Teologica Lăcomie și superstiție, legionarism și servilism pro-comunist și ură anticatolică la un cleric/ierarh ortodox în anii ’40-’50
Theologica Greed and Superstition, Fascism and Pro-Communist Servility, and Anti-Catholic Hostility in an Orthodox Cleric/Hierarch during the 1940s–1950s

Summary/Abstract: This article examines the career and activities of Alexandru Ionescu, an Orthodox priest and later auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Bucharest, focusing on his involvement in superstition, political opportunism, and religious persecution during the 1940s and 1950s. Drawing on archival documents, Security Police records, and contemporary testimonies, the study reconstructs Ionescu’s promotion of superstitious practices for financial gain, his links to the Legionary Movement, his subsequent collaboration with the communist regime, and his role in the campaign against the Romanian Greek Catholic Church after 1948. The article argues that Ionescu’s trajectory exemplifies the complex intersections of religion, politics, nationalism, and institutional adaptation in early communist Romania, highlighting the continuity of ideological compromises across radically different political regimes.

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