PERSECUTION OF RELIGION IN RUMANIA

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• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00415R003800080001-0
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• Document Page Count: 33
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 12, 2004
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: November 17, 1949
• Content Type: REPORT

DORM NO. 5f.6 "k -
MAY 19449rO
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SUBJECT Persecution of Relgion in Rumania
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PERSECUTION
OF RELIGION
IN RUMANIA
25X1
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THE RUMANIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE
General Nicolae Radescu, Former Prime Minister
MEMBERS
Cornel Bianu, Former Member of the Rumanian Parliament, Member of
the National-Peasant Party
Nicolae Caranfil, Former Minister for Air and Navy
Alexandru Cretzianu,. Former Rumanian Minister in Ankara
Mihail Farcasanu, President of the Rumanian Liberal Youth Organization,
Member of the National- Liberal Party
Grigore Gafencu, Former Foreign Minister
Augustin Popa, Former Member of the Rumanian Parliament, Member
of the National-Peasant Party
Constantin Visoianu, Former Foreign Minister
Iancu Zissu, Member of the Independent Socialist Party
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CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - 9
1. GOVERNMENT ACTION AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH-- 11
a) Propaganda ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11
b) Direct Action -------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- 12
c) Legislative Means -------------------.---------------------.------------- ................ 13
The Law for the Reform of Schools and Teaching ---------------------- 15
The Law on Cults and its Application --------------------------------.----------- 15
The Law for the Nationalization of Private Health Institutions---- 17
2. THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICY FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF
THE UN ATE CHURCH -------------------------------------------------------------------- 22
a) From the Appeal of Blaj (May 15, 1948) to the Congress of
Cluj (October 1, 1948) ----------------------------..- -- 22
b) The Congress of Cluj: De Facto and De Jure Suppression of
the Uniate Church of Rumania ---------------------------------------.---- 25
3. ATTITUDE OF THE GOVERNMENT TOWARD THE RU-
MANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH ------ --------------------------- . -..- ------ 30
The Purges --------------------------------------------------------------- 30
The New Regulation of Cults ------------_ ------------------------------ 32
The New Attitude of the Government ............................................. 33
4. THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICY WITH REGARD TO THE
O HER F'ITAFA'IIONS -----------------------------------------------------------.-- 35
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INTRODUCTION
Religious persecution is a phenomenon alien to the otherwise troubled
history of Rumania. The people of Rumania, while deeply religious, have
always displayed a large degree of tolerance in matters of religion. It would
be difficult to find instances of local rulers of the past, and even of regimes
imposed from without, in the course of centuries of successive invasions and
of varying degrees of foreign domination, that have systematically practised
persecution of religion.
It is all the more deplorable therefore to find in Rumania of today, in the
middle of the twentieth century and in time of formal-if not real-peace,
that relic of barbarity: persecution of religion.
Yet it is not the people of Rumania who bear the guilt for the deeds we
shall have to disclose in the pages that follow. It is a puppet government,
imposed and maintained in power by the armed might of an imperialist power,
a government alien to the Rumanian people, that is the culprit.
It is that government, and the Kremlin whose tool it is, who stand accused
before God and mankind of the wholesale enslavement of an innocent people.
Disregarding the formal provisions of a peace treaty whose signatories they
both are, the government of Bucarest and that of Moscow have done away
with religious liberty in Rumania, as, in effect, they have done away with
all other human rights and fundamental liberties.
In the present survey, the Rumanian National Committee brings to the
attention of the world a series of incontrovertible facts, constituting full
evidence of the persecution of religion in Rumania. The reader may find
similar 'evidence of a broader and more diversified scope in the volume
entitled "Suppression of Human Rights in Rumania," likewise published by
the Rumanian National Committee.
Here is but one chapter-assuredly not the least-of that tragic story.
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1. GOVERNMENT ACTION AGAINST THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH
The Bucarest government, in its desire to eliminate all possibilities of organ-
ized resistance against its policy to communize the country, decided to begin
a relentless fight against the Catholic Faith. This is a phenomenon common
to all the so-called satellite countries.
Certainly, Catholicism, by its international character and by the Western
conception it represents, constitutes, not only a close and constant bond
with the free world of the West, in spite even of the "Iron Curtain," but
also a significant rallying point for an important proportion of Rumania's
population, desirous ' to maintain intact the moral values threatened by
Communism.
The Catholic persuasion is represented in Rumania by the Roman Catholic
Church which, according to the census of 1930, for the area then belonging
to Rumania, numbered 1,250,000 souls, and by the national Greek Catholic
Church which, according to the same census figures, numbered 1,430,000
faithful. It represented therefore a very real force, well and truly organized,
which did not mean to allow itself to be subjugated without opposing resistance.
That this was so was officially recognized by an important member of
the government, Gh. Gheorghiu-Dej, who, in his statement of February 22,
1948, did not scruple to confess that the Catholic Church constituted one of
the few forces in Rumania able to stand up to Communism.
