Talk:Relationship between the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Iron Guard

A Chronological Approach ?
There is a fair amount of recent research available and I'll keep adding material over the following weeks. I'm considering re-organizing the article along the lines of a chronological approach rather then the hybrid thematic/chronological structure it has now... Any feedback is more than welcome. Plinul cel tanar (talk) 07:44, 28 June 2021 (UTC)

A note on Boldeanu
I based the account of Boldeanu's rise in the Parisian émigré community on two academic secondary sources of indisputable reliability: Shapiro and Popa. But the story is much longer, much deeper and has ramifications I'm not comfortable presenting right now because I feel it would entail either original research on my part or use of sources I judge unreliable. Thus I'm leaving a note for future editors of this article.

The first thing the article doesn't say is that Puiu and Boldeanu did not get hold of the Church of the Archangels (the oldest Romanian Orthodox church in Paris and a symbol of prestige) without resistance, they had to fight for it in court. Interestingly (with respect to the article's focus), at some point a legionnaire commando descended in the church and stripped a rival priest of his vestments. I chose not to include this event in the article because I would either have to use primary sources (hence conduct original research), use sources close to the Church which I judge unfit or use legionary sources which any sane editor would judge unfit.

More importantly, Boldeanu's victory in court against the French League Against Antisemitism (LICA - future LICRA) in 1975 should be in the article. It's important and I might get back to this myself but for the time being I'm not comfortable with the sources. I would prefer to rely on an academic source rather than the French press of the time or Church hagiography.

Finally, Boldeanu's name resurfaced in the press as late as 1980 after an émigré Iron Guard summit meeting in Madrid. If I had any formal proof this article was indeed written by historian Matei Cazacu I would probably use it (even as a self-published memorial account). It does read like something Cazacu would have written but, again, it is hosted on a blog I judge as unfit for wikipedia (and not belonging to Cazacu himself). Thus I won't include it (even as an external link). Plinul cel tanar (talk) 06:46, 13 July 2021 (UTC)

State of the article July 15, 2021
I've expanded the article and won't make anymore substantial improvements in the next couple of weeks. I might nonetheless adapt the header, hunt for typos or try to smooth the narrative here and there. I do plan to tackle the following issues sometime in August or later this year. The post 1989 section could be improved but it's something I'm not particularly fond of. Will nonetheless do it sometime in the future if no other volunteers exist, however writing an article dedicated to the Prison saints phenomenon should be a priority.
 * Elaborate on Predania. This is interesting since it is both an example of the Church trying to influence Legionary ideology (push for anti-Catholicism/Protestantism) and an example of grassroots vs. central leadership (both for the Church and the Legion).
 * Clarify and elaborate on Crainic. Crainic eventually chose LANC over the Legion in the 30s which makes the topic rather delicate. However he was immensely influential and deserves better coverage.
 * Try to elaborate on how the Church and (Orthodox) Christianity was seen from within the Legion, rather than merely pointing out connections and narrating events.
 * In relation to the previous comment, also try to include some general conclusions on the relationship. In its present state the article has quite a narrative form.

Additional remarks: Plinul cel tanar (talk) 15:47, 15 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I tried to rely exclusively on academic sources from scholars of international standing, given how divisive this topic is in Romania. The only exceptions are Fati, which I cite essentially because her newspaper article brings forth some details of an event already described by Popa, and an official statement of the Romanian Patriarchate from 2019. A consequence of this is quality over quantity, some recent instances of elements of the Church associating with the far right were certainly overlooked.
 * Important comment. This article is meant to follow the dynamics of the relationship between the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Legionary movement (Iron Guard). It's not meant to cover antisemitism in the Orthodox Church (I plan to do a separate article on that), nationalism in the Orthodox Church or the Church's role in the Holocaust. I do believe it is important to stay true to this in the future.

State of the article October 12, 2021
I've addressed the issues listed above. Obviously the article may still be improved but I'd rather work a bit on articles about the individual clergymen connected to the Legion to avoid the tendency of pooling up information here. Plinul cel tanar (talk) 13:37, 12 October 2021 (UTC)