ORTHODOX CHURCH OF ROMANIA

Romanians represent the residue of the Thraco-Daco-Bessian peoples from the Balko-Danubian provinces of the Roman Empire. Their language is Romance, having been formed from the rustic Latin spoken by the populations of those provinces under Roman control. Nevertheless, a considerable Slavic influence is found in their lexicon and phonetics, owing to their intermingling with Slav populations that had moved there in the 6th and 7th centuries. They always called themselves Rumâni, but non-Roman peoples (Germans, Slavs) called them Walachians, that is, Romans or Latins (Volcae, Welsch, Volochi). Although Romanians are a Latin people, most of them belong to the autocephalous Romanian Orthodox Church.

The beginnings of Christianity are not clear in Romanian history, but it seems that in the early centuries the first work of evangelization was done by Latin missionaries. The form that Christianity took was linked intimately with political developments and divisions. From the 2d to the 4th century, the three civil districts of Illyricum, Dacia, and Macedonia belonged to the praetorian prefecture of Illyricum, located at Sirmium. The other two provinces of Moesia Inferior and Scythia Minor (Dobrodgea) belonged to the civil district of Thracia, that is, to the praetorian prefecture of the East, located at Heraclea. Thus Christian evangelization of the Balko-Danubian provinces came from the East and the West. In 389 Gratian, Emperor of the West, ceded to his brother Theodosius I, Emperor of the East, Dacia and Macedonia, now called Oriental Illyricum. In 421 Theodosius I made the provinces of Oriental Illyricum subject to the tribunal appeal of the bishop of Constantinople. Notwithstanding the strong protest of Pope Boniface II in 438, the decree of Theodosius was inserted into the Code of imperial laws. In 424 or 437, under Theodosius II, Western Illyricum was annexed to the Byzantine Empire. Thus the patriarch of Constantinople had jurisdiction of all the Illyrian provinces. He sent his missionaries and bishops into the area establishing the Orthodox Church and the canonical discipline of Byzantium.

When the Bulgars embraced Christianity from Byzantium, they also brought to the Rumâni the Byzantine liturgy in the Old Slavonic language. Instrumental in introducing the Byzantine-Slav rite into the kingdom of Great Moravia, which bordered on Bulgaria, were the Greek brothers Saints cyril and Methodius. With their activity in Moravia (863–85) and that of their disciples in Bulgaria the Slav-Bulgarian liturgical usages were introduced among the Walacho-Romanians, who, with their dukedoms of Banat and Transylvania, were subject to the first Bulgarian Empire.

After the withdrawal of the Tartars in the 13th century, the first Walacho-Romanian state, called Walachia, was formed in 1330. Moldavia was formed shortly after, in 1363. The rulers of Walachia and Moldavia petitioned the Patriarch of Constantinople to erect a metropolis in their kingdoms. A metropolitan was appointed in 1359 for Walachia with residence in Arges; and another, for Moldavia in 1393 with residence at Suceava, later changed to Jassy. Transylvania was under the Hungarian Empire from 1004. Thus through the centuries these three principalities of Walachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania existed separately one from another. Finally in 1881 Romania was united into a single kingdom of Walachia and Moldavia, whose religion was Byzantine Orthodoxy.

Organization of the Orthodox Romanian Church. The Orthodox Church in the independent provinces of modern Romania began to unify into one church in the 19th century. The two assemblies of the independent principalities of Walachia and Moldavia elected Colonial Alexander Ion Cuza (1859–66) as prince for both principalities. This union was recognized by Turkey and the other great powers in 1861 when the two united principalities were called Romania for the first time. The new Prince enacted laws concerning the Church that were in contrast with its traditional spirit. He made civil marriage compulsory, allowed divorce, and secularized the large estates of monasteries. He organized the church in an autocephalous way with a central synod answerable to the state.

After a jurisdictional quarrel with the Patriarch of Constantinople, the autocephaly of the Romanian Church was acknowledged in 1885. On Feb. 4, 1925, the Holy Synod decreed the primate of the Romanian Church (the archbishop of Bucharest) to be Patriarch. The decision was approved by the state and recognized by both the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and the other Orthodox Churches of the Near East and Europe. Thus was formed the Orthodox Church of Romania.

[l. tautu/

r. roberson/eds.]

Romanian Orthodox Church in the Communist and Post-Communist Years

The declaration of a Communist People's Democracy in Romania on Dec. 30, 1947, was followed on May 24, 1948, by the election of Justinian Marina (Feb. 22, 1901 to Mar. 26, 1977) as patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Justinian had well-known socialist political views and was said to be a personal friend of the newly-installed first secretary of the Romanian Communist Party, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. Thus, he was well placed during his 29 years in office to guide the church through an initial period of vicious Stalinist persecution (including the nationalization of church property, the imprisonment of thousands of clergy, and a reduction of the numbers of monks and nuns in the monasteries from over 7,000 in 1956 to 2,200 by 1975), and later to establish with the regime a modus vivendi known as "The Romanian Solution."

