1940s - World War II[edit]

King Carol II abdicated on September 6, 1940. An openly pro-German coalition of the military
headed by marshal Ion Antonescu and the Iron Guard took over. Patriarch Nicodim Munteanu's
reaction was cautious and his September 1940 address was unenthusiastic. Munteanu, like
Cristea before him, feared the anti-establishment nature of the Guard. But the Iron Guard was
highly influential on the Church's grassroots. In January 1941, seeking full control of the country,
the Iron Guard attempted a violent insurrection known as the Legionary Rebellion. The putsch
failed and out of the 9000 people arrested, 422 were Orthodox priests. [16]
Some particularly violent episodes during the insurrection directly involved the Orthodox clergy.
Students and staff of the Theological Academy in Sibiu, led by Professor Spiridon Cândea and
assisted by Iron Guard militiamen rounded up Jews in the courtyard of the academy and forced
them to hand over their valuables at gunpoint. Monks from the Antim Monastery in Bucharest, led
by their abbot, armed themselves and, using explosives, blew up a Synagogue on Antim Street.
The numerous Jewish inhabitants of the neighborhood hid in terror. [17]
After Antonescu and the Army crushed the insurrection, the Holy Synod was quick to condemn
the Legionary Rebellion and publicly paint it as a diabolical temptation that had led the Iron
Guard to undermine the state and the Conducător. Many of the clergymen who had participated
in the Rebellion were, however, shielded by their bishops and continued parish work in remote
villages. Romania's participation in World War II on the Axis side after June 1941 would provide
them with opportunities for rehabilitation. [17]
By the early 1940s, Orthodox theologians such as Nichifor Crainic already had a lengthy record
of producing propaganda supporting the concept of Judeo-Bolshevism. After 1941 the idea
became commonplace in central church newspapers such as Apostolul or BOR. A particularly
infamous article was signed by Patriarch Nicodim himself and published in BOR in April 1942. It
referred to the danger of domestic enemies whom he identified as mostly being Jewish. [18] In
1943 BOR published a 13-page laudatory review of Nichifor Crainic's infamous antismetic
book Transfigurarea Românismului (The Transfiguration of Romanianism).[19] Antisemitism was
also present in regional journals,[20] a leading example being Dumitru Stăniloae's Telegraful
român (The Romanian Telegraph).[21] Orthodox chaplains in the Romanian army cultivated the
Judeo-Bolshevik myth.[22]
A particular case was Romanian-occupied Transnistria. On August 15, 1941, The Holy Synod
established a mission, rather than a new bishopric, in Romanian-occupied territories across
the Dniester. The assumption was that Soviet atheist rule had destroyed the Russian Orthodox
Church and the Romanian Orthodox Church took it upon itself to "re-evangelize" the locals. The
main architect of the enterprise was Archimandrite Iuliu Scriban. In 1942 the Mission evolved into
an Exarchate and was taken over by Visarion Puiu. Many of the missionaries were former
affiliates of the Iron Guard, some were seeking rehabilitation after the 1941 insurrection. Abuse
against the Jewish population was widespread and numerous reports of Orthodox priests
partaking and profiting from the abuse exist.[17] In 1944, Visarion Puiu fled to the West. In
Romania he was tried and convicted in absentia after the war. Many priests active in
Trannsnistria also faced prosecution after the war, although it is worth noting that communist
prosecutors were mostly looking for connections to the Iron Guard, rather than explicitly
investigating persecution of Jews.[23]
Historical evidence regarding the Romanian Orthodox Church's role in World War II is
overwhelmingly incriminating but there are a few exceptions. [24] Tit Simedrea, metropolitan of
Bukovina is one two high-ranking bishops known to have interceded in favor of the Jewish
population, the other being the metropolitan Nicolae Bălan of Transylvania. Evidence also
surfaced that Simedrea personally sheltered a Jewish family in the metropolitanate
compound. [25] Priest Gheorghe Petre was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations for
having saved Jews in Kryve Ozero. Petre was arrested in 1943 and court-martialed but was
released in 1944 for lack of evidence.[26]
After King Michael's Coup on August 23, 1944, Romania switched sides. The coup had been
backed by the communists; the Church, known for its long-term record of anti-Soviet and anti-
communist rhetoric now found itself in an awkward position. [27] Patriarch Nicodim was quick to
write a pastoral letter denouncing the previous dictatorship, blaming the Germans for the events
that had taken place in Romania during the 30s and during the war and praising "the powerful
neighbor from the East" with whom Romania had, supposedly, always had "the best political,
cultural, and religious relations."[28]
Starting in 1944, and even more after Petru Groza became Prime-minister with Soviet support in
1945, the Church tried to adapt to the new political situation. In August 1945 a letter of the Holy
Synod was published in BOR. Again, it blamed the Germans for the horrors of the war and
claimed that the Orthodox Church had always promoted democracy. The Romania Army was
also praised for having joined forces with "the brave Soviet armies in the war against the true
adversaries of our country." Finally, the Orthodox faithful were asked to fully support the new
government.[29] Later that year BOR published two relatively long articles authored by Bishop
Antim Nica and, respectively, by Teodor Manolache. Both articles delt with the Holocaust and
painted the Romanian Orthodox Church as a savior of Jews.[30]

