From multi-confessional to mono-confessional state. State–church relations in Poland following World War II

According to Madeley’s (2003) comparative framework of state–church relations in Europe, Poland is part of the historic Northeast-Southeast multi-confessional culture belt. The aim of this paper is to analyse the historic relationships between the Polish state and church in relation to this framework with special attention to the post-Second World War period and to the consequences for the Polish religious landscape. In contrast to the multi-confessionality of the historic Polish polities, after the Second World War Poland became a mono-confessional, Roman-Catholic country. Territorial changes, the resettlement of people and the annihilation of the Jewish population by the Nazis were responsible for this religious homogenisation. Consequently, the relationship between state and church was almost completely confined to the relationship with the Roman-Catholic Church. During the 45 years of communist dominance, that church became the largest public organisation independent of the state authorities and played the most important role in the struggle against the ‘atheisation’ of Polish society as a consequence of the strong support for the church by the majority of people. The post–1989 period is characterised by a liberalisation towards non-Catholic religious communities and – after an initial reluctance – a positive attitude of the Polish Roman-Catholic Church (strongly supported by the Polish Pope John Paul II) towards the Polish membership of the European Union.

The changing relationship between state and church/religion in the Netherlands

The Netherlands is part of the historic Northwest-Southeast multi-confessional culture belt according to the comparative framework of church-state relations in Europe as recently developed by Madeley on the basis of Rokkan’s conceptual map. The aim of this paper is to describe the development of the church-state relations in the Netherlands within this historic framework of state-formation and nation-building, and to interpret recent challenges of its historic state-church model, such as secularisation, the rise of immigrant religions, and general ‘de- and re-territorialisation’ tendencies. The Netherlands developed from a relatively very tolerant polity dominated by the Calvinist Church to a ‘pillarised’ society, in which the Rome-Reformation divide (which also had a strong geographical dimension) was institutionalised in the political system. After the 1960s, very strong secularisation put this ‘pillarised’ system under severe pressure, but the remnants of this system offered a favourable opportunity structure for religious newcomers (Muslims in particular), who could establish their mosques and Muslim schools relatively easily. However, while the main Protestant churches, and even Catholic and Protestant political parties have merged, failing integration of these newcomers in Dutch society and terrorist attacks at the global level as well as in the Netherlands encouraged a new divide between Muslims and non-Muslims. The metropolitan areas in particular became the scene of this new divide.     

The political geography of religion: historical state-church relations in Europe and recent challenges

Historical processes of state formation and nation building are crucial for an understanding of the geography of religions and churches in Europe. Each country has developed its own model of state-church relations, giving rise to a ‘bewildering variety’ as Grace Davie aptly remarks. The aim of this paper is to bring some order to this variety by developing a framework for the comparative study of church-state relations based on Stein Rokkan’s famous conceptual map and recent extensions of it to Central and Eastern Europe by John Madeley. According to that framework Europe has been divided into three mono-confessional (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox) blocs and two multi-confessional culture belts from Northwest to Southeast, and from Northeast to Southeast. This historical pattern has been challenged by secularisation, which started with the Enlightenment and the French Revolution (Western Europe) and the Russian Revolution (Eastern Europe until the velvet revolutions of 1989/1991) and then became widespread after the ‘cultural revolutions’ of the 1960s. A second challenge has to do with globalisation and its consequences, such as massive immigration and the rise of immigrant religions, and in general deterritorialisation, which means the disembeddedness of religion from its national territory. A third challenge concerns reterritorialisation at other (supranational, regional, transnational, and local) scales, of which the new territorial order of the European Union seems to be the most important. Finally, this paper serves as an introduction to the case studies on church-state relations in this special issue.     

Changing relationships between Religion, the State, and Society in Russia

This paper first traces the major changes in the relationship between the (Orthodox) Church and State in the different Russian polities, using Madeley’s framework of historic mono-confessional blocs and multi-confessional belts. Second, it outlines the recent tendencies and characteristic features of church–state relations in today’s Russia. Third, using data from sociological surveys, it analyses the current dominant popular perceptions and societal attitudes towards religion and the State, including religious freedom. Being part of the historic mono-confessional Orthodox bloc, the different Russian polities produced different models of church–state relations: from a symphony of religious and political powers, through a forced nationalization of the Orthodox Church (Russian Empire from the époque of Peter the Great until revolution of 1917), and forced secularisation (during the Soviet Union), to a return of mutual support of (Orthodox) Church and State despite a formal (constitutional) separation in Putin’s Russia.     