Patriarch Justinian essentially accepted the narrow boundaries drawn around his church by the state in return for the government's toleration of a certain level of ecclesial activity. The patriarch was able to oversee an improvement in the level of education of the clergy, a notable monastic reform, and the restoration of many important historic churches, monasteries, and other monuments. Under Nicolae Ceauşescu it became possible for Justinian to guide the church toward an accommodation with the regime because it was adopting a nationalist form of Communism that envisaged a certain role for the church in the life of the nation. Many Communist officials considered themselves Orthodox Christians.

Justin Moisescu was elected fourth patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church in June 1977. More an academic than politician, Justin had to deal with criticism for not sufficiently resisting the government's decision to demolish some 24 churches and three monasteries in central Bucharest and for his handling of the defrocking and imprisonment of certain Orthodox priests opposed to the regime. The most well known of these was Gheorghe Calciu Dumitreasa, who was sentenced to ten years in prison in 1978 for preaching a series of Lenten sermons at the Bucharest seminary in which he characterized atheism as a philosophy of despair. He was released and sent into exile in the United States in 1984.

Even so, by 1985 the Romanian Orthodox was the most vigorous church in Eastern Europe. Church sources stated that there were about 17,000,000 faithful (80 percent of the population), 8,165 parishes served by 8,545 priests, and 1,500 nuns and 1,000 monks living in 122 monasteries. There were six seminaries and two theological institutes, one in Bucharest and one in Sibiu. High quality theological journals were published, including three by the patriarchate itself and one by each of the five metropolitanates. In addition, the patriarchate was able to make use of limited resources to carry out an ambitious publication program that brought to light six more volumes in a series of Romanian translations of the Philokalia, more than 30 in a projected series of 90 volumes of translations of patristic writings, and an assortment of Bibles and other liturgical and theological works. In addition, the church was able to publish the theological contribution of Dumitru Sta'niloae (1903–93), one of the most prominent Orthodox theologians of the century.

Justin died on July 31, 1986. On November 9, the metropolitan of Iaşi, Teoctist Arăpaşu, was elected patriarch. He also had to contend with the destruction of more churches in Bucharest and even the government's rumored desire (later confirmed) to demolish the patriarchal complex in the capital and transfer the see to Iaşi. Teoctist was able to direct the republication of the 1688 Bucharest Bible, an event that illustrated the central role the church played in the standardization of the Romanian language and the evolution of Romanian culture. The patriarch was also able to take several trips abroad. He visited Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I in Istanbul in May 1987, and became the first Romanian patriarch in history to visit a Roman pontiff when he met John Paul II in Rome on Jan. 5, 1989. It was later revealed that Teoctist had acted against the wishes of the government in meeting with the pope.

End of Ceauşescu Regime. The downfall of the Ceauşescu regime on Dec. 22, 1989, triggered a crisis in the Romanian Orthodox Church, which was strongly criticized for having publicly supported the Communist government. The Holy Synod met on Jan. 10, 1990, apologized for those "who did not always have the courage of the martyrs," and expressed regret that it had been "necessary to pay the tribute of obligatory and artificial praises addressed to the dictator" to ensure certain liberties. It also annulled all the ecclesiastical sanctions that it had been compelled to impose on members of the clergy for political reasons. In the face of harsh criticism for alleged collaboration with the Communist regime, Patriarch Teoctist resigned his office on Jan. 18, 1990. However, in early April Teoctist resumed his duties as patriarch by unanimous decision of the Holy Synod. Although this move was criticized in Romanian intellectual circles, the Synod decided that it was more important to maintain continuity in the face of political change, and to acknowledge the views of the other Orthodox churches, which had continued to re-cognize Teoctist as patriarch.

A few days after the fall of the Ceauşescu regime, a "Reflection Group for the Renewal of the Church" was established in Bucharest. Its seven clerical and lay members set out to interpret what they perceived to be the growing desire among the Orthodox faithful for change and renewal in the life of the church, and to initiate a dialogue with the church leadership to help it overcome the current "spiritual impasse."

On June 7, 1990, a member of this group, the 38-year-old auxiliary bishop of Timişoara, Daniel Ciobotea, was elected metropolitan archbishop of Iaşi, the second-ranking post in the Romanian Orthodox hierarchy. Ciobotea had studied in the West and had taught from 1981 to 1988 at the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches at Bossey, Switzerland. His election to the see from which all previous Romanian patriarchs had been taken was part of an effort to reform the church and provide it with new and more vigorous leadership.