Communist period[edit]

Nicolae Ceaușescu and other Party officials visit Neamț Monastery in 1966.

Main articles: Romanian Orthodox Church in Communist Romania and Anti-religious campaign
of Communist Romania
Romania officially became a communist state in 1947. Restricted access to ecclesiastical and
relevant state archives[31]: 446–447 [32] makes an accurate assessment of the Romanian Orthodox
Church's attitude towards the Communist regime a difficult proposition. Nevertheless, the activity
of the Orthodox Church as an institution was more or less tolerated by the Marxist–Leninist
atheist regime, although it was controlled through "special delegates" and its access to the public
sphere was severely limited; the regime's attempts at repression generally focused on individual
believers.[31]: 453  The attitudes of the church's members, both laity and clergy, towards the
communist regime, range broadly from opposition and martyrdom, to silent consent, collaboration
or subservience aimed at ensuring survival. Beyond limited access to the Securitate and Party
archives as well as the short time elapsed since these events unfolded, such an assessment is
complicated by the particularities of each individual and situation, the understanding each had
about how their own relationship with the regime could influence others and how it actually did. [31]: 
455–456 [33]

The Romanian Workers' Party, which assumed political power at the end of 1947, initiated mass
purges that resulted in a decimation of the Orthodox hierarchy. Three archbishops died suddenly
after expressing opposition to government policies, and thirteen more "uncooperative" bishops
and archbishops were arrested. [34] A May 1947 decree imposed a mandatory retirement age for
clergy, thus providing authorities with a convenient way to pension off old-guard holdouts. The 4
August 1948 Law on Cults institutionalised state control over episcopal elections and packed the
Holy Synod with Communist supporters.[35] The evangelical wing of the Romanian Orthodox
Church, known as the Army of the Lord, was suppressed by communist authorities in 1948. [36] In
exchange for subservience and enthusiastic support for state policies, the property rights over as
many as 2,500 church buildings and other assets belonging to the (by then-outlawed) Romanian
Greek-Catholic Church were transferred to the Romanian Orthodox Church; the government took
charge of providing salaries for bishops and priests, as well as financial subsidies for the
publication of religious books, calendars and theological journals. [37] By weeding out the anti-
communists from among the Orthodox clergy and setting up a pro-regime, secret police-
infiltrated Union of Democratic Priests (1945), the party endeavoured to secure the hierarchy's
cooperation. By January 1953 some 300-500 Orthodox priests were being held in concentration
camps, and following Patriarch Nicodim's death in May 1948, the party succeeded in having the
ostensibly docile Justinian Marina elected to succeed him.[34]
As a result of measures passed in 1947–48, the state took over the 2,300 elementary schools
and 24 high schools operated by the Orthodox Church. A new campaign struck the church in
1958-62 when more than half of its remaining monasteries were closed, more than 2,000 monks
were forced to take secular jobs, and about 1,500 clergy and lay activists were arrested (out of a
total of up to 6,000 in the 1946-64 period[37]). Throughout this period Patriarch Justinian took great
care that his public statements met the regime's standards of political correctness and to avoid
giving offence to the government;[38] indeed the hierarchy at the time claimed that the arrests of
clergy members were not due to religious persecution. [35]
The church's situation began to improve in 1962, when relations with the state suddenly thawed,
an event that coincided with the beginning of Romania's pursuit of an independent foreign policy
course that saw the political elite encourage nationalism as a means to strengthen its position
against Soviet pressure. The Romanian Orthodox Church, an intensely national body that had
made significant contributions to Romanian culture from the 14th century on, came to be
regarded by the regime as a natural partner. As a result of this second co-optation, this time as
an ally, the church entered a period of dramatic recovery. By 1975, its diocesan clergy was
numbering about 12,000, and the church was already publishing by then eight high-quality
theological reviews, including Ortodoxia and Studii Teologice. Orthodox clergymen consistently
supported the Ceaușescu regime's foreign policy, refrained from criticizing domestic policy, and
upheld the Romanian government's line against the Soviets (over Bessarabia) and the
Hungarians (over Transylvania). As of 1989, two metropolitan bishops even sat in the Great
National Assembly.[38] The members of the church's hierarchy and clergy remained mostly silent
as some two dozen historic Bucharest churches were demolished in the 1980s, and as plans
for systematization (including the destruction of village churches) were announced. [39] A notable
dissenter was Gheorghe Calciu-Dumitreasa, imprisoned for a number of years and eventually
expelled from Romania in June 1985, after signing an open letter criticizing and demanding an
end to the regime's violations of human rights.[37]
In an attempt to adapt to the newly created circumstances, the Eastern Orthodox Church
proposed a new ecclesiology designed to justify its subservience to the state in supposedly
theological terms. This so-called "Social Apostolate" doctrine, developed by Patriarch Justinian,
asserted that the church owed allegiance to the secular government and should put itself at its
service. This notion inflamed conservatives, who were consequently purged by Gheorghe
Gheorghiu-Dej, Ceaușescu's predecessor and a friend of Justinian's. The Social Apostolate
called on clerics to become active in the People's Republic, thus laying the foundation for the
church's submission to and collaboration with the state. Fr. Vasilescu, an Orthodox priest,
attempted to find grounds in support of the Social Apostolate doctrine in the Christian tradition,
citing Augustine of Hippo, John Chrysostom, Maximus the Confessor, Origen and Tertullian.
Based on this alleged grounding in tradition, Vasilescu concluded that Christians owed
submission to their secular rulers as if it were the will of God. Once recalcitrants were removed
from office, the remaining bishops adopted a servile attitude, endorsing Ceauşescu's concept of
nation, supporting his policies, and applauding his peculiar ideas about peace. [40]