State–church relationships in Germany: past and present

In the wake of the Reformation, the bitterest religious wars were fought on the territories of what is now Germany. It was here, however, that the rule “cuius region, eius religio” was found as well which can be interpreted as a first step towards religious tolerance. Germany has been characterised by a religious dualism between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant (Lutheran and Reformed) Church since then. Both had the status of state churches until the First World War. Since then, they are still by far the dominant religious communities in the country but they regard themselves wrongly to be Volkskirchen (people’s churches). They, as well as a number of smaller religious communities, enjoy the status of a corporation under public law. This status includes the right to collect church tax from members through state channels. The federal German state system is mirrored by a similar federal character of the Protestant Church, which is a union of regional churches. When Germany was reunited in 1990, the Volkskirche principle was reintroduced in East Germany although Christians had become a minority there due to 40 years of strong influence of Communism. Secularisation and pluralisation have changed the religious landscape in Germany especially after 1960. The two big churches have lost large numbers of members, and new religious communities have arrived. In the light of Europe growing together, the Protestant Church in Germany, being the largest in numbers in Europe, has initiated stronger cooperation between the different Protestant churches in the European countries, many of which are organised as national churches. Islam has come to Germany mainly through Turkish labour migrants. The country has only recently changed its self-perception into being a society with a large immigrant minority, which is to stay; therefore it will certainly take some time until Muslims are fully accommodated.

Spatial and temporal changes in the relationship between church and state in Hungary

Hungary is located in the Carpatho–Pannonian area and has been the interface at which European Catholicism, Protestantism, Orthodoxy and Judaism have met and mixed for nearly 500 years. The Hungarian state was founded in the 10th and 11th centuries with Catholic support. This was well before the emergence of the modern Hungarian nation in the 18th and 19th centuries on the basis of a mix with Protestantism. During the latter period, Hungarians were followers of several confessions. In spite of this, the Catholic Church generally managed to retain its politically dominant position until 1946, and the elimination of kingdom. In 1949, the Hungarian state and the churches were officially separated. This was followed by an era of atheist, anticlerical policy by the communist totalitarian regime until 1989. Since then state–church relations have largely conformed to European norms and were based on a division of tasks and cooperation. Churches in Hungary played an important role in maintaining civil society and ideas of national consciousness during the totalitarian communist regime. That is why religious conviction and ecclesiastic affairs have a broader political context here than in the west. In the second half of the 20th century, secularisation accelerated by state support was curbed and reversed due to a religious revival, which took place mainly in rural areas following the change in political regime. The scale of religious pluralism was related to the arrival of people who belonged to non-traditional confessions.     

State and church in France: regulation and negotiation

In France the distinction between the secular and religious domains is the result of a slow evolutionary process of secularization over a period of two centuries. A key element was the law of separation between churches and State in 1905. Secularization also produced a pluralistic socio-cultural system, which permits an increase in religious supply, issued from outside or inside existent churches. The religious landscape became complex due to the growth of certain groups. Nowadays, efforts to regulate Muslim communities are leading towards a new tendency of state control of religious activities in two fields, namely places of worship and school activities. Religious plurality is recognized by the State in the name of the freedom of beliefs. Private organizations are used for the public practice of religion and easily obtain places of worship. However, this has necessitated a large number of regional or local arrangements. In the name of the freedom of thought, the school system of the Republic is ensured by public schools, or by Catholic or Jewish schools, subject to strict public control. In this matter, there is only minimal tolerance of other denominations.

Church–state relations in Spain: Variations on a National-Catholic theme?

Contrary to the absence of a uniform Spanish identity (a phenomenon that is often referred to as Spain being a ‘nation of nations’), Spain’s confessional map is remarkably homogeneous. From the beginning of its existence as a political conglomeration, Spain has been a mono-confessional Catholic territory. Even at present, Catholicism is an intrinsic feature of Spanish society and – though officially a secular state – of state policy. A closer look at Spain’s religious situation and its corresponding pattern of church–state relations reveals, however, some recent cracks in the century’s old bond between Spain and Catholicism. Particularly secularization and religious pluralism challenge Spain’s mono-confessional Catholic nature, a development that fits well into Spain’s post-Francoist focus on Europe and European (secular) values. This paper discusses Spanish church–state relations from the beginning of its political existence until present times. Special attention will be paid to more recent societal developments and their impact on religious Spain and church–state relations.

