CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2014
| Author | Biliuta, Ionut Florin |
|---|---|
| Title | The Archangel's Consecrated Servants. An Inquiry in the Relationship between the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Iron Guard (1930-1941) |
| Summary | The relationship between the Romanian Orthodox Church and interwar Romanian fascist movement, the Iron Guard had been a Pandora’s Box for both the lay and Church historians. The focus of this thesis will not fall on presenting the reader with a history of the Iron Guard or a history of the Church through the lenses of the Romanian fascist movement. Rather, by emphasizing the interplay between different layers of authority both in the Legion and in the Church, the present undertaking presents a net of negotiations and careful retreats from both sides. Working around the concepts proposed by Roger Griffin, that is fascism “as a palingenetic form of ultra-nationalism” regarding the movement, and “religious fascism” regarding the Orthodox Church’s low clergy derailment to the extreme right, I will show that on terms of ritual and theology the Iron Guard and the Orthodox Church were able to meet by making compromises. The thesis discusses the risk in assuming that the Orthodox Church acted as one, coherent institution, with a clear cut top down decision making process in its relation to the Iron Guard which as its turn cannot be regarded as one but a plurality inside the label. I have thus identified at least four distinct groups, three being active in the devising of this relationship. There is a distinction in how the low and the high clergy interact with the Legion. With regards to the Legion I have focused on an intellectual group that comprised religious minded individuals with direct or indirect ties with the institution of the Church. There was a side in the Legion and also one in the Church who did not involve itself in this relation. The most ambiguous game among all three factions was played by the high clergy. Acting individually in support of the movement or giving the movement the feeling that in the end they will join in officially, the high clergy used the movement in order to further their own political agenda. The most interesting outcome of these relations was the creation of a legionary theology. By projecting the Christian narrative of redeeming the individual to national proportions, the legionary priests and ideologues created something unparalleled in the history of European fascism: a theological synthesis in which the clergy brought its ideas and performed the sacerdotal function of the movement and the fascists brought the promise of a national salvation in the beyond. The coexistence of Christian sacraments with the sacrament of the movement, the need to couple the Gospels with the legionary writings of the Captain, the emphasis on a redeemed community in the beyond, these are few of the elements of this legionary theology. |
| Supervisor | Riedl, Matthias Hans |
| Department | History PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2014/biliuta_ionut.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University