Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T11:47:04.887Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

“For the Glory of Romanians”: Orthodoxy and Nationalism in Greater Romania, 1918–1945*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Lucian N. Leustean
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The relationship between Orthodox Christianity and national identity has been one of the most contended issues in modern nationalism. The dominant religion in the Balkans, Orthodoxy has transported the identity of ethnic groups into the modern era and political leaders have employed religious institutions according to their own political agendas in the construction of “imagined communities.” Orthodoxy has a particular perception of the political field. Based on the concept of symphonia, which dates back to the Byzantine Empire, the Church claims that religious and political offices are equal and have similar responsibilities. Religious and political rulers have the mission to guide the people and the Church and state should collaborate harmoniously in fostering identity. Political leaders refer to the nationalist discourse of the Church in order to induce national cohesion. From this perspective, the relationship between religion and the construction of the nation in the Orthodox space differs from that in the Catholic or Protestant world where Churches are supranational or sub-national institutions.

Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , September 2007 , pp. 717 - 742
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Academia Romănă. Istoria Romănilor, Romănia ìntregită (1918-1940) (The history of Romanians, united Romania (1918–1940)). Vol. 8. Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedica, 2003.Google Scholar
Administraţia Cassei Bisericii. Regulamentul Legii Clerului Mirean şi Seminariilor. (Legal regulations concerning clergy and seminaries). Bucharest: Tipografia Cărţilor Bisericeşti, 1914.Google Scholar
American Committee on the Rights of Religious Minorities. Roumania: Ten Years After. Boston: Beacon Press, 1928.Google Scholar
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 1991.Google Scholar
Bălan, Nicolae. Biserica neamului şi drepturile ei. Discurs rostit la discuţia generală asupra proiectului de lege a cultelor, ìn şedinta dela 27 martie 1928, a senatului romăn (The Church of the People and its rights. Speech presented at the general discussion on the proposed Law of Cults, in the meeting on 27 March 1928 at the Romanian Senate). Sibiu: Tiparul Tipografiei Arhidiecezane, 1928.Google Scholar
Boia, Lucian. Istorie şi mit ìn conştiinţa romănească (History and myth in Romanian consciousness). Bucharest: Humanitas, 2002.Google Scholar
Botoşăneanu, Arhiereu Grig. L. “Biserica Ortodoxă Romănă şi celelalte confesiuni” (The Romanian Orthodox Church and other confessions). Biserica Ortodoxă Romănă, no. 6 (1928): 485–488.Google Scholar
Bucur, Maria. Eugenics and Modernization in Interwar Romania. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Ciucă, Marcel-Dumitru, Aurelian Teodorescu, and Bogdan Florin Popovici. Stenogramele şedinţelor Consiliului de Miniştri: Guvernarea Ion Antonescu (Minutes of the meetings of the Council of Ministers: Ion Antonescu's regime). Bucharest: Arhivele Naţionale ale Romăniei, 2001.Google Scholar
Crăciun, loan. “Situaţia clerului din Ardeal. O comparaţie” (The clergy's situation in Transylvania. A comparison). Biserica Ortodoxă Romănă, no. 15 (1923): 1114–1115.Google Scholar
Crainic, Nichifor. Ortodoxie şi Etnocraţie cu o Anexă: Programul Statului Etnocratic (Orthodoxy and ethnocracy with an appendix: the programme of the ethnocratic state). Bucharest: Editura Cugetarea, 1937.Google Scholar
Cristea, Miron. Principii Fundamentale pentru Organizarea Unitară a Bisericii Ortodoxe Romăne (Fundamental principles for the United Organisation of the Romanian Orthodox Church). Bucharest: Tipografia Cărţilor Bisericeşti, 1920.Google Scholar
“Cronica bisericească. Investitura Patriarhului Romăniei” (Ecclesiastical chronicle. The enthronement of the Romanian Patriarch). Biserica Ortodoxă Romănă, no. 11 (1925): 703–70.Google Scholar
“Cronica bisericeaseă” (Ecclesiastical chronicle). Biserica Ortodoxă Romănă, no. 1 (1924): 33.Google Scholar
“Cronica bisericeaseă” (Ecclesiastical chronicle). Biserica Ortodoxă Romănă, no. 3–4 (1937): 244–24.Google Scholar