Collaboration with the Securitate[edit]

Main article: Clerical collaboration with communist secret services
In the wake of the Romanian Revolution, the church never admitted to having ever willingly
collaborated with the regime, although several Romanian Orthodox priests have publicly
admitted after 1989 that they had collaborated with and/or served as informers for the Securitate,
the secret police. A prime example was Bishop Nicolae Corneanu, the Metropolitan of Banat,
who admitted to his efforts on behalf of the Romanian Communist Party, and denounced
activities of clerics in support of the Communists, including his own, as "the Church's [act of]
prostitution with the Communist regime".[35]
In 1986, Metropolitan Antonie Plămădeală defended Ceaușescu's church demolition programme
as part of the need for urbanization and modernisation in Romania.[41] The church hierarchy
refused to try to inform the international community about what was happening. [42]
Widespread dissent from religious groups in Romania did not appear until revolution was
sweeping across Eastern Europe in 1989. The Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox
Church Teoctist Arăpașu supported Ceaușescu up until the end of the regime, and even
congratulated him after the state murdered one hundred demonstrators in Timișoara.[43] It was not
until the day before Ceaușescu's execution on 24 December 1989 that the Patriarch condemned
him as "a new child-murdering Herod".[43]
Following the removal of Communism, the Patriarch resigned (only to return a few months after)
and the Holy Synod apologised for those "who did not have the courage of the martyrs".[41]

After 1989[edit]

Romanian icon of Saint Peter

As Romania made the transition to democracy, the church was freed from most of its state
control, although the State Secretariat for Religious Denominations still maintains control over a
number of aspects of the church's management of property, finances and administration. The
state provides funding for the church in proportion to the number of its members, based on
census returns[44] and "the religion's needs" which is considered to be an "ambiguous provision".
[45]
 Currently, the state provides the funds necessary for paying the salaries of priests, deacons
and other prelates and the pensions of retired clergy, as well as for expenses related to lay
church personnel. For the Orthodox church this is over 100 million euros for salaries, [46] with
additional millions for construction and renovation of church property. The same applies to all
state-recognised religions in Romania.
The state also provides support for church construction and structural maintenance, with a
preferential treatment of Orthodox parishes.[47] The state funds all the expenses of Orthodox
seminaries and colleges, including teachers' and professors' salaries who, for compensation
purposes, are regarded as civil servants.
Since the fall of Communism, Greek-Catholic Church leaders have claimed that the Eastern
Catholic community is facing a cultural and religious wipe-out: the Greek-Catholic churches are
allegedly being destroyed by representatives of the Eastern Orthodox Church, whose actions are
supported and accepted by the Romanian authorities. [48]