Focal parameters of seismic sources during the 1981 and 1983 eruption at Mt. Etna volcano (Sicily,Italy)

In this study 50 seismic events, preceding and accompanying the eruptions occurring in 1981 and 1983, have been considered. Seismic moments, fault radii, stress drops and seismic energies have been calculated using Brune’s model (J Geophys Res 75:4997–5009, 1970; J Geophys Res 76:5002, 1971); site, anelastic attenuation along the propagation path, geometrical spreading and interaction with the free surface effects are taken into account. For each event we have also estimated the equivalent Wood–Anderson magnitude (MWAeq) (Scherbaum and Stoll in Bull Seism Soc Am 73:1321–1343, 1983); relations among all these source parameters have been determined. Furthermore, the hypothesis of self-similarity (Aki in J Geophys Res 72:1217–1231, 1967) is not verified for events with seismic moments <10¹² N-m: in fact the relationship between log-stress drop and log-moment is linear up to a moment of 10¹² N-m (events of 1981 eruption), while for higher moments (events of 1983 eruption) the slope of the regression line is not significantly different from zero. We suppose that such a behaviour is related to a heterogeneous medium with barriers on the faults. Finally, the main conclusion is that eruptions of 1981 and 1983 differ from one another both in eruptive and seismic aspects; analysis of seismic energies indicates an increase in Mt. Etna’s activity, confirmed by studies performed on the following lateral eruption of 1991–1993 (Patanè et al. in Bull Volcanol 47:941–952, 1995), occurring on the same structural trend.     

Unnoticed but important: revealing the hidden contribution of community-based religious institution of the mosque in disasters

The role of community-based religious institutions has been largely undocumented, underestimated and overshadowed in the disaster studies literature. This paper explores the role of the mosque, a community-based religious institution, in disaster management by documenting and analysing its role in rural settings in the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. The study examines the role of the mosque in relation to key actors from the state, civil society and private sector during response, relief, recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation phases of the Pakistan earthquake. Using qualitative research methods and a case study design, this article analyses primary data collected through 5 months of fieldwork (in 2009 and 2010). The findings demonstrate the multifaceted and distinct contribution of the mosque in cultural, economic, social and political aspects of the lives of the earthquake-affected communities. Possible challenges to engagement with the mosque, both gender inclusiveness and political controversy around its role, are also raised. This research suggests that state, civil society and private sector actors involved in disaster management need to understand complex relationships involving people and their religious institutions, and their impact on the social dimension of recovery. The findings of the study contribute to the scarce knowledge about the role of community-based religious institutions including churches, mosques, synagogues and temples and call for engagement: that is, acknowledging and valuing their role for building a synergy between secular and religious efforts for disaster risk reduction and post-disaster recovery.     

Attenuation relations of peak ground acceleration and velocity in the Southern Dead Sea Transform region

Using the recorded earthquake strong ground motion, the attenuation of peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV) are derived in the southern Dead Sea Transform region. The expected values of strong motion parameters from future earthquakes are estimated from attenuation equations, which are determined by regression analysis on real accelerograms. In this study, the method of Joyner and Boor [Bull Seismol Soc Am 71(6):2011–2038, 1981] was selected to produce the attenuation model for the southern Dead Sea Transform region. The dataset for PGA consists of 57 recordings from 30 earthquakes and for PGV 26 recordings from 19 earthquakes. The attenuation relations developed in this study are proposed as replacement for former probabilistic relations that have been used for a variety of earthquake engineering applications. The comparison between the derived PGA relations from this study with the former relations clearly shows significant lower values than the other relations.     

Ecclesiastical petrology: the building stones of Brixworth Church

Brixworth church in Northamptonshire has been aptly described as a museum of rock–types. An archaeological assignment involving the identification of every stone in one of the oldest of our English churches has led to some surprising discoveries – about how the church was built, and the lengthy journeys undertaken by the Saxons in their search for stone.     

