The legionary movement re-emerged in Romania shortly after the 1989 Revolution. As early as the 1990s, there have been two major currents: the first was founded by “old” legionaries, many of them from the diaspora, while the second was started by young people who, after the Revolution, had access to legionary propaganda materials, but also to “old” legionaries, who no longer hesitated (as was the case during the communist regime), to express their ideological views. Neither of these currents was homogeneous – there are characters associated with both, and there are numerous branches and factions among the sympathizers of legionary ideology.
In the more than 30 years that have passed since the Revolution, the legionaries have sought to spread their ideas through several written publications at first, then, with the help of a genuine network of websites. They also organized numerous events and actions, from commemorations of legionary “martyrs” (events attended and supported by Romanian Orthodox Church priests and others) to children's camps and boot camps.
It was also in the early 1990s that legionaries developed a taste for politics, founding a number of (neo)legionary parties and organizations. Some individuals associated with the post-1989 legionary movement have joined the so-called sovereignist current in recent years and have even been elected to the Romanian Parliament, as representatives of sovereignist parties. In fact, some legionary theses and ideas can be identified in the discourse of present-day sovereignists.
The Romanian state did not seem too bothered by the emergence of the legionary phenomenon. Some laws were indeed passed so that, at least in theory, their scope would be limited, but such initiatives were incomplete, belated and often ignored.
The (neo)legionaries carried out their activity and promoted their ideas out in the open, unchecked. Veridica documented some of their actions, from those carried out by “old” legionaries to more recent ones, where representatives of the sovereignist current were involved. We also put together a map of the neo-legionary online network, as well as the publications and publishing houses that printed legionary materials.
To ensure an easier read, we have divided our analysis into two parts. The first part examines the activity of the “old” legionaries, the propaganda network they set up, but also the way the authorities responded to the emergence of legionarism in Romania. In the second part of our study, we will look at the political evolution of legionary sympathizers and explain how some of them (and the ideas they promote) were eventually affiliated to the sovereignist current, which has recently also adopted one of the more sinister practices of the original movement: the infamous blacklists.
When researching this topic, Veridica has consulted open sources, precisely in order to point out that all the information is out there, readily available. Everyone knew about it, but (almost) nothing was done.
Part I: “Old” legionaries and the Romanian state’s leniency towards the far right
1989 - 1993: revival attempts from old Iron Guard members
After 1989, due to the internal power struggles between sympathizers of Sima and Codreanu (the latter known as “Mexican” legionary groups, a name owing to their support for Codreanu’s nephew, Nicador Zelea-Codreanu), Horia Sima, who had taken over the leadership of the legionary movement after the death of Corneliu Zelea-Codreanu, believed that the movement in Romania risked being subjected to retaliation from the state authorities, especially since Ion Iliescu had stated (or, rather, falsely claimed), in the context of the events of June 1990, that the country was facing a “legionary rebellion”. As a result, Sima decided that the exiled legionaries would not get involved in organizing the activity of those at home, nor the other way round.
With regard to the political developments after 1989, Sima wrote in a letter addressed to Traian Golea, a fellow legionary from the old guard, that “when your read my statements, you saw that they were moderate. Obviously, our dissidents from Cuvântul Românesc keep screaming: ‘Down with Iliescu!’, but who do they want to replace him with?
You saw that the Liberals have joined forces with the comrades, and as for the Peasant Party, it is just as devious, toeing the line set by Rabbi Rosen. The current regime can only be toppled through a revolution. Due to the misery, the country is ripe for a revolution. But the consequences of a new revolution in Romania would seriously jeopardize the very existence of the Romanian state. All the neighbors will respond and Romania will no longer exist. For better or worse, we still have a state”. (1)
Concerning the movement's strategy, Sima also stated that “legionary objectives can be achieved through legal means, legionaries should take part in elections, either using their own names or under different titles”. To achieve its goal, the movement should collaborate with all “constructive forces in Romania”. Sima also wanted to call a referendum on the possibility of reinstating the monarchy in Romania.