“Cronica internă” (Internal chronicle). Biserica Ortodoxă Romănă, no. 5–6 (1937): 373.Google Scholar
Deletant, Dennis. Hitler's Forgotten Ally: Ion Antonescu and his Regime, Romania, 1940–1944. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2006.Google Scholar
Giurescu, Dinu C. Romania in the Second World War (1939–1945). Translated by Eugenia Elena Popescu. Boulder: East European Monographs, 2000.Google Scholar
Heinen, Armin. Die Legion “Erzengel Michael” in Rumänien Soziale Bewegung unde Politische Organisation. Munich: Oldenbourg, 1986.Google Scholar
Hitchins, Keith. Orthodoxy and Nationality: Andreiu Saguna and the Rumanians of Transylvania, 1846-1873. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977.Google Scholar
Hitchins, Keith. “Orthodoxism: Polemics over Ethnicity and Religion in Interwar Romania.” In National Character and National Ideology in Interwar Eastern Europe, edited by Banac, Ivo and Verdery, Katherine. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995: 135–13.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, John. “Ethnicity and Modern Nations.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 23, no. 4 (2000): 651–699.Google Scholar
“Ìnsemnări” (Notes). Biserica Ortodoxă Romănă, no. 1–2 (1940): 96.Google Scholar
Institutul Central de Statistică. Recensămăntul General al Populaţiei Romăniei din 29 decembrie 1930, publicat de Dr Sabin Manuilă (General census of the population of Romania of 29 December 1930, published by Dr Sabin Manuilă). Vol. 2–4. Bucharest: Monitorul Oficial, Imprimeria Naţională.Google Scholar
Ioanid, Radu. The Sword of the Archangel. Fascist Ideology in Romania. New York and Boulder: Columbia University Press, 1990.Google Scholar
Iordachi, Costantin. “Charisma, Religion, and Ideology: Romania's Interwar Legion of the Archangel Michael.” In Ideologies and National Identities: The Case of Twentieth-Century Southeastern Europe, edited by Lampe, John R. and Mazower, Mark. Budapest and New York: Central European University Press, 2004: 35–36.Google Scholar
Kitromilides, Paschalis M. Enlightenment, Nationalism, Orthodoxy. Aldershot: Variorum, 1994.Google Scholar
Leustean, Lucian N. “Ethno-symbolic Nationalism, Orthodoxy and the Installation of Communism in Romania, 23 August 1944 to 31 December 1947.” Nationalities Papers 33, no. 4 (2005): 439–43.Google Scholar
Leustean, Lucian N. “The Political Control of Orthodoxy in the Construction of the Romanian State, 1859-1918.” European History Quarterly 37, no. 1 (2007): 60–81.Google Scholar
Livezeanu, Irina. Cultural Politics in Greater Romania: Regionalism, Nation Building, and Ethnic Struggle, 1918-1930. Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Martineau, Philip. Roumania and her Rulers. London: Stanley Paul, 1927.Google Scholar
Mihalcescu, I. “Cronica interna” (Internal chronicle). Biserica Ortodoxă Romănă, no. 7 (1923): 535–53.Google Scholar
Ministère de l'Agriculture, de l'Industrie, du Commerce et des Domaines. La Roumanie. 1866–1906. Bucharest: Imprimerie Socec, 1907.Google Scholar
Finanţelor, Ministerul. “Expunere de motive la Bugetul general al statului pe exerciţul 1939/1940” (Reasons for the state budget on 1939/1940). Bucharest: Monitorul Oficial şi Imprimeriile Statului, 1939.Google Scholar
Nicodim. Biruinţa nu se poate dobăndi numai prin destoinicia clerului, ci prin vitejia ìntregii ostiri crestine (Victory cannot be obtained only through clerical ability, but through the courage of the Christian army). Bucharest: Tipografia Cărţilor Bisericeşti, 1941.Google Scholar
Ornea, Zigu. The Romanian Extreme Right. The Nineteen Thirties. Translated by Eugenia Maria Popescu. Boulder: East European Monographs; New York: Columbia University Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Păcurariu, Mircea. Istoria Bisericii Ortodoxe Romăne (The history of the Romanian Orthodox Church). Bucharest: IBMBOR, 1981.Google Scholar
Parkinson, Mande, Twenty years in Roumania. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1921.Google Scholar
“Pastorala pentru ajutorarea refugiatilor din Basarabia şi Bucovina” (Pastoral letter for helping the refugees from Bessarabia and Bukovina). Biserica Ortodoxă Romănă, no. 7–8 (1940): 518–51.Google Scholar
Pimen, Mitropolitul Moldovei. Mărăşeşti, locul biruinţei cu biserica neamului (Mărăşeşti, the place of victory with the Church of the People). Neamţ: Tipografia Monastirei, 1924.Google Scholar
