By the time World War I broke out, Agârbiceanu had three sons and a daughter, including Ion Jr, the future physicist. During 1914, the first year of war, he finally published "Arhanghelii", as well as the stories in "De la sate" ("From the Villages"). These were followed, in 1916, by a work of Christian theology, "Din viața preoțească" ("From Priestly Life"). In September 1916, during the Battle of Transylvania, his Orlat house was shelled by the German Army; Agârbiceanu fled Austria-Hungary with his family, following the Romanian Army on its hasty retreat. Their first destination was Râmnicu Vâlcea in the Old Kingdom; they then headed for Roman in Western Moldavia. Similarly exiled and sheltered, Goga put out the propaganda paper "Gazeta Ostașilor", with contributions from both Agârbiceanu and Iorga; after a hiatus caused by the fall of Bucharest in December, it was reissued as "România" in February 1917.