The Icon of Romanian Identity Reflections on the Public Debate about Religious Symbols in Romanian Schools

Abstract: The paper analyzes the debate regarding the presence of icons in the public schools in Romania, initiated in November 2006, from the perspective of the Orthodox theological tradition. This perspective entails the historical problem of dialogical difficulties between the Eastern and Western Christian canons, materialized in the so-called 'new iconoclasm' theory formulated by the pro-icons party. Starting from the implications of this historical problem, the paper claims that the debate exceeds the boundaries of the legal battle and political dispute, showcasing a classical pattern of conceptual divergences that transformed the dialogue between the initiators of the debate and the 'new iconodules' into separate discursive monologues, stemming from two incompatible methods of argumentation. The theology of icons embodies a referential model for social structures that invalidates the separation of the public and private spheres, and is used in the context of this debate as the pretext of a universal ecclesiology meant to coagulate the 'spiritual identity' of Romanians.