Hence, the goal aimed at by the Bucarest government is precise: the weak-
ening of the Catholic Church in Rumania in order to 'render it inoffensive.
To attain this end, the communists are proceeding in accordance with a
well-established plan, comporting several steps. In the first place comes
an action of a general character, aimed at the severe reduction of the Catholic
Church's means of manifestation, striking at its very organization and sub-
jecting to the most rigorous control the exercise of its attributes. A second
phase is aimed at nothing less than the suppression of the Uniate (Greek-
Catholic) Church.
In the pursuit of this destructive work, the authorities are making full use
of the classic means available to totalitarian regimes. The opening shots
were a propaganda campaign, cleverly amplified, carried on parallel with an
action of intimidation based on abusive and vexatious steps directed against
the hierarchy and patrimony of the Catholic Church. The moment the proper
"atmosphere" was judged to have been created, legislative measures followed,
setting up the "legal" framework of the initial project.
a) PROPAGANDA
The slander campaign against Catholicism began discreetly, with certain
sly insinuations like those made by Petru Groza on the occasion of the visit
to Rumania of Patriarch Alexei of Moscow in May and June of 1947. It
continued afterwards, gaining momentum and widening in scope and intensity,
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by various statements issued by several members of the government; it cul-
minated in a concerted press attack.
Among the government's oratorical manifestations we must cite the decla-
rations of Gli. Gheorgliiu-Dej before the National Assembly, on the occasion
of the passing of the Constitution (April 1948), and those of Stanciu Stoian,
Minister of Cults, on the occasion of the election of the new Patriarch, on
May 24, 1948.
In the course of a broad examination of the international horizon, Gheorgiu-
Dej said, among other things: "The Pope will undoubtedly find occasion
to assail our constitution because it does not tally with the Vatican's tendencies,
which are to interfere in the internal concerns of various countries under
the pretext of evangelizing the Catholic faithful." "Who knows," added the
orator, "whether the Vatican will not consider anathematizing us on the
pretext that our constitution does not provide for the submission of our fellow
countrymen of Catholic persuasion to the political directives of the Vatican,
or because we do not allow ourselves to be tempted by America's golden calf,
at the feet of which the Vatican would bring its faithful."
Stanciu Stoian, for his part, contended that "world reaction is trying to
make especial use of two religious instruments: the Roman Catholic Church
and the Oecumenical Movement. The Vatican's action can not leave us
indifferent when it attempts to interfere with and to pass judgment upon our
democratic regime.. or can we remain indifferent when the so-called
Oecumenical Movement desires to annex (Greek) Orthodoxy- to the other
weapons of Anglo-Saxon imperialism."
By that time (end of May 1948) the campaign against Catholicism had
taken new aspects, gaining in scope. Part of the hierarchy of the Rumanian
Orthodox Church had seen fit to enter the arena and take a hand in a struggle
whose political character was undeniable. The new Patriarch, Justinian,
was launching appeals, inviting Greek-Catholics to "rejoin" Orthodoxy. On
the occasion of his enthronement, Patriarch Justinian alluded--on June 6,
1948---to the Concordat "imposed upon our people by the Pope of Rome with
the connivance of the former regimes, whereby the popish see was awarded
greater rights than our own Church."
In order to understand the intervention of certain Orthodox prelates in
this question, we should recall that the upper hierarchy of the Rumanian
Orthodox Church had previously undergone an extensive "purge." The
following annotation from the communist paper u niversul of August 28,
1918, is enlightening: "The guidance of the country's destinies having been
taken up by the hands of the working class and of democratic organizations,
special attention is being given to the renewal of the high cadres of the Church.
This was evidenced by the elections which took place in November 1,947,
when three hierarchs of the people entered the Synod. This concern of the
working class for the destinies of the Church culminated on May 24, 1948,
when the new Patriarch of the Rumanian People's Republic was elected
in the person of His Holiness Justinian."
b) DIRECT ACTION
Alongside this propaganda action, and precisely in order to enforce its effect,
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creating the propitious atmosphere of terror, a whole series of administrative
abuses were launched throughout the country, aimed both at the personnel
and the patrimony of the Catholic Church. Thus in a single diocese, in the
course of a few months-May 1947 to January 1948-no less than twenty-two
priests were arrested. By March 1948 their number grew to 92, of which
41 were set free again after a short time. The rest, numbering 51, are still
in jail at the time these words are being written.
Particular mention must be made of the unlawful arrest of the French
Ascensionist monks, headed by Father Laurent, who were conducting an
institute for Byzantine studies in Bucarest (Fall, 1947).
Instances of the manner in which the administration interfered in exclu-
sively religious concerns of the. Catholic Church must include the cases of
the prefects of Turda and Hunedioara, who, at the time of the trials rigged
against Iuliu Maniu and other leaders of the National Peasant Party, sum-
moned the representatives of the clergy and requested that they demand the
death penalty for Mania in their sermons (November 1947).