Climate change,environmental degradation and migration

Climate change will have a progressively increasing impact on environmental degradation and environmentally dependent socio-economic systems with potential to cause substantial population displacement. The key concerns in Less Developed Countries (LDCs) will include serious threats to food security and health, considerable economic decline, inundation of coastal areas, and degradation of land and fresh water resources (Reuveny in Polit Geogr, 2007). The relationship between environmental change and potential humanitarian crises has been captured by: McGregor (Geography and refugees: patterns and processes of change, Belhaven Press, London, pp 159–70, 1993), Kibreab (Environment and Population Change, International Union for the Scientific Study of Population, Liège, 1994), Kibreab (Disasters 21(1):20–38, 1997), Myers (Bioscience 43:752–761, 1993), Myers and Kent (Environmental exodus: an emergent crisis in the global arena, Climate Institute, Washington, DC, 1995), Black (New Issues in Refugee Research, Working Paper no. 34, 2001), Lee (Environmental matters: conflict, refugees and international relations, World Human Development Institute Press, Seoul and Tokyo, 2001), Castles (Environmental Change and Induced Migration: Making Sense of the Debate Working Paper No. 70, 2002), Christian Aid (Human tide: the real migration crisis, Christian Aid, London, 2007), and Massey et al. (, 2007). However, we know little about the interplay between environmental change and stresses on ecological systems, resulting socio-economic vulnerability and potential outcomes in terms of population displacement or induced migration. So far these relationships are poorly conceptualized, lack systematic investigation, and are reduced to simplistic causal explanations. This leads to misleading conclusions that deny the complex multivariate processes—environmental, political, social, and economic— which are the root causes of environmentally induced migration and/or conflict. When people are faced with severe environmental degradation they have one of three options: (1) stay and adapt to mitigate the effects; (2) stay, do nothing and accept a lower quality of life; or (3) leave the affected area. The process of movement and migration is usually subject to a complex set of push and pull forces, where push forces relate to the source area while pull factors relate to the destination. These forces are in constant flux, as much as environmental change, and interact with socio-economic and political conditions including state or government decision making powers, which can tip the balance at any point by either denying movement or the right to settle elsewhere. The paper focuses on how environmental change and environmental hazards contribute to the migration by exploring the mechanisms through which vulnerability and migration are linked—via livelihoods, relocation policies, and other factors. The paper begins by outlining important definitions of what is environmentally induced migration. The paper also considers the question of whether migration is a process that reduces or increases vulnerability. The paper draws on multidisciplinary literature including ecology, environment, and climate change; sociology of migration; anthropology of displacement; and economics; but also on preliminary from various case studies in Egypt, Vietnam, and Mozambique.     

Contesting racialization in a neoliberal city: cross-cultural collective formation as a strategy among alternative social planning organizations in Toronto

Many cities in the twenty-first century are increasingly culturally diverse and neoliberal due to processes of political, economic, and cultural globalization. While the need to examine the disjuncture between neoliberal ideology and practice remains paramount (Brenner and Theodore in Antipode 34(3):349–379, 2002), the implications of neoliberal policy on the actual experiences and activities of diverse groups in the city require further study (Hackworth in The neoliberal city: governance, ideology, and development in American urbanism, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 2007). This article contributes to urban studies engaging discourses about the practical rather than purely ideological aspects of neoliberalism, and discourses about the experiences of racialization in North American cities. Through a case study of social planning practices in contemporary Toronto, the author shows how neoliberal policies have shaped social planning in Toronto since 1998, and how several cross-cultural organizations representing Chinese, continental-African, Latino-Hispanic and South Asian communities were compelled to develop a collective to jointly contest the racialization of their communities. The cross-cultural collective’s work forces a reconsideration of what constitutes mainstream Toronto and offers an alternative approach to the dominant social planning in the city; however, it is not sufficient to replace the pervasive neoliberal hegemony as long as it remains caught up within its structures.     

Initial assessment of the infiltration and overland flow for different rainfall events in land constituted of sandstones of the Botucatu Formation (Guarani Aquifer), State of São Paulo, Brazil

This study was carried out in the Córrego do Vaçununga basin constituted of eolic sandstones of Botucatu Formation and residual unconsolidated materials (>90%), considered the most important unconfined aquifer in Brazil, in the city of Luiz Antonio, State of São Paulo, Brazil. Laboratory and in situ tests were performed to characterize the unconsolidated materials in terms of basic physical properties, potential infiltration rate, suction and hydraulic conductivity. The results for infiltration and overland flow depths were obtained according to Morel-Seytoux and Khanji (Water Resour Res 10(4):795–800, 1976) and Chu (Water Resour Res 14(3):461–466, 1978) adaptation of the Green and Ampt [J Agr Sci 4(Part 1):1–24, 1911] model for steady and transient rainfalls, respectively. Rainfall data were collected from January of 2000 to December of 2002, and 12 scenarios were defined considering the intensity and durations. Rather than high homogeneity in terms of the texture of unconsolidated materials, the infiltration and overland flow ratio depends on the type of land use and associated management practices. The results showed that rainfall with high intensity and short duration do not produce high overland flow ratio as we have observed for transient scenarios with long duration and low intensities.     

