Interwar Romanian theology between anticommunism and nationalism

This study traces the historical roots of interwar Romanian theological anti-communism, beginning with a long-standing Russophobia, fueled by Tsarist expansion toward the straits and by disappointment over Russia’s breach of promises regarding Romania’s territorial integrity (especially after the Congress of Berlin in 1878). The turning point was World War I: the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 transformed Russia from an ally into a direct threat. The author details specific episodes, beginning with Russia’s separate withdrawal under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the march of Bolshevik-aligned troops through the streets of Iași, the Soviet ultimatum of January 1918, the arrest of Romanian diplomat Constantin Diamandy in Petrograd, and the repressive actions of Cristian Rakovski in Odesa against Romanian refugees. These events, along with the Romanian army’s entry into Chișinău, are presented as the “birth of” Romanian anti-communism. The Great Union of 1918 (Chișinău, Cernăuți, Alba Iulia) consolidated this anti-communism as an element of national identity, further strengthened by the defeat of Béla Kun’s Bolshevik regime in Hungary (1919). During the interwar period, this movement also took on an intellectual and religious dimension: the author lists key figures (Nichifor Crainic, Nae Ionescu, Mircea Eliade, Dumitru Stăniloae, and others) and publications (Gândirea, Criterion, Cuvântul) that linked Orthodox Christian spirituality with nationalism.