God, mythology, nationalism and Romanian identity: the post-communist transition to democracy
Date
2016
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Wallachia, Moldova, and Transylvania, the ancestral principalities of modern Romania, shared a common language, church affiliation (Orthodox), and a number of cultural mythologies associated with the Roman conquest of ancient Dacia to which today’s Romanians trace their lineage. Although ruled by foreign occupiers until the mid-19th century, the three principalities resisted cultural assimilation and maintained an enduring Romanian national identity which finally found political expression in the formation of the modern state of Romania.
Romania was unique among other Central European States (CSS) in that the Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC) served not only as a religious body, but more importantly as the driving force behind unifying the cultural nation with the political state through the common bonds of language and historic mythology which specifically identified Romanian ethnicity. The dominating presence of religious symbols in state institutions provided fertile ground for development of extremist movements and intolerance of religious and ethnic minorities, but through the turmoil of Romania’s political fortunes, the ROC has endured as a powerful force in preserving Romanian identity, particularly during the 1945–1989 period of Soviet occupation and subsequent communist rule.
This thesis seeks to make clear the connections between national/ethnic identity and religious tradition in Romania, particularly regarding the Romanian Orthodox Church and its collaborations with extremist political parties, the Communist Party, and the significance of sacralized politics since the Romanian Revolution of 1989. Source material has been drawn from literature pertaining to Romania’s general history, its political evolution, and analyses of the ROC’s role in shaping Romanian society through a variety of political climates. I have gained further insights from several visits to Romania, where I have had numerous opportunities to gain anecdotal insights from a number of Romanian scholars and average citizens to put the fascinating and at times tragic history of the country into a clearer, more personal focus.