In addition, until his death, Sima spoke strongly with respect to the events of March 1990 in Târgu-Mureș, arguing that the Hungarians were the ones who caused the incidents and the Romanians were the victims. He tried to smuggle legionary literature into the country via Vojvodina. It was a difficult operation: the books were supposed to be sent “from America to Berchtesgaden, to the address of one Old Sandu, from where Nicolae Bojin would pick them up and transport them to Uzdin. Later, the books were transferred to Romania, to Timișoara”. The operation failed, as the contact Ovidiu Guleș, who edited the Gazeta de Vest (West Gazette) magazine, started opposing legionary ideas and, eventually, emigrated to Hungary, putting an end to the reprinting and dissemination of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, fearing “Rabbi Rosen would use his influence with the Iliescu-Roman regime in a decisive manner” that could lead to reprisals.
In the context of the movements for independence and national revival in the former USSR, the legionaries had also started to look towards the former Romanian territories captured by the Soviets. In the fall of 1991, under pressure from deputy Octavian Căpățână, the Romanian Cultural Foundation, led by Augustin Buzura, invited Traian Golea to Romania to attend the “Exile Forum”. Once here, Golea seized the opportunity and, according to his own testimony, met at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with Undersecretary of State Nicolae Mareș, who suggested a partnership, in the sense of editing a brochure about Romania’s standpoint on Bukovina, which he would then distribute in the West, an offer the old legionary accepted. Traian Golea was also among the welcoming committee in Miami, Florida, at the arrival of the then Moldovan Prime Minister, Mircea Druc, one of the representatives of the national revival movement of Bessarabian Romanians.
In the fall of 1992, before the election, Sima wrote an “Appeal to the country”, explaining why the Legionary Movement would not take part in those election. A letter he sent to Traian Golea, dated November 6, 1992, published in Obiectiv Legionar (The Legionary Objective), we learn that Sima had also conceived a plan to reorganize the legionary movement in Romania. However, the plan would never be implemented as Sima died in May 1993 (2).
Șerban Suru, heir to the “old” guard. Links with Claudiu Târziu, the co-founder of AUR
Since the early 1990s, Șerban Suru has posed as the successor of the interwar legionary movement. He is the grandson of Pavel Suru, a famous publisher and bookseller in the interwar period, at one point director of the Romanian Patriarchate Printing House, a character mentioned by both Corneliu Zelea Codreanu and Horia Sima in their writings. Since legionary tradition dictates that the leader is not elected, but rises to power through his own making, it seems that Suru was the one to accomplish that. Nevertheless, his position as leader of the legionary movement has been contested by both old legionaries and the new wannabes.
Over 1993-1994, Suru organized several conferences devoted to the legionary movement at the Dalles and Argus Hall in Bucharest. He also managed to organize a legionary book exhibition, venued in the building of the former Fifth Directorate of the Securitate (which housed a museum for former political prisoners), distributing cassette tapes with legionary songs, which were also played in public.
In 1994, the reorganization of the Iron Guard began. That fall, the Horia Sima chapter was established in Bucharest, an event that drew the attention of most dailies at the time. More chapters would soon be established: Nicoleta Nicolescu and Cross and Spade (Bucharest), January 13 -Majadahonda and Virgil Teodorescu (Constanța), Ică Tănase (Timișoara), Ion Moța (Cluj-Napoca), Ion Banea (Sibiu) and Vlad Țepeș (Brașov). These would make up the “Fapta” (Fact) network, and some of them would appear in the Romanian intelligence report published on November 23, 1995 (3).
Also that fall, Șerban Suru founded the Legionary Library. The original headquarters was Suru's own home, and in 1998 it moved to the building on 1 Iacob Negruzzi, which also hosted the headquarters of the Legionary Movement (the books were smuggled in by Golea, whom Suru had met in 1992 at the Festival of Romanians Everywhere held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada).
