THE ARCHANGEL’S CONSECRATED SERVANTS. AN INQUIRY IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ROMANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH AND THE IRON GUARD (1930-1941) IONUŢ FLORIN BILIUŢĂ A DISSERTATION in History Presented to the Faculties of the Central European University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Budapest, Hungary 2013 CEU eTD Collection Supervisor of Dissertation ______________________ Associate Professor Matthias Riedl i Copyright in the text of this dissertation rests with the Author. Copies by any process, either in full or part, may be made only in accordance with the instructions given by the Author and lodged in the Central European Library. Details may be obtained from the librarian. This page must form a part of any such copies made. Further copies made in accordance with such instructions may not be made without the written permission of the Author. I hereby declare that this dissertation contains no materials accepted for any other degrees in any other institutions and no materials previously written and/or published by another person unless otherwise noted. CEU eTD Collection ii Abstract 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. The thesis is shaped into seven parts that move chronologically through the narrative of this relationship. The first two parts discuss the intellectual and religious CEU eTD Collection context of pre and post-unification Romania. The third chapter is focused on the Legion’s first years. Chapter 4 and chapter 5 look into the activity of the Iron Guard after 1934, especially the working camps and the development of legionary theology. Chapter 6 and 7 will deal with the Legion confronted with Moţa-Marin burial and the National Legionary State. iii Acknowledgements While engaged in the research and writing process for the thesis I benefited from the exceptionally generous institutional support of several foundations, research institutes, and individuals. I would like to express my gratitude to the Institut für Europäische Geschichte, Mainz, Germany, the Oxford Brookes University’s Department of History, to the Modern European History Research Center in Oxford and the New Europe College in Bucharest, Romania for supporting periods of work on this research project. I would like to express my profound respect and gratitude to Professor Roger Griffin. It is a complicated web of entanglements European fascism and he guided me through the theory towards understanding the phenomenon as a cultural and social Weltanschauung. Our discussions in Oxford influenced considerably this thesis’ outcome. My professors and my readers have helped immensely in bringing this thesis to fruition. I am particularly grateful for the advice and suggestions of Mr. Sorin Antohi, professor Balazs Trencsenyi, professor Constantin Iordachi, professor Paschalis Kitromilides, professor Robert Evans, professor Marius Turda, Dr. Philip Vanhaelemeersch, professor Sergio Luzzatto, professor Leon Volovici. I would also like to thank my friends and colleagues: Valentin Săndulescu, Cristian Vasile, Narcis Tulbure, Răzvan Pârâianu, Narcis Taşcă, Chris Davis, Roland Clark, Oana Mateescu, Norbert Petrovici, Mirel Bănică, and many others with whom I have discussed my research hypotheses and the outcomes of my research. I owe a great debt of gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Matthias Riedl who took the pains of reading several versions of this thesis, revised and commented on pieces of writing that were imperfect or simply impossible to understand. Much of the comments that I have received and his input furthered my understanding of the intricate mechanism of religion. Finally, I would like to thank Anca for taking the time to listen and to read my text. Her comments and our lively discussions about the topic have sometimes took over our family life and kept us awake until the early hours of morning. During the process of writing the thesis, she was my “drill sergeant”, my source of inspiration, my public and most times my best and most exigent reader. The thesis is dedicated to her. CEU eTD Collection iv Table of Contents Introduction 1 1. Aim and Research Questions 1 2. Fascism as Political Religion – The State of the Art 8 3. Iron Guard as a Political Religion 20 4. Sources and Methodology 34 5. The Structure of the Thesis 36 I. The cultural debate in modern Romania and the rise of religious right- 40 wing radicalism I. 1 Preliminaries 40 I. 2 “The Great Debate” over Romanian Ethnicity. Religion and 41 Nationalism in 1920s Romania I. 3 Religious ‘Traditionalism’? The Origins of the Interwar 48 ‘Traditionalist’ Movement I. 4 Radical Political Expressions and Religion 62 I. 5 Final Remarks 70 II. Surviving Modernity? The Orthodox Church Negotiation of its 73 Position in Public Life II. 1 Preliminaries 73 II. 2 From the Servitude to Constantinople to the Babylonian Servitude to the Romanian State. The Romanian Orthodox Church in the 19th Century 76 II. 3 The Romanian Orthodox Church after 1918 CEU eTD Collection 86 II. 4 Final Remarks 95 v III. “In the Beginning was the Word!” The First Stages in the 98 Development of the Legionary Movement (1930-1933) III. 1 In Jassy (1927-1930) 101 III. 2 Courting the High Clergy. The First Legionary Bishop? 112 III. 3 The First Political Foray 116 III. 4 Meeting Nichifor Crainic. The Movement’s First Ideologue 121 III. 5 From the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to the Tomb of a Prime 129 Minister. The Legion of Archangel Michael between 1932 and 1933 III. 6 Final Remarks 141 IV. Seducing the “Bride of Christ”. Legionary Propaganda and the 144 Romanian Orthodox Church (1934-1937) IV. 1 From Prisons to Resurrection. The Imprisoned Iron Guard and the 151 Orthodox Church IV. 2 The Archangel’s Temples. Working Camps as Means to Seduce the 162 Orthodox Church IV. 3 Final Remarks 179 V. The Foundation of the Iron Guard’s Theology (1934-1937) 183 V. 1 On the Nature of Legionary Theology 186 V. 2 “Love Thy Neighbour”? On Legionary Violence 191 V. 3 An Archangelic Theology of the Iron Guard 201 V. 4 Codreanu as National Messiah. The Generalization of His Cult 208 V. 5 The Movement’s Sacrament. The Importance of Martyrdom CEU eTD Collection 222 V. 6 Final Remarks 232 VI. The Moţa-Marin Burial (13th of February 1937) and the Fascization of 235 vi the Romanian Orthodox Church VI. 1 Preliminaries 235 VI. 2 From Fallen Soldiers to Martyrs for the Movement 237 VI. 3 The Proto-Martyrs. Antecedents to the Moța-Marin Burial 243 VI. 4 The Moța-Marin Funeral - Constructing the Ritual 247 VI. 5 After Moța-Marin. Nae Ionescu on National Orthodoxy 265 VI. 6 The Positive Reaction of Orthodox Hierarchy towards the Iron Guard 271 VI. 7 Final Remarks 272 VII. “The National Funerary State.” The Iron Guard in Power 274 (September 1940-January 1941) VII. 1 Preliminaries 274 VII. 2 Taking the Political Power Seriously. The Reaction of the Orthodox 277 Clergy VII. 3 The Sacrament of the Next World. Commemorating the Dead, 290 Indoctrinating the Youth in Martyrdom VII. 4 Epilogue. The Break between the Legion and the High Clergy 298 VII.