War, Legionarism and Jewry in the Official Press of Romanian Orthodox Church during the National Legionary State (1940-1941)
War, Legionarism and Jewry in the Official Press of Romanian Orthodox Church during the National Legionary State (1940-1941)

Summary/Abstract: This paper aims at exploring the way in which the official press of the Romanian Orthodox Church presented and discussed some aspects of the National Legionary State (14 September 1940 – 14 February 1941) such as war, Legionary Movement, Jewry (situation of Jews, attempts to address the Jewish Question). It argues that contrary to the tradition of relating to political power and to the important change that occurred on 5-6 September 1940, the official press of the Church remained silent. However, the official press through a series of articles and pastoral letters delivered by the Patriarch Nicodim is quite active in backing up the political ideology of the National Legionary State arguing in favor of ethnical homogeneity, a national Church, a superposition between religious faith and state citizenship. Hence, while completely silent about political events and reform initiatives promoted by the National Legionary State, the official press of the Romanian Orthodox Church uses a public discourse that resembles and sometimes coincides with the state ideology.

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