Starting 1995, Suru organized legionary camps, the professed purpose of which was: legionary education, spreading the “truth about the legionary movement”, convincing the population, but also state administration, that the legionary movement did not pose any threat to the stability of the state and Romanian society (4). The first legionary camp was organized in Padina, followed by those in Eforie Sud (1996 and 1997), near Sibiu and in the Făgăraș area, and finally in Valea Plopului, Prahova County. According to the official website of the movement, at Valea Plopului “the legionaries lent a helping hand to Father Nicolae Tănase, who chairs two NGOs, Pro Vita Sfântul Brâncoveanu and Pro Vita for the Born and the Unborn, carries out numerous social assistance projects, especially to the benefit of minors”. Veridica has contacted Father Tănase, who stated that the NGO he chaired at the time (the Pro Vita Association for the Born and the Unborn) and which carried out numerous social assistance projects, has remained politically unaffiliated, pointed out that no authorized institution has ever warned him about the illegality of movements or political parties that supported the charitable activities unfolding at Valea Plopului.
On the other hand, Father Nicolae Tănase said he always welcomed those who offered to help and thanked them. We also asked him about the volunteer work that members of the Orthodox Brotherhood (an organization that has been classified as non-legionary and is tied to the sovereignist movement) do in Valea Plopului. In this case as well, Father Tănase said he had no knowledge about the illegal status of this Association or that members of the Orthodox Brotherhood regularly volunteered to chop firewood (whole trucks) in Valea Plopului”.
Since 1995, the legionaries have periodically organized conferences, every 2-3 months. Starting 1997, the conferences were held mainly under the aegis of the “Petre Țuțea” National-Christian Cultural Association (based in Constanța and chaired by Bucur Brașoveanu).
1998 is the year when Șerban Suru makes his debut on mainstream television. First, he featured on the “Hai România” show, hosted by the famous filmmaker Sergiu Nicolaescu on Antena 1 TV station (George VOICU, Teme antisemite în discursul public “Antisemitic Themes in Public Speech”, Ars Docendi Publishers, 2000, p. 44h). Later, he was invited by Dan Diaconescu’s show on Tele7abc, where Suru appeared dressed in a green shirt with the diagonal stripe, specific to the legionary uniform. He also appeared on various national or local television stations.
In 2000, the Movement's publishing house published a brochure titled “Let's punish our leaders”, which outlined the shortcomings of democracy and the solutions for their removal, namely "a contract between voters and elected officials, very similar to a typical business contract for concession or rental, based on which voters, that is ordinary folk, would entrust elected officials with the entire country to use and manage. The elected officials would be paid accordingly, but in return will be held criminally and civilly accountable for non-compliance with the terms of the contract”.
On June 22, 2002, Suru tried to organize the conference “The Legionary Movement - 75 years of persecution and sacrifices” at the ArCuB cultural center on Batiștei Street, but the event was canceled when the ArCuB management found out about the topic of the conference and banned it. The media picked up on this story, including the statement “I, Șerban Suru, here and now, deny the Holocaust” (5).
After 2017, the movement's activity focused on commemorations, debates, pilgrimages and the expansion of the organization, its members convening in weekly meetings for discussions. These meetings took place in various places, some of which were steeped in legionary historical symbolism (Sibiu, Brașov, Fort 13 Jilava, Ilie Gorgani Monastery, Tâncăbești).
One of the figures associated with Șerban Suru was Claudiu Târziu, who would later become one of the co-founders and theorists of AUR. Having entered big-league politics, Târziu sought to distance himself from his past and the Legionary Movement, but Șerban Suru presented evidence of their connections and publicly reprimanded his former “comrade”: “You said my comrades and I are epigones who are clowning around. In fact, my dear Claudiu, you are the real clown, putting on an ugly and dangerous circus show, along with the less-than-average and “classy” backyard reciter Simion, the raucous and unabashed Șoșoacă, the plagiarist Andrusceac, the criminals Chelaru, Lascu, the security agents Roman, Tabără, the alien-whisperer and eternal “prime minister” wannabe Călin Georgescu and many others. Why are you doing this, Claudiu? Why have you sold yourself out? For AUR?” In a different post, Suru refers to Călin Georgescu, stating that “he has many birdies speaking to him which, in the end, turn out to be drunken, debilitated and plucked”, concluding: “What a comedy show: vote for AUR, the party that defends you from the aliens!”
