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Patriotism is saying \"hey, my country is pretty cool; I need to support it\" or \"I love my country\".
Nationalism is saying \"My country is better than your country! And your country! And everybody\'s country!\"
Basically, nationalism is, more or less, extreme fanaticism in support of one\'s country and usually involves saying that all others are somehow beneath or inferior to one\'s own country.
Nationalism in theory has a bit of a tainted image after the past century of the militant nationalism of Nazism, or the Soviet Union at times. Originally, the intention of nationalism wasn\'t for the purpose of demeaning other countries, but merely as a unifying factor for similar peoples.
As Americans and allies with England and France which have been nations for years (regardless of France hardly being a unified peaceful one until the past 50 years), we have the tendency to think of America as the youngest among the major countries of the world. On the contrary, Germany is only around 150 years old as is Italy and several others. The French, specifically Napoleon, held power over the country we now call Germany, but it was nationalism that spurred the German SPEAKING people to unify and create a country.
It is possible to argue in the same case of Germany, such nationalism led to Hitler\'s rise to power. This is certainly true.
The Soviet Union, whose anti-religious policies were certainly catastrophic towards the Orthodox Church, were extremely forceful in their nationalist policies as well. However, nationalism, in a way aided the Church for a brief period of time. The early Leninist and Stalinist period yielded thousands of churches closed and even more priests, monks, bishops, and other religious figures brutally murdered. With the onset of World War Two, however, Metropolitan Sergeii (the successor to St. Tikhon (Bellavin) of Moscow) rallied a Russian (not Soviet) people to support their country. Fortunately, this worked to the Church\'s benefit (if only temporarily). Stalin surprisingly allowed for the reopening of several hundreds of churches and openly supported the Church. Unfortunately, this has brought about a great deal of controversy with several questioning whether Metropolitan Sergeii\'s methods were truly Orthodox or rather self-serving. Regardless, this was one instance where the Orthodox Church utilized Nationalism to its benefit.
Nationalism, I feel is more of a \"fervent patriotism\" than \"radical.\" Normally it serves more of a country unifying purpose than simply to evoke notions of \"I love my country\" (e.g. fireworks on the fourth of July, or the song \'God Bless the USA.\') The Orthodox Church\'s role with nationalism or patriotism? A little tougher to define what it should be without toying with the notion of \'separation of Church and State.\'
Just one guy\'s opinion though...hope this makes sense.
We pray in the Liturgy for those who\'ve fallen for Faith and Country...
I think that Prince Lazar made the good choice. He consciously gave up an earthly kingdom--greater Serbia--for the Heavenly Kingdom. And to gain the latter he had to give up the latter. He wasn\'t allowed to compromise. Here are Prince Lazar\'s words:
\"O, Dearest God, what shall I do, and how?
Shall I choose the earth? Shall I choose
The skies? And if I choose the kingdom,
If I choose an earthly kingdom now,
Earthly kingdoms are such passing things-
A heavenly kingdom, raging in the dark, endures eternally.\"