Geological and geotechnical properties of the medieval rock hewn churches of Lalibela,Northern Ethiopia

Lalibela is a medieval settlement in Northern Ethiopia famous for its 11 beautifully carved rock hewn churches, registered as World Heritage Site in 1978. The rock hewn churches are grouped into three based on their proximity: the Bete Medhane Alem (Church of the Holy Saviour), Bete Gabriel–Rufael (Church of St. Gabriel–Rafael) and Bete Giorgis (Church of St. George) groups. The churches are carved out of a single, massive scoriaceous basalt hill which was deposited along an East–West extending palaeovalley in the Oligo-Miocene Trap basalt of the northwestern Ethiopian plateau.The Rock Mass Rating (RMR) classification scheme was used to classify the rock mass (assuming each church as a separate rock mass) based on their uniaxial compressive strength and the spacing and conditions of discontinuities. Though most of the churches are hewn from medium to high strength rock mass, discontinuities make them vulnerable to other deteriorating agents mainly weathering, and water infiltration. Most of the rock hewn churches are affected by pre-carving cooling joints and bedding plane discontinuities, and by mostly but not necessarily post-carving tectonic and seismic induced cracks and fractures. Material loss due to deep weathering triggered by rain water infiltration and uncontrolled groundwater seepage affects most of the churches, particularly the Bete Merqorios (Church of St. Mark) and Bete Aba Libanos (Church of Father Libanos) churches. The scoriaceous basalt which is porous and permeable allows easy passage of water while the underlying basalt is impermeable, increasing the residence time of water in the porous material, causing deep weathering and subsequent loss of material in some of the churches and adjoining courtyards.     

Structure of magnetite (Fe<Subscript>3</Subscript>O<Subscript>4</Subscript>) above the Curie temperature: a cation ordering study

A pristine magnetite (Fe₃O₄) specimen was studied by means of Neutron Powder Diffraction in the 273–1,073 K temperature range, in order to characterize its structural and magnetic behavior at high temperatures. An accurate analysis of the collected data allowed the understanding of the behavior of the main structural and magnetic features of magnetite as a function of temperature. The magnetic moments of both tetrahedral and octahedral sites were extracted by means of magnetic diffraction up to the Curie temperature (between 773 and 873 K). A change in the thermal expansion coefficient around the Curie temperature together with an increase in the oxygen coordinate value above 700 K can be observed, both features being the result of a change in the thermal expansion of the tetrahedral site. This anomaly is not related to the magnetic transition but can be explained with an intervened cation reordering, as magnetite gradually transforms from a disordered configuration into a partially ordered one. Based on a simple model which takes into account the cation-oxygen bond length, the degree of order as a function of temperature and consequently the enthalpy and entropy of the reordering process were determined. The refined values are ΔH⁰ = −23.2(1.7) kJ mol⁻¹ and ΔS⁰ = −16(2) J K⁻¹ mol⁻¹. These results are in perfect agreement with values reported in literature (Mack et al. in Solid State Ion 135(1–4):625–630, 2000; Wu and Mason in J Am Ceramic Soc 64(9):520–522, 1981).     

Environmental governance through “Speaking Like an Indigenous State” and respatializing resources: Ethical livelihood concepts in Bolivia as versatility or verisimilitude?