In 2024, Suru also distanced himself from Diana Șoșoacă, another declared sympathizer of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu: “Neither Diana Șoșoacă, nor the S.O.S. party has anything to do with the Legionary Movement. Her statements regarding the legionary movement serve merely an electoral purpose and are not designed to support this organization”. He also said that “the legionary movement does not agree with the Constitutional Court’s ruling to invalidate Diana Șoșoacă's candidacy, but, at the same time, it does not support Șoșoacă in any way, just as it does not support any presidential candidate or any current parliamentary or non-parliamentary political party. The legionary movement has its own path, extending beyond political parties”.
The Romanian state, tolerant of legionaries and extremist ideas
In the summer of 2003, the Obiectiv Legionar magazine entered print. The magazine was distributed through the Rodipet network and by Romanian Post, which at the time generated a small scandal that reached the floor of the Senate. The Prosecutor's Office was notified, but in the end nothing happened because, according to the legionaries’ statements, the authorities had known about the magazine anyway, which was “mailed to all public institutions and ministries in Bucharest, so that all employees of the ministries of Internal Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Justice, the Prosecutor's Office or the Commission for Minorities and Human Rights could read it too”.
The magazine coordinated by Suru was mentioned in the report of the Office for Democracy and Human Rights published on January 5, 2005. The same document also warned against to recent blunders at top level – the denial of the Holocaust by officials led by president Ion Iliescu or the decoration of Corneliu Vadim Tudor, the president of România Mare extremist party (PRM), with the country’s highest distinction, the “Star of Romania”, by the same Ion Iliescu.
Moreover, beyond the use of the “legionary rebellion” narrative in the context of the Miners Raids, the Romanian state largely ignored legionarism and right-wing extremism in the first 15 years after the revolution (evidence of which is the parliamentary alliance with PRM during the so-called “red quadrangle”, which ruled Romania between 1992 and 1996).
In official statements, the authorities opposed extremism and legionaries and even promoted legislation, which, however, was incomplete or was never really enforced. Law 29/1991 enumerated as a threat to Romania's national security “the commission or any kind of support [...] for actions [...] of [...] legionary origin [...] that may endanger the unity and territorial integrity of Romania, as well as incitement to acts that may endanger the order of the rule of law”.
11 years later, the authorities adopted Executive Order no. 31 of March 13, 2002 which prohibited organizations, symbols and acts of a fascist, racist or xenophobic nature, as well as promotion of any kind of individuals found guilty of committing crimes against peace and humanity.
Based on that order, in 2003, the Brașov Court of Law sentenced to prison Grigore Oprița prison, who had printed legionary works and propaganda materials, including a book launched at the County Library in an event attended by library director (!) and had connections with the New Right and its leader, Tudor Ionescu.
Oprița's sentence was annulled, however, by the High Court of Cassation and Justice, which passed a definitive acquittal decision (1046/ February 17, 2006).
Oprița's cause was touted by Șerban Suru and by the future AUR co-president, Claudiu Târziu, who at the time did not hide his legionary sympathies. In the June 2, 2006 issue of Cotidianul, Târziu hailed the win for the legionary movement, arguing that the motivation of judges Alexandru Vailiu and Radu Gheorghe stated that “the expression of opinions or beliefs regarding the Legionary doctrine or Movement are not prohibited in Romania, a democratic state […] Moreover, the functioning of numerous legally established organizations, such as the Legionary Movement, the New Right, etc., and the existence of affiliated publications, represent a fact that cannot be ignored”.
The Oprița trial was not the only lawsuit where a Romanian court ruled in favor of a cause embraced by the legionaries. In the 2010s, several complaints (including by the “Elie Wiesel” Romanian National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust) were filed against the public use of legionary insignia, but the courts could do nothing because these symbols had not been banned by any piece of legislation, which merely referred to fascist-related symbols and insignia (6).
