Editing Mircea Eliade (section)

===Final years and death===
Initially, Eliade was attacked with virulence by the [[Romanian Communist Party]] press, chiefly by ''[[România Liberă]]''—which described him as "the Iron Guard's ideologue, [[Enemy of the people|enemy of the working class]], apologist of Salazar's dictatorship".<ref>''România Liberă'', ''passim'' September–October 1944, in Frunză, p. 251</ref> However, the regime also made secretive attempts to enlist his and Cioran's support: [[Haig Acterian]]'s widow, theater director [[Marietta Sadova]], was sent to Paris to re-establish contacts with the two.<ref name="tismetern">[[Vladimir Tismăneanu]], ''Stalinism pentru eternitate'' (Romanian translation of ''Stalinism for All Seasons''), [[Polirom]], Iaşi, 2005, pp. 187, 337. {{ISBN|973-681-899-3}}</ref> Although the move was planned by Romanian officials, her encounters were to be used as evidence incriminating her at a February 1960 trial for treason (where [[Constantin Noica]] and [[Dinu Pillat]] were the main defendants).<ref name="tismetern"/> Romania's secret police, the [[Securitate]], also portrayed Eliade as a spy for the British [[Secret Intelligence Service]] and a former agent of the Gestapo.<ref name="zfscriit">Alexandru Popescu, [http://www.zf.ro/articol_109162/alexandru_popescu__ix___scriitorii_si_spionajul.html "Scriitorii şi spionajul" ("Writers and Spying")] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080215185224/http://www.zf.ro/articol_109162/alexandru_popescu__ix___scriitorii_si_spionajul.html |date=2008-02-15 }}, in ''[[Ziarul Financiar]]'', January 26, 2007; retrieved November 8, 2007 {{in lang|ro}}</ref>

He was slowly [[Rehabilitation (Soviet)|rehabilitated]] at home beginning in the early 1960s, under the rule of [[Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej]].<ref>Frunză, pp. 448–449</ref> In the 1970s, Eliade was approached by the [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] regime in several ways, to have him return.<ref name="vilasanjpaseo"/> The move was prompted by the officially sanctioned nationalism and Romania's claim to independence from the [[Eastern Bloc]], as both phenomena came to see Eliade's prestige as an asset. An unprecedented event occurred with the interview that was granted by Mircea Eliade to poet [[Adrian Păunescu]], during the latter's 1970 visit to Chicago; Eliade complimented both Păunescu's activism and his support for official tenets, expressing a belief that
<blockquote>the youth of Eastern Europe is clearly superior to that of Western Europe. [...] I am convinced that, within ten years, the young revolutionary generation shan't be behaving as does today the noisy minority of [[New Left|Western contesters]]. [...] Eastern youth have seen the abolition of traditional institutions, have accepted it [...] and are not yet content with the structures enforced, but rather seek to improve them.<ref>Eliade, 1970, in [[Paul Cernat]], "Îmblânzitorul României Socialiste. De la Bîrca la Chicago şi înapoi" ("The Tamer of Socialist Romania. From Bîrca to Chicago and Back"), part of Paul Cernat, Ion Manolescu, Angelo Mitchievici, Ioan Stanomir, ''Explorări în comunismul românesc'' ("Forays into Romanian Communism"), [[Polirom]], Iaşi, 2004, p. 346</ref></blockquote>

Păunescu's visit to Chicago was followed by those of the nationalist official writer [[Eugen Barbu]] and by Eliade's friend Constantin Noica (who had since been released from jail).<ref name="oscaderea"/> At the time, Eliade contemplated returning to Romania, but was eventually persuaded by fellow Romanian intellectuals in exile (including [[Radio Free Europe]]'s [[Virgil Ierunca]] and [[Monica Lovinescu]]) to reject Communist proposals.<ref name="oscaderea"/> In 1977, he joined other exiled Romanian intellectuals in signing a telegram protesting the repressive measures newly enforced by the Ceaușescu regime.<ref name="smihai"/> Writing in 2007, Romanian anthropologist [[Andrei Oișteanu]] recounted how, around 1984, the Securitate unsuccessfully attempted to become an [[agent of influence]] in Eliade's Chicago circle.<ref name="teodoist">Cristian Teodorescu, [http://cotidianul.ro/index.php?id=11526&art=30480&cHash=19a3e7c987 "Eliade şi Culianu prin ocheanul lui Oişteanu" ("Eliade and Culianu through Oişteanu's Lens")], in ''[[Cotidianul]]'', June 14, 2007; retrieved November 7, 2007 {{in lang|ro}}</ref>

During his later years, Eliade's past was progressively exposed publicly, the stress of which probably contributed to the decline of his health.<ref name="smihai"/> By then, his writing career was hampered by severe [[arthritis]].<ref name="Şora, Handoca"/> The last academic honors bestowed upon him were the [[Académie française|French Academy]]'s [[Bordin Prize]] (1977) and the title of ''[[Honorary degree|Doctor Honoris Causa]]'', granted by [[George Washington University]] (1985).<ref name="Biografie in Handoca"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.ELIADEM|title=Guide to the Mircea Eliade Papers 1926–1998|website=www.lib.uchicago.edu|access-date=2019-11-08}}</ref>

[[File:Grave of Mircea Eliade (1907–1986) at Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Eliade's grave at Oak Woods Cemetery]]

Mircea Eliade died at the [[Bernard Mitchell Hospital]] in April 1986. Eight days previously, he suffered a stroke while reading [[Emil Cioran]]'s ''Exercises of Admiration'', and had subsequently lost his speech function.<ref name="ipcmahapar"/> Four months before, a fire had destroyed part of his office at the [[Meadville Lombard Theological School]] (an event which he had interpreted as an [[omen]]).<ref name="smihai"/><ref name="ipcmahapar"/> Eliade's Romanian disciple [[Ioan Petru Culianu]], who recalled the scientific community's reaction to the news, described Eliade's death as "a ''[[Paranirvana|mahaparanirvana]]''", thus comparing it to the passing of [[Gautama Buddha]].<ref name="ipcmahapar"/> His body was [[Cremation|cremated]] in Chicago, and the funeral ceremony was held on University grounds, at the [[Rockefeller Chapel]].<ref name="Biografie in Handoca"/><ref name="ipcmahapar"/> It was attended by 1,200 people, and included a public reading of Eliade's text in which he recalled the [[epiphany (feeling)|epiphany]] of his childhood—the lecture was given by novelist [[Saul Bellow]], Eliade's colleague at the university.<ref name="ipcmahapar"/> His student and the bearer of his legacy, [[Charles H. Long]], co-founder of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School, gave the eulogy.<ref>Davíd Carrasco, "Codex Charles Long / The Scholar Who Traveled to Many Places to Understand Others," in With This Root About My Person:  Charles H. Long and New Directions in the Study of Religion, ed. Jennifer Reid and Davíd Carrasco (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2020), 306.</ref> His grave is located in [[Oak Woods Cemetery]].<ref>[http://adevarul.ro/news/eveniment/mae-repatrierea-cioran-eliade-brancusi-romania-diminua-semnificativ-afluxul-turisti-1_50ad0f8d7c42d5a6638e1191/index.html "MAE: Repatrierea lui Cioran, Eliade și Brâncuși în România ar diminua semnificativ afluxul de turiști" ("Foreign Affairs Ministry: Repatriation to Romania of Cioran, Eliade and Brâncuși Would Significantly Diminish Tourist Arrivals")], in ''[[Adevărul]]'', April 11, 2011; retrieved May 21, 2014 {{in lang|ro}}</ref>