Yet another form of abuse was the requisitioning of Church-owned build-
ings. Thus, in Timisoara the building that housed the Catholic Seminary
was taken over by the authorities on October 30, 1947, and assigned to the
Medical School. It was only after long and tedious protests that a part of
the building was put at the disposal of the seminary; the greater part, however,
passed under the administration of the medical school.
In line with the persecutions directed against the Catholic clergy must be
considered, too, the decree issued by the Ministry of Cults, dismissing from
service and depriving of their living a large number of priests, whose names
appeared on a list published in the Official Monitor for March 31, 1948.
Special attention was given by the government to the Catholic press, which
was progressively suppressed until, by May 1948, but one magazine, the
Children's Paradise, remained in publication. This magazine too, edited
by the Jesuits of Bucarest, saw its pages reduced from the usual 24 to the
heavily censored material barely sufficient for 8, before being completely
suppressed at last, in May 1948.
Following this drive of intimidation, carried on upon such an extensive and
intense scale, the Bucarest administration considered the first stage of the
initial plan. accomplished, and it was decided to proceed to transform the legal
basis itself in this domain. The liberal legislation on the books was replaced
with a new regime of Cults.
c) LEGISLATIVE MEANS
Before proceeding with the envisaged reforms, the Bucarest regime had
to repudiate such obligations of an international character as existed in this
field. Under the Concordat between the Vatican and the Rumanian State, of
May 10, 1927, ratified in 1929, the statutes of the Catholic Church in Rumania
and its relationship with the State authorities were defined in great detail.
On July 17, 1948, a communique of the Council of Ministers made known that,
"in order to accomplish the constitutional provisions relating to the untram-
meled liberty of religion, the Council approves the abrogation of the law
of June 12, 1929, concerning the approval of the Concordat with the Vatican;
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the denunciation of that Concordat; and the cessation of the application of
the provisions contained in that Concordat, as of the date of its denunciation."
We need not insist upon the validity, from the point of view of international
law, of the argument brought forward by the Bucarest regime to justify this
step. It is well known that modern principles in this domain agree fully that
the law of nations has complete priority as against provisions of a domestic
character. It must, however, be stressed that the decision of the Bucarest
regime is in fact a flagrant violation of the provisions of Article 23 of the
Concordat itself, which recognizes the right of the contracting parties to de-
notnce the accord, but calls for a six months' notice in such an event.
The abusive haste displayed by the administration in the abrupt termination
of the application of the Concordat's provisions is to be explained when the
contents of that accord are broadly examined. The Concordat, in addition
to clauses concerning the organization and the functioning of the Catholic
Church (Articles 1 through 10), contains certain dispositions concerning con-
fessional teachings (Art. 19) and referring to diocesal seminaries (Art. 16),
as well as some relating to the administration and general conduct of welfare
organizations, foundations, hospitals, convents, etc., functioning under the
direction of the Catholic Church of flume (Art. 14). In each of these fields
the organs of the church enjoyed full freedom of action, initiative, and
leadership, within the general framework of existing legislation, and in har-
mony with the attributions of control and directives that belonged to the
various government departments.
The unilateral denunciation of the Concordat was the signal for the opening
of a violent press campaign against the Vatican. Caricatures of an excep-
tional vulgarity appeared. For instance, the official communist paper, Scan-
teia, showed the Sovereign Pontiff, with an American flag in his tiara,
bowing down and kissing the hand of Secretary of State MMarshall. Articles
began to pour out praises for the "liberating action" of the government and
to denounce alleged interferences of the Holy See in the internal affairs
of various countries. The Patriarch Justinian himself, upon returning from
the Moscow congress, in August 1948, declared that "the political interests
pursued by the Vatican are alien to the very spirit of our Christian faith.
Hence the patriarchs and representatives of all Orthcdox Churches hailed
with joy the Rumanian government's decision to eliminate completely the
possibility of the Vatican's interference in the internal concerns of the Ru-
manian Popular Republic."
In this artificially created atmosphere, which lacked all real acceptance
in Rumanian public opinion, the government proceeded in the shortest possible
time to promulgate two laws destined to lay the bases of the new regime of
cults and schools. Of course, these two decrees signified at the same time
a heavy blow struck at the independence and at the possibilities of manifes-
tation of Catholicism in the Rumanian Popular Republic. Without entering
into a detailed analysis of these decrees, we must examine here the dispositions
that have bearing upon the problem which makes the object of this study,
and the application that was given to these provisions.
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THE LAW FOR THE REFORM OF SCHOOLS AND TEACHING
The decree which appeared in the Official Monitor for August 3, 1948, trans-
fers to the exclusive conduct and control of the state the entire system of
schools defined as "lay teaching" (Art. 1). All private and denominational
schools, many of which belonged to the various Catholic communities, become
state institutions (Art 35). The application and enforcement of this law,
as the Minister of Public Instruction himself testified, was designed and
elaborated "upon instructions from the Central Committee of the Workers'
Party." It took immediate effect throughout the country. Commissions
appointed to this end by the Ministry of Public Education first proceeded
to close and seal the buildings of all private schools, and then made inventories
of their entire patrimony, which was to be transferred to state ownership.