It was only in 2015 that Law 217/2015 was adopted to amend Executive Order 31 to also refer to legionaries, adding the phrase “on the prohibition of organizations, symbols and acts of a fascist, legionnaire, racist or xenophobic character” to the revised title of the order. It should be noted that, in the opinion published by the government criticized the fact that the abovementioned actions were labeled as crimes even though, according to the Law 29/1991, they represented threats to national security. In addition, the government also criticized the fact that the legionary movement was included in the category of movements with a fascist character, according to a 2012 ruling of the High Court of Cassation and Justice. According to the government, the ruling in question “has no regulatory character”. The government's opinion was signed by the then Prime Minister, Victor Viorel Ponta, who in 2025 ran for president, promoting sovereignist rhetoric.
The debates on Law 217/2015, which amended Executive Order 31, were attended, among others, by Șerban Suru, wearing his legionary uniform.
Channels of legionary propaganda. Online networks
The “official” page of the Legion of the Archangel Michael, “also known as the Legionary Movement or the Iron Guard” is miscarea-legionara.net. The domain was first registered in 2011, and since 2016 its official administrator has been Șerban Suru, who also owns the domain legiunea.org.
The website displays the legionary cross and portraits of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu and Horia Sima, but also information about the Legion: history, doctrine, books, organization, etc. The website also contains links to a legionary magazine, Obiectiv Legionar, a CD, a library and weekly meetings.
Two other sites are affiliated to miscarea-legionara.net: gardalegionara.blogspot.com (which was taken down in 2024) and antimanelepentruromania.blogspot.com. The first is the official blog of the Legionary Movement, where you can find details about the organization's activity: commemorative events, press releases, debates, meetings, etc. In turn, antimanelepentruromania.blogspot.com is interesting, because it is connected to the New Right and also has a number of "nationalist links", including a list of nationalist blogs, links to the legionary band “Brigada de Asalt” (The Assault Brigade) and a nationalist store, the petition “gypsies are not Romanians” and a link to http://www.antitiganie.wordpress.com/, the new address to which the blog moved after 2008. Some of the hyperlinks are no longer or have not been active for some time. such as the blog in question, which seems to have been operational only in 2008, before it moved from the blogspot.com platform to wordpress.com and was later abandoned altogether.
A website called “Mișcarea legionară” had existed, however, long before Șerban Suru officially took over the domain, back in 2003. At the time, the webpage was associated with the “Professor George Manu” Foundation, set up in 1994 by Mircea Nicolau, a leading legionary commander, active in the movement during the interwar period. Even though it claims to be part of the old legionary movement, the George Manu foundation represents a separate faction from Șerban Suru’s Movement (which, incidentally, criticized the foundation at one point). The purpose of the webpage created by “Professor George Manu” was to “present information and documents about the Legionary Movement to the Romanian public and interested readership”. The 2003 website was part of a network that also included webpages such as codreanu.ro, horiasima.com, nouadreapta.org, mihai-eminescu.net or tutea.ro.
In 2010, the George Manu Foundation set up its own website, fgmanu.ro, which also contained links to the Party for the Fatherland (pentrupatrie.ro), the Sanziana publishing house (sanziana2007.blogspot.com), the Nationalist Romania webpage (miscarea.net), prison saints (valeriugafencu.ro) or detention literature (literaturasidetentie.ro), etc.
There is also a backlink from fgmanu that redirects to noidacii.ro, a website that belonged to Gheorghe Gavrilă Copil (7), who died in January 2025. In addition to Copil's posts (which include letters addressed to Putin, Zelenskyy and Biden, anti-Semitic remarks, a fixation for Pre-historic Dacia, including the Zalmoxian liturgy, as well as propaganda advocating the unification of Romania and the Republic of Moldova) noidacii.ro has links to 160 other websites (8). The network is much wider, however, considering that the 160 webpages also redirect to other domains, which in turn promote other pages and so on.
However, returning to the George Manu Foundation website, it is hosted on the servers of Cyber Folks (a.k.a. the former mxhost.ro, a.k.a. Net Design, a.k.a. H88 Web Hosting, a.k.a. xservers.ro). These are all the successful businesses of Bistrița resident Adrian Chiruță, who in 2014 hosted ten thousand websites on his servers, including the pages of large companies and public institutions in Romania. Chiruță, who was only 30 years old at the time, said that he had started his business when he was still in high school and that he had reached a turnover of 1.5 million lei (€300 thousand).