In September 1990 the Holy Synod approved important modifications to the basic statutes of the Patriarchate. It removed those sections providing for state interference in the church's affairs and declared the full autonomy of the church from the state.

On June 21, 1992 the Holy Synod declared canonizations for the second time in its history. Nineteen new Romanian saints were proclaimed, and the "Sunday of the Romanian Saints" was inserted into the liturgical calendar on the second Sunday after Pentecost.

At a meeting in January 1993 the Holy Synod reestablished two jurisdictions in areas that were part of Romania in the interwar period: in northern Bukovina (now in Ukraine) and in Bessarabia, most of which is in the independent republic of Moldova. This move sparked a confrontation with the Moscow patriarchate to which the Orthodox dioceses in those regions had belonged since World War II. Most Orthodox in those areas remained in newly established autonomous jurisdictions associated with the Russian Orthodox Church.

A census carried out by the Romanian government in January 1992 revealed that 87 percent of the population (19.8 million) considered itself to belong to the Romanian Orthodox Church. It is interesting to note that after four decades of antireligious propaganda, the census uncovered only 11,000 atheists and 25,000 who said they were not affiliated with any faith community.

By early 1993 the number of Orthodox seminaries in the country had risen to 18 with a total of 2,811 students. The two higher-level theological institutes that had been allowed to function in Bucharest and Sibiu were reintegrated into the university faculties they had belonged to before the advent of the Communist regime, and ten other theology faculties were set up at universities in Iaşi, Cluj-Napoca, Craiova, Arad, Oradea, Piteşti, Alba Iulia, Baia Mare, Constanţa, and Tîrgovişte. The students in these numbered 2,890, including significant numbers of laypeople and nuns. Monastic life thrived, with 192 monasteries (111 female and 81 male) and 75 sketes (63 female and 12 male) with a total of 5,179 monks and nuns in 1992. At that time there was a total of 8,452 priests and 12,397 places of worship. There was also a proliferation of theological journals (9), periodicals (10) and newspapers (5). For the first time since 1948 the church also began to engage in organized charitable activity, such as administering orphanages, hospitals, and retirement homes.

Another important development was the reactivation of Orthodox lay movements, all of which had been banned by the Communists. By the end of 1992 there were eight such organizations, the most important being the Oastea Domnului (The Army of the Lord). Founded by Josif Trifa in 1923, this renewal movement emphasized evangelization, personal morality, an experiential relationship with God, and Bible study. It grew quickly, and in the 1930s was absorbed into the structures of the Orthodox Church. During the Communist years the movement maintained a secret membership of perhaps as many as 500,000. The organization resurfaced after December 1989 and again received the blessing of the Orthodox Church. However, some of its members have connections with Protestant evangelical groups and are ambivalent about these links to institutional church structures.

In spite of the problems it now faces, the Romanian Orthodox Church has emerged from several decades of Communist persecution having preserved the close links that have long existed between it and the great majority of the Romanian people. Although its activity has been hindered by the catastrophic economic conditions that followed the fall of Ceauşescu, the new freedoms it has enjoyed since December 1989 have allowed it to begin to reassert its prominent role in the country and to explore the kind of relationship with the state and other churches that is appropriate for a postcommunist and increasingly westernized society.

Romanian Orthodox Christians in the United States. Historically, the Romanian Orthodox diaspora in the United States the Romanian Orthodox are divided into three different jurisdictions. The Romanian Orthodox Church and the Canonical Episcopate of America, in communion with the Orthodox Church of Romania has its see in Detroit. The Romania Orthodox Episcopate of America, with its see at Detroit, Michigan, is under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church in America. In 1993, these two groups agreed to establish full ties, ending the hostile atmosphere between them. The third, and smallest group is the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of Eastern Hemisphere, under the jurisdiction of the Russian Synodal Church in Exile. Its see is also in Detroit.

Bibliography: m. pacurariu, Istoria Bisericii Ortodoxe Române, 3 v. (Bucharest 1980–1981). a. scarfe, "The Romanian Orthodox Church," in p. ramet, ed., Eastern Christianity and Politics in the Twentieth Century (Durham, N.C. 1988) 208–31. m. pacurariu, Geschichte der Rumänischen Orthodoxen Kirche (Erlangen 1994). i. bria, Romania: Orthodox Identity at a Crossroads of Europe (Geneva 1995). r. roberson, The Eastern Catholic Churches: A Brief Survey (6th ed. Rome 1999).

[r. roberson]