This procedure gave rise to innumerable and serious abuses. For instance.,
buildings that housed both schools and other religious establishments were
considered by the authorities to belong in their entirety to the school, with
the sole exception of rooms reserved exclusively to actual religious prac-
tices. At one such institute, Notre Dame de Sion, the nuns were allowed
to retain the use only of the chapel and of their personal cells. And while
the inventory was being drawn up, no one was allowed to leave the buildings
of the institute. The nuns were even prevented thus from accompanying
the funeral procession of one of their own number. When the inventory was
finally drawn up, the nuns were allowed to leave the premises only after
submitting each time to a close personal search.
Such taking of inventories provided a pretext for instituting against Catholic
personnel divers court proceedings, and numerous illegal arrests followed
as a matter of course. We may cite the case of Mother Clemente de Sion,
the principal of the Bucarest institute, who was subjected to a severe investi-
gation, together with several other nuns of the institute, on the pretext that
they had destroyed the archives of the school (August 11, 1948). Father
Anion Trifas, former principal of the Catholic Seminary of Iasi, was likewise
arrested for having allegedly attempted to conceal a part of the seminary's
patrimony (August 26, 1948).
The wave of arrests of Catholic priests continued throughout the months
of August and September. At the same time, the Ministry of Cults dismissed
from their posts a large number of priests, especially former teachers of
Catholic seminaries. We cite the case of Fathers Maximilian Simonic and
Ion Farcas, parish priests in the Timisoara district, who were accused of
"anti-democratic attitude," and. indicted on September 8, 1948.
The reform of the schools, as we shall presently show, not only had the role
of abolishing all activities of the Churches in the field of teaching, but also
provided occasion for numberless abuses and acts of terrorism.
THE LAW ON CULTS AND ITS APPLICATION
Together with the reorganization of schools, new rules were provided for
the general regime of cults, in the decree issued by the Presidium of the
National Assembly, published in the Official Monitor of August 4, 1948.
The new law, although it asserts from the very outstart that it "guarantees
freedom. of conscience and religion" (Art. 1), in fact goes on to curtail most
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drastically all means of manifestation of the divers faiths, striking at their
organization, and subjecting them to a rigorous administrative and police
control. Starting from the premise that all denominations, with the exception
of the Orthodox Church, "in order to organize themselves and to function,
must have previous recognition by decree of the Presidium of the Grand
Popular Assembly" (Art. 13), the law goes on to state that "in cert'iin well
motivated cases" such recognition may be v6thdrawn in the same way.
Once this basic principle established, the conditions in which the various
Cluirches may organize themselves administratively are set forth. The
criterion is provided in Article 22, which says that "for the creation and
functioning of any denomination, an average of 750,000 faithful shall be
considered as constituting a sec." Thereby, the Roman Catholic Church which
in the terms of the Concordat was guaranteed six sees (the archbishopric of
Bucarest, the bishoprics of Iasi. Alba-Iulia, Timisoara, and Oradea, and
the Gherla bishopric of Armenian rite), must submit to a considerable reduc-
tion in the number of its dioceses.
The law also provides for the abolishment of seminaries (Art. 53) and
reduces to one the number of Theological Institutes of university rank of
the Catholic Church and of other denominations in ]Rumania. At the same
time, religious instruction in the army is eliminated, the function of army
chaplain being abolished altogether.
Once the principles of organization disposed of, the law proceeds to regulate
the conditions in which the various denominations may function in the
country. Their entire activity is subjected to the most thoroughgoing adminis-
trative control, reaching from, inscriptions. symbols, seals, and stamps, through
ritual books and pastorals, all the way to congresses and meetings of prelates.
At the same time, the law forbids all relation- that are not strictly "of a
religious nature" between the country's denominations and foreign countries.
Such ties are thenceforth placed under the "control and approval of the Min-
istry- for Foreign Affairs" (Art. 40).
It should be stressed that under the previous regime the Concordat all com-
munications of the Catholic sees, clergy, and faithful with the Vatican were
completely free.
Aside from the control of religious ties with abroad, Article 42 provides that
"assistance and gifts received front abroad by various religious denominations
in the country, or those sent by thc: latter abroad, shall be controlled by
the state."
The law gives prominence to dispositions governing the passing from one
faith to another. Thus. Article 27 provides that when 10% of the faithful
of one community pass to another cult, a proportional part of the patrimony
of that denomination passes into the property of the other. Should a simple
majority of the faithful of one denomination pass to another, then the local
buildings and other annex possessions of the community, together with the
church itself, become the property of the other. Finally, in cases where 75%
of any community become converted to another faith, the entire local prop-
erty of the abandoned denomination becomes the property of the second.
All instances mentioned above "shall be controlled and solved by the local
popular courts."
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We shall mention, finally, the provisions of Article 36, which call for the
transfer to the property of the state of all the patrimony of "such denomina-
tions as may disappear or whose recognition shall be withdrawn." The whole
of the law's final portion will be found to constitute a powerful and far-
reaching weapon for the governmental. abolishment of the Greek Catholic
Church.
