“Light and darkness”: The Transylvanian Orthodox apostolate against racism in the time of Bishop Nicolae Colan

Abstract

The idea for this research project, which is dedicated to the Orthodox theologian Puiu Ioan Hojda and his reflections on racism in the context of Christian theology, emerged after I had finished working on the archival guide for the Romanian Orthodox Theological Institute/Academy in Cluj. During that time, while consulting fundamental documents concerning the aforementioned prestigious institution in the Archive of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of Vad, Feleac, and Cluj, I also came across manuscripts by theologians who had studied at this Academy at various points in its history. Through my research, I demonstrated that the Romanian Orthodox Church in Transylvania adopted a firm stance against racism, viewing it as a real danger to the spiritual lives of the faithful. Meanwhile, the communist political authorities launched their own rhetoric against this “scourge”. From their perspective, the idea of the “Superior Man” (American) and the “Superior Race” (Western) — who had created an atomic weapon of mass destruction to subjugate the world and those considered to belong to an inferior race — had to generate extensive counterpropaganda. This discourse was indeed created and had a significant impact at the time. The manuscript by the theologian Puiu Ioan Hojda is a compelling exploration of the intellectual history that led to the formation of radical European racism, which ultimately resulted in the major horrors of the 20^th century.