Church in Romania will be desecrated by Extremists
The Orthodox Church Leadership in Romania to Canonize Three Extreme Right Figures. Holocaust Researchers Protest: The Men Held Antisemitic Views. The Patriarchate in Bucharest Defends the Move.
The leadership of the Romanian Orthodox Church has proposed three extreme right figures for canonization and remains firm in its decision despite protests from Holocaust researchers. The Orthodox Patriarchate defended its decision with the argument that many saints made mistakes in their lives and their development until the end should be taken into consideration, as reported by the Romanian Internet newspaper g4media.ro.
The three proposed candidates for canonization were open supporters of the known Romanian fascist Legionaries and held antisemitic views, criticized the national "Elie Wiesel" Institute for Holocaust Studies in Romania. The Legionaries were politically influential in the interwar period and during the Second World War. They were funded by Nazi Germany. From September 1940 to February 1941, the Legionaries ruled Romania after a coup and carried out pogroms against Jews.
The process is all the more significant since saints in the Orthodox Church explicitly serve as role models and standards. The Institute declared that one of the candidates for canonization, Ilarion Felea, was the head of the "Nest" of the Legionaries at the Theological Academy in the western Romanian Arad. "Nest" was the official designation for the local subsidiaries of the Legionaries at that time. The second candidate, Ilie Lacatusu, participated in a pogrom against Jews in Bucharest in January 1941. Dumitru Staniloae made propaganda for the Legionaries, for Nazi Germany, and against Jews in his publications.
Patriarchate: Saints Were Sinners
The Patriarchate in Bucharest explained that saints like the Apostle Paul, Maria of Egypt (died around 412 AD), and "the Holy Prophet and Emperor David" also sometimes behaved "against Christian doctrine." However, the Church considers "the change in the life of the sinner and especially the way he ended his life." Among the criteria for canonization is that the person recognized himself as a believer until the end of his life and received the power from God to perform miracles. The Church did not disclose which "miracles" the controversial candidates performed.
In the still partly living ideology of the Legionaries, the Christian-Orthodox faith, to which almost 90% of the Romanians adhere, plays a significant role. Clergy who were also Legionaries enjoy recognition in wide circles of the population because they were persecuted by the communist regimes after the Second World War - just like regime opponents without extremist backgrounds.
The controversy surrounding the proposed canonization of right-wing extremists in Romania has gained international attention, as the three figures are linked to the antisemitic Legionaries, a politically influential group during the interwar period and World War II. Bucharest's Orthodox Church defends its decision by referencing the flawed pasts of saints, such as Apostle Paul, asserting that the Church recognizes the transformation and ultimate behavior of the individual as significant factors in the saintly recognition process. The legacy of the Legionaries, rooted in the Orthodox faith, continues to hold sway in some Romanian circles, according to the text.