In connection with the application of the law on denominations, a decree
which appeared in the Official Monitor of September 18, 1948, established
the number of Roman Catholic sees at two, and that of Greek Catholic sees
at two, likewise. As the result of this decree, and on the basis of the law No.
166 of 1947, the Roman Catholic Archbishop Alexander Cisar of Bucarest,
and Bishop Augustin Pacha of Timisoara, as well as the Greek Catholic Bishops
Traian Frentiu, Alexander Rusu, and Ion Balan, were summarily ousted from
their high offices, being "retired." by governmental action.
As a matter of fact, the communist press had long been carrying on a
heated campaign against Bishop Pacha, as instanced by the newspaper Lupta-
torul Banatean, of August 15, 1948, which accused this high prelate of
having consistently maintained a "clearly anti-democratic attitude." Another
Catholic prelate, Mgr. Ion Scheffler, the Apostolic Administrator of Oradea and
Satu-Mare, had been suspended from his post some days before that (Official
Monitor of September 16, 1948).
Whereas the law on education completely ended all possibilities for the
Catholic Church to manifest itself in the field of education, the law on cults
regulated the organization of the Church itself, reducing it considerably and
subjecting it to a rigorous control by the state in all its specifically religious
activities. In addition, a new decree concerning the nationalization of all
medical institutions was designed to eliminate the servants of the Church
from yet another field: that of health care.
THE LAW FOR THE NATIONALIZATION OF PRIVATE HEALTH
INSTITUTIONS
The Official Monitor of November 3, 1948, published the decree for the
nationalization of all private health institutions, which "'pass into the property
of the state as common possessions of the entire people, free of all encum-
brances and charges, under the administration of the Ministry of Public
Health."
This decree nationalized, among others, the following Catholic hospitals and
Sanatoria: St. Vincent de Paul and St. Joseph, in Bucarest, St. Joseph in
Oradea, the hospitals of the monks of the Order of Charity of St. John the
Divine, in Oradea, Satu-Mare, and Timisoara, St. Anne's hospital in Timisoara,
St. Vincent's hospital of Miercurea Ciucului, the Maternity hospitals of Targul
Mures and of Cluj, etc., etc.
As a result of these measures, the Roman Catholic Church of Rumania was
deprived of the services of a large number of its highest prelates and of many
members of its religious orders. Two bishops remained in function: Martin
Aron and Anton Durcovici, themselves under constant attack from the commu-
nist press. Thus Scanteia of December 9, 1948, in an article by Csiko Nandor,
a member of the political secretariat of the Magyar Popular Union, concerning
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the activity of that party, denounced Bishop Aron as a reactionary leader.
Part of the members of the monastic orders who were of foreign nationality,
and who were in the country in the exercise of their pastoral mission, were
forced to leave the country. Aanong these, we may cite the nuns of Notre
Diane de Sion and those of the Bavarian Order of Englischer Freudens, num-
bering some two hundred and more, who arrived in Salzburg ai the beginning
of 1949, expelled from Rumania.
From all the above, we may see that the action of the communist govern-
ment of Bucarest against the Catholic Church of Rome has already succeeded
in curtailing most of its prerogatives, diminishing it considerably in its
organization and restricting its field of activity to an absolute ,ninimum.,
In carrying through to the end this action of imposing administrative control
upon the Catholic Church of the R. P. R., the Bucarest government soon
reached the point of open conflict in matters involving basic tenets of dogma
and canonical rules. This was occasioned by the submission by the Catholic
Episcopate, for the requisite ratification by the Ministry of Cults, of the
draft statute for the organization, conduct, and functioning of the Catholic
Church in the Rumanian People's Republic. In accordance with the disposition
of Article 14 of the Law on Cults, the draft statute was forwarded on October
27, 1948, for "examination and approval." The proposed statute contained
46 articles, which referred, not only to the Roman denomination, but also
to those of Greek and Armenian rites. It included, of course, the act of
faith of the Catholic Church as well as the traditional norms of organization.
The modalities of internal functioning and the specific attributions of the
several ecclesiastical authorities were set forth in detail, in accordance with
the established canons of the Church. In other words, the authors of this
draft statute showed clearly that they fully meant to respect and comply
with the legal dispositions of the R. P. H., in so far as these did not infringe
rules and tenets established by canon law.
In the reply of the Ministry of Cults. issued after much delay in January,
1949, the administration recommended nothing less than the radical modifi-
cation of 42 articles, and went to the length of even requiring the suppression
of certain of them.
According to the Ministry of Cults, all dispositions bearing on the following
issues had to he abrogated:
1) The general dogmatic. position of the Catholic Church;
2) The Papal dogma and the canonical attributes of the Holy Father;
3) The norms applicable to the Greek Catholic Church;
4) "The right to give religious instruction . . . in all schools".