Internet users who access fgmanu.ro are not directed straight to Chiruță's servers that host it. According to route tracing, which follows the connection route from the user to the site they want to visit, it shows that the connection first goes through the servers of GTS Telecom, a company based in Popești-Leordeni, which redirects the user to the Netherlands, to an IP belonging to Dmitry V. Kozmenko. From Kozmenko, the connection is restored to the GTS server in Popești Leordeni and only then links to the H88 Web Hosting servers.
This route already raises questions, given that, as a rule, traffic is directed in such a way as to take the most efficient/shortest route. A second, more serious concern, regards the name of Dmitry Kozmenko, which also appears to be connected to some Russian IPs from Sochi and Krasnodar Krai associated with various types of cyberattacks. It is also worth noting that the Dutch police have warned Internet providers and hosting companies about the possibility that Russian resellers facilitate cybercrime.
The “George Manu” Foundation and the network of authors, publishers and publications associated with legionary and sovereignist movements
Like miscarea-legionara.net, the Manu Foundation website also contains articles related to the history, doctrine, culture, images and personalities of the legionary movement. However, there is also a spirituality section, which includes writings by Dan Puric, Arsenie Boca, Vasile Bancilă and Mircea Vulcănescu.
The foundation has also published numerous volumes by and about legionaries, released by obscure publishing houses such as Imago, Scara, Metafora, Elisavaros, Marineasa, Constant and Evdokimos, which are available to buy on the website, along with other books, especially focusing on Orthodox topics and the anti-communist resistance. Among these, Evdokimos particularly stands out for the fact that the publishing house does not have a physical address, but only a post office box. Cezarina Condurache, the current president of the George Manu Foundation, an author who also writes all kinds of articles for activenews.ro, marturisitorii.ro, rostonline.ro, and whose literature about the “prison saints” (some of them legionaries or their sympathizers, who are presented only as anti-communist fighters) is promoted in bookstores associated with the Romanian Orthodox Church such as Sophia or Doxologia (the official magazine of the Archdiocese of Iași), has also published her volumes at Evdokimos. Cezarina Condurache's books also sell in large bookstore chains such as Cărturești, emag.ro, librariaonline.ro, targulcartii.ro and libris.ro.
In addition to Condurache, Evdokimos publishing house has also published the works of Alexandra Svet, who, a few months before the 2009 presidential election, said that the “Facebook Revolution” had begun and also published a “manifesto” that foreshadowed some of the themes and techniques promoted in recent years by sovereignists (9).
The George Manu Foundation is also a contributor to the Permanențe magazine, whose editor-in-chief is Bogdan Munteanu. The name coincides with Marian Munteanu’s brother, but Veridica was unable to confirm the this is one and the same person. Articles signed by Bogdan Munteanu are published both in Permanențe as well as in other publications affiliated to the legionary movement and the sovereignist right. Bogdan Muneanu also promotes his various books at the Sophia bookstore, among others, alongside Sorin Lavric. His articles foster conspiratorial narratives regarding the war in Ukraine, the inevitable decline of national and religious values, the attack on the traditional family, adding to which is his overt support for Călin Georgescu, following the annulment of the first round of the presidential election.
The editorial staff of Permanențe also includes two priests Marius Vișovan and Vasile Gordon.
Marius Vișovan was suspended for 60 days, in September 2024, by the Eastern-Catholic diocese of Maramureș for his repeated actions commemorating various legionary personalities and pro-legionary propaganda. A number of legionary sympathizers and/or representatives of the sovereignist current, including Dan Puric, Ion Coja and Sorin Lavric, stepped up to defend him. Vișovan is also the author of the volumes Martirii sunt printre noi (“Martyrs live among us”) and Citindu-l pe Horia Sima (“Reading Horia Sima”), as well as a letter addressed to president Klaus Iohannis, asking him not to promulgate Law 217/2015. Vișovan has also been mentioned on various social media platforms, on pages supporting Călin Georgescu.
