„OCCIDENTUL”, AȘA CUM E VĂZUT DE PRESA ORTODOXĂ ROMÂNĂ, ÎN CONTEXTUL INTEGRĂRII EUROPENE

The „West”, as Described in the Romanian Orthodox Press, in the Context of the European Integration. The paper analyzes the different perspectives supported in the Romanian Orthodox Press by high officials and theologians of the Orthodox Church on the effects of the integration of Romania in the European Union. The debate is not about the economical and political integration, constantly and officially supported by the Orthodox hierarchs. It was focused on the „dangers” that this integration would bring and face the Romanians – secularisation, atheism, a liberalisation of behaviours considered to be imoral, individualism, naricism etc. The West is seen as the origin of this dangerous cultural framework that can attack the values and the traditions of the Romanian Orthodoxy, seen as the protector of the true and original Christian Tradition. The discourse of otherness towards the Catholic Church is also present in this debate, as the Church of Rome is also considered to be blamed for the moral decay of the Western society. This type of discourse is not new in the Romanian cultural and confessional environment, some of these topics originating in the 19th century, others in the Inter-Wars period.