In general, the Ministry displayed especial susceptibility even in matters
of terminology, reacting unfavorably to every teem used in the draft statute
that Wright seem disrespectful toward the laws of the R. P. R., or even of
a nature to run counter to the official atheistic views. Thus, the expression
"the community of the faithful" was found unsuitable and it was recom-
mended to be changed to "the faithful," in the text of Article 30.
In his reply, dated February 24, 1949, Bishop Aron Marton of Alba Iulia,
after expressing his "deepest sorrow to find that the Greek Catholic; bishops
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prevented from expressing their opinion" concerning the draft statute,
are'
firmly refused to reach any compromise whatsoever on points connected with
the primacy of Papal jurisdiction, with the exclusive right of the Holy Father
to appoint bishops and to establish the number of dioceses, and with the
liberty of relations with Rome, all of which constitute fundamental elements
of Catholic dogma.
It was this exchange of correspondence that marked the sharpening of the
conflict between the state authorities and the Catholic episcopate.
One of the first spectacular results of this difference was the decision of the
Ministry of Cults, published in the press on May 29, 1949, whereby Bishops
Aron Marton and Anton Durcovici, three canons, and 132 priests and adminis-
trative officials of the Roman Catholic Church of Rumania were struck out
of the budget retroactively, that is, as of February 1, 1949, for "anti-democratic
attitudes."
Scanteia of May 29, 1949, justified this measure in a lengthy article,
showing "that the regime of popular democracy cannot and does not tolerate
the enemies from within and without the country to take advantage of any
of our democratic liberties to mask their actions directed against public
authority, against peace, independence, and liberty, against the united struggle
for socialism cat'ried on by the working people."
Finally, the two Roman Catholic Bishops were arrested, on June 20 and 26,
1949. Their real offense was--as Cardinal Tisserant testified before the
Eucharistic Congress of Nancy--that "they refused to accept arbitrary state
control over the Catholic Church and its organizations."
In recounting this last phase of the conflict between the Roman Catholic
Church and the Bucarest government, we have simply followed its main
line: that which concerned the protagonists. In fact, however, the persecution
exerted against Catholicism went much deeper. We have mentioned the meas-
ures decreed against various churchmen, and the abuses practised against many
members of the monastic orders. Things did not stop there by any means.
We might cite, for instance, the letter under No. 41622/1948, whereby the
Ministry of Cults requested Bishop Aron Marton to issue the necessary instruc-
tions to the Provincials of the Orders and Congregations of his diocese, for
the "timely" execution of a series of measures, aimed at nothing less than
the summary evacuation by the numerous monks and nuns of the premises
belonging to their Orders. It should be stressed that these premises had been
expressly left to the Orders, when the state, following the educational reforms
of August 1948, and the nationalization of health establishments of November
1948, had seized abusively innumerable buildings belonging to the Catholic
Church.
In his reply, dated November 29, 1948, the Bishop of Alba Iulia stated
that this disposition-unjustified by any existing legislation-ran counter,
not only to the internal rules of the various monastic Orders, but also to
"the freedom of conscience and religion, guaranteed by the R. P. R. Consti-
tution and by the Law on Cults, and was even in manifest contradiction to
those fundamental and inalienable human rights and liberties enjoyed by
every citizen under any form of government, according to the general opinion
of mankind."
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Alongside these administrative abuses and chicaneries, the government con-
tinued the system of arresting members of the clergy. According to a Vatican
estimate, by the beginning of July 1949, there had been arrested in Rumania
no less than six hundred priests and members of religious Orders, since the
advent to power of the Communists. (Le Figaro, July 2/3, 1949.)
A few days previously. Osservatore Romano (June 29, 194')) could state:
"By- now, we are in an extremity. It is obvious at this time that the Rumanian
persecutions have taken proportions that set them above all others . . .
against the Catholic Church." The reference is, of course, to the persecutions
suffered in the other so-called ".satellite" states.
In analyzing the various phases of religious persecution against Catholicism
in Rumania, we showed that the beginning was marked by an intense propa-
ganda action. This propaganda action is not absent from the latter stages
which we have outlined above. Indeed, the entire press, literature, and even
the plastic arts were called into action to assail the Catholic Church. Thus,
to quote but a few random instances, the annual state exhibition of the plastic
and decorative arts, held in June 1949, occasioned great admiration for the
quality- of certain cartoons exhibited. One, a series of drawings which showed
the Pope eating macaroni that assumed the shape of the Dollar sign, was
decreed by Flacara (June 25, 1949) to be "a model of caricature realization."
The same issue of Flacara also carries what is described as "The song of the
Catholic missionary," from the pen of the poet Radu Teculescu:-
I say unto you, "Peace to you," and I enter the city
With a machine-gun hidden in my hag
And with a cross in my right hand. . . .
I say unto you, "Peace to you! Strike out at sin
"Alongside our American brethren engaged in the great crusade.
"What matter if they command?
"What matter if some of you must fall? -
"It is a law God-given to this world:
"Some with the deed and sacrifice,
"Others with dollars and the Word."
There!
I have unmasked for you the Catholic missionary.
Behold his words, Comrades.