Vasile Gordon, who came to the media’s attention after serving at a funeral service in memory of the legionary Valeriu Gafencu, has been attending such commemorations of legionary figures as early as the early 1990s (10). Moreover, Vasile Gordon does not conceal his sympathies, not even on the George Manu foundation page, where he states that “the true legionary confessors have never renounced their creed”. Furthermore, Gordon is a priest at the Saint Ilie-Gorgani Church in Bucharest, known as the “legionaries’ church” ever since the interwar period. The church “was the place of worship for the members of the Legionary Movement [and on] February 13, 1937, it hosted the funeral service for Ionel Moţa and Vasile Marin (“two brave boys”, as Nicolae Iorga called them)”. Incidentally, the church in question continues to be linked to the persona of the two legionaries, Moța and Marin, who died in Spain (in 2024 a memorial service for Moța and Marin was held there), as Cezarina Condurache announced on the George Manu website, making sure to confirm her presence. The Ilie-Gorgani Church also hosted the reburial service for Corneliu Zelea-Codreanu.
Despite his legionary beliefs, Gordon features extensively on almost all Romanian Orthodox Church media: Lumina (Light) newspaper, Renașterea (Revival) radio station, the “Universul Credinței” (Universe of Faith) show on the public TV station (TVR). Other than that, his books are distributed in all major bookstore chains. Moreover, he has been educating new generations of priests for decades: starting 1996, he has been teaching at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology at University of Bucharest, and staring 2013 he has been working at the Faculty of Theology at the Babeș – Bolyai University.
Finally, Ciprian Voicilă, a sociologist at the Romanian Peasant Museum (MȚR), who got involved in the famous “anti-LGBT” protests at the Museum cinema, when he interrupted the screenings of films that were inconsistent with the ideology of the traditional family, is also a Permanențe contributor. Voicilă too is concerned with the “prison saints” and Orthodoxy and attends events of the Sophia bookstore. Voicilă’s blog contains links redirecting users to Claudiu Târziu, activenews.ro, the George Manu Foundation and all kinds of other blogs focusing on Orthodox themes. His political views did not seem to prevent mainstream publications (Dilema Veche, Cultura, Observator Cultural, Lumina, Adevărul Literar, Viața Românească, Atitudini) or large publishing houses (Curte Veche, Humanitas, Peter Pan) from publishing his articles and works.
Endnotes
(1) Letter from Horia SIMA to Traian Golea, dated 24 January 1992, published in Obiectiv Legionar.
(2) Although Horia Sima did not carry out his plan, the legionaries in Romania quickly started to organize. In January 1990, they contributed to the founding of the Christian Democratic Union (U.D.C.). Răzvan Codrescu, an author who did not hide his sympathy for the interwar legionary movement, wrote that “over 75% of former political prisoners were legionaries or legionary sympathizers”. (În căutarea Legiunii pierdute – “In Search of the Lost Legion”, Vremea Publishing House, Bucharest, 2001, p.124). U.D.C. had several propaganda channels: Veghea, which only had two issues, then Democrația creștină. In 1991, the Puncte Cardinale magazine was published in Sibiu, founded by former political prisoner Gabriel Constantinescu, a sympathizer of the Iron Guard.
Among the magazine's contributors it is worth mentioning Mihail Neamțu (“Este tânăra generație… o generație pierdută?” – “Is the Young generation…a Lost Generation?”, Puncte Cardinale, IV, November 1994, no. 11/47, p. 14), currently an AUR MP, and Crin Antonescu, the candidate of the “pro-Western” ruling coalition (“Dincolo de Culori” – “Beyond the Colors”, Puncte Cardinale, I, no. 8, August 1991.
Codrescu also writes that the U.D.C. had been “infiltrated” by “shady individuals, collaborators of the former Securitate”, according to the vice-president at the time, Șerban Suru (op. cit., p. 125.). Suru thus leaves the U.D.C. and together with Mircea Nicolau and some of the old legionaries, he establishes the New Christian Romania Party in 1992.
However, the new party was short-lived. Shortly after its establishment, Nicolau caused tensions in the party and eventually left, joining the Party for the Fatherland. Despite this, he remained extremely active: he founded the “George Manu” Cultural Foundation in Bucharest (a foundation that is also listed as a “contact” in the early years of the website and that would later collaborate with the Party for the Fatherland); he tried to connect with other groups such as the “Buna Vestire” Foundation, founded by Simion Ghinea, who had joined the Legionary Movement in his youth.