This research addresses recent environmental governance in Bolivia through its relations to indigeneity and respatializations. It introduces and develops the concept of “speaking like an indigenous state” to examine the Bolivian state’s recent use of a pair of indigenous linguistic concepts, Living Well and Earth Mother, representing the identities of citizens and their rights to resources and livelihoods. State relations to indigenous social movements highlight the use of Living Well and Earth Mother concepts through accommodation, resistance, and protaganism. Six active issues of environmental governance are examined: (1) climate change and justice movement; (2) agrarian reform, agrobiodiversity, and food justice; (3) water resources; (4) indigenous territories; (5) Protected Areas; and (6) extractive industries (mining, hydrocarbons). The usages of Living Well and Earth Mother show versatility as they have been mobilized in the respatializing of the politics and social-power dynamics of environmental issues at scales of the state, global and international institutions, and community and local levels. Analysis also reveals deployment of Living Well and Earth Mother that is discursively influential and yet conceptually reduced and unevenly applied, thus suggesting a characteristic of verisimilitude. My analysis determines that respatialization at various levels, including territorial transitions of sub-national regional spaces, are associated with the heightened articulation of environmental governance through indigeneity and “speaking like an indigenous state” amid resource nationalism. Linkages and logics operating within this conjuncture differ from the prevailing interpretation of the Bolivian state’s use of Living Well and Earth Mother as solely an unwitting contradiction or instrumentalist camouflage.     

Coupling of oceanic and continental crust during Eocene eclogite-facies metamorphism: evidence from the Monte Rosa nappe,western Alps

High precision U–Pb geochronology of rutile from quartz–carbonate–white mica–rutile veins that are hosted within eclogite and schist of the Monte Rosa nappe, western Alps, Italy, indicate that the Monte Rosa nappe was at eclogite-facies metamorphic conditions at 42.6 ± 0.6 Ma. The sample area [Indren glacier, Furgg zone; Dal Piaz (2001) Geology of the Monte Rosa massif: historical review and personal comments. SMPM] consists of eclogite boudins that are exposed inside a south-plunging overturned synform within micaceous schist. Associated with the eclogite and schist are quartz–carbonate–white mica–rutile veins that formed in tension cracks in the eclogite and along the contact between eclogite and surrounding schist. Intrusion of the veins at about 42.6 Ma occurred at eclogite-facies metamorphic conditions (480–570°C, >1.3–1.4 GPa) based on textural relations, oxygen isotope thermometry, and geothermobarometry. The timing of eclogite-facies metamorphism in the Monte Rosa nappe determined in this study is identical to that of the Gran Paradiso nappe [Meffan-Main et al. (2004) J Metamorphic Geol 22:261–281], confirming that these two units have shared the same Alpine metamorphic history. Furthermore, the Gran Paradiso and Monte Rosa nappes underwent eclogite-facies metamorphism within the same time interval as the structurally overlying Zermatt-Saas ophiolite [∼50–40 Ma; e.g., Amato et al. (1999) Earth Planet Sci Lett 171:425–438; Mayer et al. (1999) Eur Union Geosci 10:809 (abstract); Lapen et al. (2003) Earth Planet Sci Lett 215:57–72]. The nearly identical P–T–t histories of the Gran Paradiso, Monte Rosa, and Zermatt-Saas units suggest that these units shared a common Alpine tectonic and metamorphic history. The close spatial and temporal associations between high pressure (HP) ophiolite and continental crust during Alpine orogeny indicates that the HP internal basement nappes in the western Alps may have played a key role in exhumation and preservation of the ophiolitic rocks through buoyancy-driven uplift. Coupling of oceanic and continental crust may therefore be critical in preventing permanent loss of oceanic crust to the mantle.     

Cordierite as an indicator of thermodynamic conditions of petrogenesis

A refined thermodynamic model of H₂O and CO₂ bearing cordierite based on recent data on volatile incorporation into cordierite (Thompson et al. in Contrib Mineral Petrol 142:107–118, 2001; Harley and Carrington in J Petrol 42:1595–1620, 2001) reflects non-ideality of channel H₂O and CO₂ mixing. The dependence of cordierite H₂O and CO₂ contents on P, T and equilibrium fluid composition has been calculated for the range 600–800°C and 200–800 MPa. It has been used for establishing thermodynamic conditions of cordierite formation and the following retrograde P–T paths of cordierite rocks from many localities. Estimates of the H₂O and CO₂ activities have shown that cordierites in granites, pegmatites and high-pressure granulites were formed in fluid-saturated conditions and wide range of H₂O/CO₂ relations. Very low cordierite H₂O contents in many migmatites may be caused not only by fluid-undersaturated conditions at rock formation and H₂O leakage on retrograde P–T paths but also by the presence of additional volatile components like CH₄ and N₂. The pressure dependence of cordierite-bearing mineral equilibria on fluid H₂O/CO₂ relations has been evaluated.