Comrades, wherever you may meet him,
Spit him in the eyes
As you would a slobbering, honeyed beast.
And let your hands grip deep his throat,
And, wordless, smite him to the ground!
This, at the lower end of the scale. At the highest, let us quote the words
of the R. P. R. Patriarch Justinian Marina himself:
. The Vatican is the center of the oldest imperialist tradition, which
has not hesitated in the least to use every means of the capitalist system to
commercialize holy things, with the help of the `Bank of the Holy See' and
of other enterprises that have common interests with Anglo-American financial
circles. To that end, Pope Pius X11 does not hesitate to use any means wha;-
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soever, even though it be contrary to the letter and spirit of Holy. Writ."
(Informations Roumaines, Bulletin of the R. P. R. Legation in Paris, August
26, 1949.)
It is needless to go on with a detailed examination of the available evidence.
Everything points to the sad conclusion that, at the present time, the Roman
Catholic Church in the so-called People's Republic of Rumania has been left
headless in the throes of the most bitter persecution. Official propaganda
points it out as the principal enemy of the very concept of "popular democ-
racy." Yet the Catholic Church continues to live in Rumania, carrying on
with the doggedness inspired by confidence in its mission. It is no less true,
alas, that the Communist government of Bucarest may well consider the
Catholic Church officially out of action-a "vanquished enemy," swept away
in the "struggle for building socialism in the people's democracy."
AIt may well be said, therefore, that one step of the program has been
accomplished. We shall now examine the other phase of the government
plan: the fight for the total suppression of the Greek Catholic Church. By
its very character, this policy may rightly be expected to be even harsher than
the other, its victims even more numerous and hard hit. It will, indeed, be
seen clearly to present all the recognizable marks of a full-blown religious
persecution, such as history is so drearily familiar with.
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2. THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICY FOR THE
SUPPRESSION OF THE UNIATE CHURCH
The Greek Catholic, or Uniate Church, which, ever since the end of the
17th century (1698), played an essential role in the cultural, political, and
religious development of Rumanians in Transylvania, established, by the end
of the 18th century, direct relations between Rumanians and the cultural
centers of the West, especially with Rome. It determined thus a strong and
significant western current in Rumanian literature, known as the Transyl-
vanian School. This in turn was instrumental in the development of national
sentiment, not only in Transylvania, but also in the Rumanian Principalities,
throughout the 19th century. Following the union of Transylvania with
Rumania, in 1918, the Uniate Church continued as an enlightened center of
patriotism and high moral values.
According to the figures for 1938, there were 1,725 Greek Catholic churches,
served by 1,594 priests. 34 canons, and 75 prelates. The faithful numbered
at the time of the 1930 census, 1.430,000. Since then they grew to exceed
one and a half million souls.
The organization of the Uniate Church, as it was guaranteed by the Con-
cordat, was as follows: a metropolitan see at Blaj, titled, in order to maintain
the historic tradition, the Metropolitan See of Alba-lulia and Fagaras; four
suffragan bishoprics---of Oradea Marc, of Lugoj, and of Gherla, with the
residence at Cluj, and of Maramures with the residence at Baia-Mare.
In order to suppress this important and venerated organism of the country's
national life, the government undertook a vast program. We shall have to
distinguish two distinct phases in the development of events: the first, begin-
ning with the appeals made to the faithful of Uniate denomination to pass
to Orthodoxism. starting in May 1948, and leading to the Congress of Cluj,
on October 1, 1948; the second, including the events which followed that
Congress and which led to the de facto and de jure suppression of the Creek
Catholic Church of Rumania.
a) FROM THE APPEAL OF BLAJ (MAY 15, 1948) TO THE CONGRESS
OF CLUJ (OCTOBER 1. 1948)
The Centennial of the meeting of the Field of Liberty. held on May 15, 1848
(when Rumanians under the leadership of the Orthodox Bishop Sagrrna and
of the Uniate Bishop Lenreny demanded the recognition of their rights as a
nation), saw the launching of a formal appeal inviting all Greek Catholics
to join the Orthodox Church. "'Today." said the appeal, "when the Rumanian
Popular Republic guarantees equal rights, political, cultural, and religious, to
all, no matter what their creed or race might be, to persist in the spiritual
disunity which stemmed from the grave jeopardy in which the Rumanians
of Transylvania found themselves in 1700, means to desert the united front
of the new destinies that our working people are creating for themselves in
they dawn of the future."
It is not necessary to stress the feeling of profound sorrow and concern
aroused among Transylvanian Rumanians by this appeal., couched in the
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terms of a fatherly call. All realized that it was the opening shot of the
coming struggle, all the more so as it came precisely on the occasion of the
centennial of an event that marked the real unity then existing among Tran-
sylvanian Rumanians, notwithstanding their differences of creed. And indeed
this true character of the appeal was shortly to be made quite manifest, when
the administration and police began a huge campaign to ascertain the views
of all Greek Catholic priests in the matter of passing to Orthodoxy.
