State and Church in World War II: a political and ecclesiastical perspective on the national vocation of the orthodox clergy
State and Church in World War II: a political and ecclesiastical perspective on the national vocation of the orthodox clergy

Summary/Abstract: For Romanians, the years of World War II were extremely difficult, marked by territorial losses and profound metamorphoses (abdications, governmental collapse, Romania‟s involvement in the war), which generated and maintained severe political and economic insecurity. In such conditions, the State appealed to the Church, in which it identified the possibility of preserving the vigour of national feeling, so necessary in war circumstances, and also the most credible partner in ensuring internal stability. The clergy was defined in government documents as one of the most important socio-professional categories, a genuine cohesion factor, which helped to keep effective control over the masses, the clergy‟s spiritual and social assistance was considered an important element in the work of consolidating the country. The reaction of the ecclesiastical hierarchy to this appeal was positive: the clergy was empowered to keep alive the national conscience, to preserve its ethnic being, to answer the State‟s appeals and fulfill the pastoral vocation, as well as „the national mission‟. In addition to understanding the perspective of political leaders and the ecclesiastical hierarchy on the State-Church relationship, the national vocation of priests, the role of the Church in Romanian society during war, it is interesting to analyze the ways in which these elements were assumed into the consciences of the clergy and representatives of the local ecclesiastical bodies (e.g., the Orthodox Vicarage in Alba Iulia). It is also interesting to note the attitude of the clergy towards the war. I have reconstructed (partially) the picture of these realities, based not on the available published bibliography, but through unedited archival research, selecting samples out of the multitude of documents found in the dossier.

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