(3) Speaking of the Romanian Intelligence Service reports, Suru publicly spoke to Virgil Măgureanu in a press conference organized by Măgureanu, which Jurnalul Național writes about in extenso in its November 25, 1994 issue. On that occasion, the public found out that neither the Legionary Movement nor any of its members had been presented with criminal charges, something that was difficult to achieve in the case of the Movement anyway, since it was a “voluntary” organization that used Codreanu’s Cărticica șefului de cuib as its statute, and which had not been registered in court and had never had any legal entity, according to Suru's statements.
(4) Mihai Răzvan ROTARU, „Legionarii români vor să îşi facă partid” (“Romanian legionaries want to form a party”, in Zona Interzisă, New Edition, IV, no. 36, February 2-8, 2006, p. 9.
(5) Gheorgita Aurelian ION, “Mișcarea Legionară – un nou hobby pentru pensionari” ("The Legionary Movement – a New Hobby for Pensioners”), published in Adevărul, no. 3732, Monday, June 24, 2002.
(6) Șerban Suru actually mocked the respective executive order and the Romanian authorities in 2013, when he notified the Prosecutor's Office regarding the use of the fascist symbol (the fascia) in the emblems of the Ministry of the Interior and the Police Inspectorates in Romania.
(7) Copil's name is tied to some obscure parties such as “Noi, Getodacii!” and “PNȚ Maniu-Mihalache” and associations such as the Bucharest-Chișinău Cultural Society, the Union Council (to which Mircea Druc, Eugen Mihalache - vice president, the People's Party-Dan Diaconescu, Sergiu Lascu - president of the National-Christian Movement, Republic of Moldova, a.k.a. New Right, Iurie Fortuna - representative of New Right, Italy, the Totul Pentru Țară party, the Ion Gavril Ogoranu foundation, Tudor Ionescu - New Right are also affiliated).
(8) To mention just a few: miscarea.net, lupta-ns.blogspot.com, adrianbotez.com, sergentu.blogspot.com, probasarabiasibucovina.ro, romaniacarnavalului.com, romaniataranoastra.eu, consiliul-unirii.ro, partidulnationalist.ro, sfatulbatranilor.ro, familiaortodoxa.ro, rouacerului.eu, romaniamagnifica.ro, dumitruichim.com, sfatultarii.ro, limbaromana.md, litart.press etc.
(9) The manifesto includes statements such as “We are stuck, inert, paralyzed, looking at two Romanias: THEIR Romania (corrupt, illiterate and insolent thieves) and OUR Romania (honest, hardworking, well-trained, capable, young and smart people)”, “we need an alternative in Romania”, “a Romania that is an international player, not Europe’s whore”. The individuals who might contribute to the construction of that Romania, Alexandra Svet argues, include a series of well-established figures who have come to the public’s attention after being involved in sexual scandals, criminal investigations, connections with political currents and controversial politicians – in short, a motley mix of people that reminds us the “celebrities” recruited in recent years by sovereignist parties (some of the names are actually included on their lists of supporters).
(10) The Romanian Orthodox Church not only hesitated to distance itself from the actions commemorating the legionaries, but even dispatched local representatives to attend such events, who got involved in their organization and promotion. The Archbishop of Tomis, Teodosie, for instance, was among the participants who attended one of the neo-legionary camps organized by Eugen Sechilă, who became a person of interest in 2024 as a close associate of the sovereignist presidential candidate, Călin Georgescu. The Petru Vodă Monastery in Neamț County is known for its association with the legionary movement. Iustin Pârvu, an avowed legionary, served at abbot at the Monastery until his death in 2013. Moreover, there are videos on YouTube depicting nuns singing the movement’s anthem “Holy Legionary Youth” for Pârvu on his birthday. Moreover, the current Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Daniel, celebrated a special service for the consecration of Petru Vodă monastery (an event attended by Iustin Pârvu). At the time, Daniel served as Metropolitan of Moldova and Bukovina. These are but two in a very long list of such examples.
