The Ultranationalist Newsroom: Orthodox “Ecumenism” in the Legionary Ecclesiastical Newspapers Ionuț Biliuță* The present paper discusses the anti-Greek Catholic and anti-Jewish attitudes of some Orthodox clergy as reflected in the interwar legionary press. By making reference to several newspapers (Legiunea, Predania, Glasul Strămoșesc) the article sheds light on the political mobilization of the legionary Orthodox clergymen and intellectuals in support of the xenophobic agenda regarding other denominations (especially the Greek-Catholics) and religious groups (the Jews) in interwar Romania. Keywords: Orthodox Church, interwar Romania, anti-ecumenism, Iron Guard, newspapers, anti-modernism, fascist activism The aim of the present contribution will be to shed light on legionary Or- thodox clergymen’s anti-ecumenical activism through the lenses of their newspaper articles edited during the interwar period. Although there is an ever growing literature about the Romanian Orthodox Church’s interactions with various Christian groups, the present contribution focuses entirely on the anti-Greek Catholic or anti-Jewish attitudes displayed by various legion- ary clergymen through their press articles.1 Furthermore, by making use of three newspapers (Legiunea, Predania, and Glasul Strămoșesc) edited mostly by legionary Orthodox priests, the article provides the reader with an insight on how the legionary clergymen internalized the legionary message in the early stages at the beginning of the 1930s (Legiunea) or during the short- * Ionuț Biliuță, Gheorghe Șincai Institute for Social Sciences and the Humanities, Roma- nian Academy. Address: Al. Papiu Ilarian, 10A, 540074 Tg. Mures, jud. Mures, Romania, e-mail : [email protected] 1 For the Romanian Orthodox Church and its interwar ecumenism, see: Mihai Săsăujan, “Romanian Orthodox Theologians as Pioneers of the Ecumenical Dialogue between East and West: The Relevance and Topicality of their Position in Uniting Europe”, in: Thomas Bremer (ed.), Religion and Conceptual Boundary in Central and Eastern Europe. Encounters of Faiths, Houndmills, Palgrave Macmillan 2008, p. 152-155; Kaisamari Hintikka, “The Pride and Prejudice of Romanian Orthodox Ecumenism”, in: Jonathan Sutton, Wil van der Bercken (eds.), Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Europe, Leuven, Peeters 2003, p. 455-463; Bryn Geffert, Eastern Orthodox and Anglicans. Diplomacy, Theology, and the Politics of Interwar Ecumenism, Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press 2010, p. 201-207. RES 11 (2/2018), p. 186-211 DOI: 10.2478/ress-2018-0015 The Ultranationalist Newsroom lived National Legionary State (Glasul Strămoșesc). Predania presents as an exception in both the legionary newspapers and journals because of the ap- proach of its editors.2 By lambasting both the ethnic (especially the Jews) and denomination minorities (mostly the Greek-Catholics), these Orthodox clergymen emerged as carriers of the legionary message among the Orthodox priesthood, avidly read in Orthodox religious milieus. Although there were several attempts to map the relevance of journalism and newspapers for so- cial mobilization and the spread of propaganda among various social strata by the legionary press, the study of ecclesiastical journals remains a road not taken in the Iron Guard’s historiography.3 The paper will be shaped into four main sections. The first discusses the status of the Orthodox Church and the problematic relationship be- tween the state and other religious denominations. I will argue that it was actually the signing of the Concordat with the Vatican (1927) by King Ferdinand I (1865-1927) that ignited the first spark and bred resentment towards democracy and the institutions of the liberal state among the Or- thodox clergy. Exacerbated by the economic recession (1930-1932), the constant inter-confessional tension in Transylvania among the Orthodox and the Uniate Church set off a huge debate regarding which denomination fit bet- ter with the Romanian nation. Launched in 1930 by a number of consecu- tive articles written by Nae Ionescu in Cuvântul, the argument with the Roman-Catholic intellectual Iosif Frollo (1886-1966) regarding which de- nomination (the Orthodox or the Uniate) better represented the Romanian ethnical specificity had a huge impact on the minds of Orthodox clergy- men. This ongoing discussion led many Orthodox clergymen, disenchanted with the benefits of party-politics and democracy, to side with the fascist Iron Guard.4 2 Oliver Jens Schmitt, “Der orthodoxe Klerus in Rumänien und die extreme Rechte in der Zwischenkriegszeit”, in: Aleksandar Jakir, Marko Trogrlć (eds.), Klerus und Nation in Südos- teuropa vom 19. