrimʼs path and destination. URL: https://www.bistum-passau.de/artikel/pilgerweg-mariahilfstiege
15. Merback, M. B. (2004). The Vanquished Synagogue, the Risen Host, and the Grateful Dead at the Salvatorkirche in Passau. Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture, 1(4), 5. URL: https://digital.kenyon.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1010&context=perejournal
16. Merback, M. B. (2012). Pilgrimage and Pogrom: Violence, Memory, and Visual Culture at the Host-Miracle Shrines of Germany and Austria. University of Chicago Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/677432
17. Olsen, D. H. (2019). Religion, spirituality, and pilgrimage in a globalising world. In Handbook of globalisation and tourism (pp. 270-284). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781786431295.00035
18. Panchenko S., Rizun V. On the Importance of Communications in the Field of Pilgrimage and Religious Tourism as a Social and Institution. Current Issues of Mass Communication, 35, pp. 22–30. 2024. https://doi. org/10.17721/CIMC.2024.35.22-30
19. Panchenko, S. (2023). Confessional pilgrimage in Ukraine and Germany as a social and communication interaction in the context of modern transformations. Communications and Communicative Technologies, (23), 126-133. https://doi.org/10.15421/292318.
20. Paschinger, E. (2019). Pilgrimage tourism and social media: A way forward in the 21st century? In Tourism, pilgrimage and intercultural dialogue: interpreting sacred stories (pp. 115-120). Wallingford UK: CAB International. https://doi.org/10.1079/9781789241129.0000
21. Pilgrimage Church «Mariahilf». URL: https://tourism.passau.de/discover-passau/sights/pilgrimage-church-mariahilf/
22. Rizun, V. Zi statti «Sotsialnokomunikatsiinyi pidkhid u nautsi ta haluzi sotsialnoi inzhenerii» [From the article «Sociocommunication approach in science and social engineering»]. URL: https://mediaosvita.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/ journlib.univ.kiev.ua_Socialniy_pidhid.pdf [in Ukrainian].
23. Sargent, S. D. (1986). Miracle books and pilgrimage shrines in late medieval Bavaria. Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques, 455-471. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41298865
24. Shandor F. (2017). Sotsiolohichna model turyzmu yak hospodarchoho sotsialnoho instytutu [Sociological model of tourism as an economic social institution]. Redaktsiina kolehiia, 106-111 [in Ukrainian]. URL: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Volodymyr-Saienko/publication/322007503_Strategicnij_rozvitok_organizacii_mist_ta_regioniv/links/5a3d20b30f7e-9ba8688e6b7d/Strategicnij-rozvitok-organizacii-mist-ta-regioniv.pdf#page=106
25. Štefko, R., Kiráľová, A., & Mudrík, M. (2015). Strategic marketing communication in pilgrimage tourism. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 175, 423-430. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.1219
26. The Way of St. James in Bavaria: 290 kilometers in 12 days. URL: https://bavaria.travel/stories/pilgrimage-time-out-the-way-of-st-james/
27. Tserkvy Zakarpattia u hotychnomu styli − unikalni: analohiv v Ukraini nemaie [The wooden churches of Transcarpathia are the pride of the region and a world heritage]. URL: https://uzhgorod.net.ua/news/92815 [in Ukrainian].
28. Way of St. James from Krumau in the Bohemian Forest via Altötting to Breitenbach in Tyrol. URL: https://www.altoetting.de/en/tourism-altoetting/pilgrimage-routes/pilgrimage-routes-to-altoetting/way-of-st-james-bohemia-bavaria-tyrol/
29. Wünsch, T. (2018). Space and Remembrance. St. John of Dukla (ca. 14141484) as a Religious Memorial Place in the Polish-Ukrainian Border-land of Ruthenia from the Middle Ages to Present Times. Chronicon. URL: https://integro.bs.katowice.pl/32904890128/wunsch-thomas/space-and-remembrance
30. Xiarhos, Michael G. 2016. The Connected Pilgrim: The Potential for Transformation in the Social Media Age. Newport: Salve Regina University.
31. Yoo, Jaeho, Yunseon Choe, and Gyehee Lee. 2022. Exploring pilgrimage value by ZMET: The mind of Christian pilgrims. Annals of Tourism Research 96: 103466. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2022.103466
32. Zhou, Meng, Xiaoli Lu, and Bin Wang. 2023. Travel pictures authenticity in social media space. Annals of Tourism Research 101: 103581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2023.103581
33. Zika, C. (1988). Hosts, processions and pilgrimages: controlling the sacred in fifteenth-century Germany. Past & Present, (118), 25-64.
34. Zinko, Y., Malska, M., Hrynchyshyn, T. (2019). Religious-Pilgrim Tourism in the West of Ukraine: Main Centres and Shrines. Visnyk of the Lviv University Series Geography, (53), 144-166. URL: http://publications.lnu.edu.ua/bulletins/index.php/geography/article/view/10671
35. Shliakh sviatoho Yakova na Podilli: palomnytskyi i turystychnyi marshrut [The Way of St. James in Podillia: a pilgrimage and tourist route]. URL: https://zaxid.net/shlyah_svyatogo_yakova_v_ukrayini_palomnitskiy_i_turistichniy_marshrut_n1584642 [in Ukrainian]