Plămădeală, Antonie. Contribuţii istorice privind perioada 1918-1939: Elie Miron Cristea, documente, ìnsemnări şi corespondenţe (Historical contributions on the 1918–1939 period: Elie Miron Cristea, documents, notes and correspondence). Sibiu: Tiparul Tipografiei Eparhiale, 1987.Google Scholar
Prodan, Costică, and Preda, Dumitru. The Romanian Army during the First World War. Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 1998.Google Scholar
“Rapoarte generale pe anii 1932–1935 către Cogresul Naţional Bisericesc din 14 octombrie 1935” (General reports on 1932–1935 to the National Clerical Congress from 14 October 1935). Biserica Ortodoxă Romănă, no. 1–2 (1936): 23–25.Google Scholar
Recensămăntul Populaţiunei din Decembrie 1899 (Census of the population of December 1899). Bucharest: Eminescu, 1905.Google Scholar
Regulamentul general al Societăţii Ortodoxe Naţionale a Femeilor Romăne (General Regulations of the National Orthodox Society of Romanian Women). Bucharest: Tipografia Albina, 1943.Google Scholar
Report of the Conference at Bucharest from June 1st to June 8th, 1935 between the Rumanian Commission on Relations with the Anglican Communion and the Church of England Delegation Appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. London: Church House, 1936.Google Scholar
“Romănia cufundată in jale” (Romania deepened in sorrow). Biserica Ortodoxă Romănă, no. 7 (1927): 385.Google Scholar
Runciman, Steven. Orthodox Churches and the Secular State. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1971.Google Scholar
Sandru, Ilie, and Borda, Valentin. Un nume pentru istorie—Patriarhul Elie Miron Cristea (A name for history—Patriarch Elie Miron Cristea). Tărgu-Mureş: Cartea de Editură “Petru Maior,” 1998.Google Scholar
Scarfe, Alan. “The Romanian Orthodox Church.” In Eastern Christianity and Politics in the Twentieth Century, edited by Ramet, Pedro. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1988: 208–20.Google Scholar
Scriban, Iuliu. “Un dar al lui Dumnezeu” (A gift from God). Biserica Ortodoxă Romană, no. 11–12 (1945): 688–68.Google Scholar
Scurtu, loan. Minorităţile naţionale din Romănia, 1931-1938 (National minorities in Romania, 1931–1938). Bucharest: Editura Arhivele Statului, 1999.Google Scholar
Scurtu, Ioan, Mocanu, Constantin, and Smărcea, Doina. Documente privind istoria Romăniei ìntre anii 1918-1944 (Documents of Romanian history from 1918 to 1944). Bucharest: Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică, 1995.Google Scholar
Seton-Watson, R. W. A History of the Roumanians: From Roman Times to the Completion of Unity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1934.Google Scholar
Smith, Anthony D. Myths and Memories of the Nation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.Google Scholar
“Spicuiri ìn cuvăntările dela Senat despre Legea Cultelor” (Quotations from Senate speeches on the Law of Cults). Biserica Ortodoxă Romănă, no. 5 (1928): 459–45.Google Scholar
Stănescu, P. “Politicianismul şi Biserica” (Politics and the Church). Biserica Ortodoxă Romănă, no. 8 (1926): 448–44.Google Scholar
Stăniloae, Dumitru. “Ortodoxie şi latinitate” (Orthodoxy and Latinity). Găndirea, 18, no. 4 (1939): 197.Google Scholar
Torrey, Glenn E. Romania and World War I: A Collection of Studies. Iaşi and Portland: Center for Romanian Studies, 1998.Google Scholar
“Un om al bisericii” (A man of the Church). In Papism şi Ortodoxism ìn Ardeal sau Porfiră şi cunună de spini. Studiu statistic bisericesc (Papism and Orthodoxism in Transylvania or Porphyry and Thorn Wreath. A Study of clerical statistics). Arad: Tiparul tipografiei diecesane, 95 pages.Google Scholar
Vasilescu, Gheorghe. “Nicodim, al doilea patriarh al Romăniei” (Nicodim, the Second Patriarch of Romania). Magazin Istoric, no. 5 (1998): 42–45.Google Scholar
Veiga, Francisco. La Mistica del Ultranacionalismo: Historia de la Guardia de Hierron. Rumania, 1919–1941. Bellaterra: Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 1989. Published in Romanian as: Istoria Garzii de Fier, 1919–1941, Mistica ultranationalismului. Bucharest: Humanitas, 1995.Google Scholar
Velehorschi, Gh. Colaborarea Bisericii Ortodoxe Romăne cu Straja Ţării. Raport pentru Congresul Naţional Bisericesc (Collaboration of the Orthodox Church with the Guardians of the Country. Report for the National Clerical Congress). Bucharest: Tipografia Cărţilor Bisericeşti, 1939.Google Scholar