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert, Frankfurt, Peter Lang 2014, p. 187-214; Roland Clark, Holy Legionary Youth. Fascist Activism in Interwar Romania, Ithaca, Cornell University Press 2015, p. 28-32; Radu Harald Dinu, Faschismus, Religion und Gewalt in Südosteuropa. Die Legion Erzengel Michael und die Ustaša in historischen Vergleich, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz 2013, p. 208-214. 3 The legionary press was previously analyzed by R. Clark, Holy Legionary Youth, p. 121- 141; Valentin Săndulescu, “’Sămânţa aruncată de diavol’: Presa legionară şi construirea imaginii inamicilor politici (1927-1937)”, in: Studia Universitatis Petru Maior. Historia 7 (2007), p. 163; Carmen Escu Müller, Evaluări ale opiniei publice românești asupra fascismului italian (1922-1945), Cluj-Napoca, Argonaut 2016, p. 172-175. 4 For his articles debating with Nae Ionescu, see: Iosif Frollo, Romînism și Catolicism, Bu- charest, Bucovina 1931. 187 Ionuț Biliuță The second part focuses on the impact of the Legionary movement in the ecclesiastical milieus in southern Transylvania through the eyes and articles of a fresh graduate of Sibiu’s Orthodox Academy, Fr. Valeriu Beleuță (1909-1974). Together with several intellectuals from the village, he went on to publish a legionary newspaper entitled Legiunea [The Legion] with the sole purpose of drawing the Orthodox clergymen in southern Transylvania near to the rank and file of the Legionary movement. It shows the Orthodox anti-ecumenism that described the minds of the rural legionary priests in southern Transylvania during the early 1930s. The next section deals with the theological Bucharest-based journal Predania, the first legionary academic journal of Orthodox Theology in interwar Romania. Counting among its contributors prodigious public figures such as Nae Ionescu (1890-1940), at that time the leading right- wing intellectual in the country affiliated with the Iron Guard, Fr. Grigore Cristescu (1895-1961), professor of Homiletics/Cathehesis at the Facul- ty of Orthodox Theology in Bucharest or Hierodeacon Firmilian Marin (1901-1972), this theological journal had a two-fold mission. Addressing and revitalizing the 1930 debate regarding the identification between Or- thodoxy and nationalism according to legionary tenets of sacrifice for the fatherland, Nae Ionescu and his supporters intended to point out to the higher echelons of the Orthodox hierarchy that, as a paradox, not the King or the state are the true defenders and expressions of national sovereignty but rather the Iron Guard and its leader, Corneliu Codreanu (1899-1938). Therefore, through the pages of Predania some legionary intellectuals and theologians voiced their opinions about how the Orthodox Church should play an even more active role in society as the sole spiritual expression of the Romanian nation. The last section of the article will address the change in rhetoric and the subsequent coordination of the legionary clergymen to the realities of the Iron Guard as a full-partner in the government led by General Ion Antones- cu (6th of September 1940). By making reference to the articles of various Transylvanian legionary priests in Glasul Strămoșesc, the paper shows how the previous anti-ecumenic language of the legionary priests gave ground to a more amicable language towards Transylvanian Greek-Catholics. In the wake of the partition of Transylvania in late August 1940, the Transylvanian legionaries had to forge a sense of national unity encompassing all religious groups in Transylvania. 188 The Ultranationalist Newsroom The Concordat Affair: The Gordian Knot for the Fascist Allegiance of Orthodox Clergymen?5 The link between confession and nationality was not a novelty in the 19th- century Balkan region, especially for the subjects of the Austro–Hungarian monarchy and the Ottoman Empire.6 In the case of Romanian Ortho- doxy, it was not solely the intellectuals that tried to define the Romanian nation according to the principles of Eastern Christianity. The Orthodox Church itself turned into an important institution in the national build- ing process and attempted to institutionalize its own project of building the Romanian nation.7 After 1918, the Church was prepared to play a major role in the main scene of the political debate by refashioning itself as the “national church” of the Romanian people. Especially after 1925, the Romanian Patriarchate was proclaimed, thus turning into an indepen- dent ecclesiastical entity. Through its clerical and schools apparatus, the Church became one of the most supportive actors in the state nationalist propaganda.8 The process of centralization of the Romanian Orthodox Church came with serious challenges for the newly emerged Orthodox Patriarchy, especially in terms of the unification of canon law coming from different perceptions regarding the Church, handling public funds for paying