The appeal was renewed on the occasion of the enthronement of, Patriarch
Justinian Marina,. on June 6, 1948, when the new Patriarch stated, among other
things: "What separates us at this time? Nothing but the faithful submission
you still give to Rome. Give back this loyalty to the Church of our nation,
the Church of our forefathers and of yours.
"The energies we have all spent up till now in defending the national and
religious identity of our nation let us henceforth spend-under the paternal
protection of the Rumanian state, of the Popular Republic of Rumania-only
in consolidating the sovereignty and the national independence of our demo-
cratic state.
"The widest prospects open before us and before our future activity; once
we no longer work in isolation, abandonment, and persecution as we have in
the past ...
These appeals were given the widest publicity, the press devoting numerous
and lengthy articles to the event. When, in reply, the Uniate Episcopate
attempted to argue against these official theses, and to answer the appeals with
its own views, it was simply prevented from doing so. Administration and
police authorities prohibited all circulars and pastorals in this question. There-
upon, the Uniate leaders proposed to address a collective pastoral to their
faithful, setting forth the official position of the Greek Catholic Church. "The
government censor's office refused approval for the printing of the pastoral,
although it had not the least polemic and still less political character" (Mg no-
randum of the Uniate bishops, addressed to Petru Groza, on October 7, 1948).
In step with this press campaign, which went to the length of utteidng
threats against the Uniate churchmen, the political organizations began to
attempt to interfere in the purely religious affairs of the Greek Catholic. Church.
Thus, in the most abusive and illegal manner, an attempt was made to replace
the Church's personnel with "members belonging to parties of the government
bloc, and eliminating our priests from the administration of the Church's
parish properties" (Memorandum cited above).
We have to register with regret that several high Orthodox prelates. saw fit
to take a part in these agitations. Thus Bishop Emilian Antal, in Semnalul
of June 21, 1948, after relating the conditions in which the Greek Catholics
of Galicia passed to Orthodoxy, an event which took place in April 1946,
exclaimed: "Will our people too know this joy? It is our conviction that it
will, even though we may have to wait until October 7, 1948, when the 250th
Anniversary of the Act of Union of Alba-Iulia will be celebrated . . " .
When the leaders of the Uniate Church saw themselves refused all possi-
bility to broadcast by any and all means their reply to these appeals and to
the press campaign that had been launched against their Church and them-
selves, they had to resort to sermons and canonical visits, in order to enlighten
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their faithful personally. Particularly active in this direction was the Reverend
Ion Suciu, the vicar of the Blaj Metropolitan Sec. The results were not long
in appearing. On September 3, 1948, a decree of the government put an
abrupt end to the Reverend Father's mission, suspending him from his high
office.
At that moment, the action against the Catholic clergy and congregations
had already become considerably more precise and systematic. The author-
ities of state distributed throughout Transylvania so-called "delegations" which
the members of the Greek Catholic clergy were required to sign in blank.
These were to designate the names of two churchmen for each administrative
district, who, though they might be unknown to the signatories themselves,
were to represent the latter at a meeting called in Cluj on October 1, 1948,
a meeting whose purpose was, as the document stated, "the return of the
Greek Catholic Church to the Orthodox Church."
In order to obtain these blank signatures, the authorities resorted to acts
which went all the way from promises of material advantages to the most
direct threats. These were followed up with mass arrests. In order the better
to give a picture of the behavior of the police authorities in this action,.we
shall quote from the note of protest handed by the Apostolic Nuncio on October
2, 1948, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Rumanian Popular Republic:
"The priests were in many instances brought by force to the local prefectures.
In the offices of the Sigurantza (state security police) they were intimidated,
threatened with imprisonment, with separation from their families, with
deportation, and even with death. Those who resisted the initial acts of
violence were thrown in underground cells, ill-treated, subjected to exhausting
questioning, and finally set free only when. broken down by the inhuman
treatment of their jailors, they accepted to sign." The note adds that "these
offenses, knowledge of which soon spread throughout the country, . . . were
confirmed by officials of the Bucarest Patriarchate and by members of the
so-called 'Congress for Union with the Orthodox Church' of Cluj. Some of
the latter themselves displayed visible marks of the duress they had suffered."
It should be noted that these things started and developed at a moment when
the Uniate prelates were busy trying to comply with the formalities required
by the law concerning cults, of August 4, 1948, of which we have written
above, in view of the legal recognition of the Greek Catholic. Church of
Rumania.
As we have indicated and as the memorandum of the Uniate bishops quoted
above asserts, "the immediate agents of this campaign ... did not scruple to
confess that this is an action by the government for the abolishment of the
Rurrrunian Uniate Church--something that might not he believable, had they
themselves, deputies, inspectors of security, etc., not amply proven it by the
coercive measures resorted to, and the impunity this wave of illegalities clearly
enjoys, in pursuit of an obvious goal. The fully conclusive evidence in our
possession leaves no margin for doubt."
The campaign reached paroxysmal heights toward the end of September.
Between. September 26 and October 1, the emissaries of the -Ministry of Cults,
local authorities, and the agents of the Directorate of the People's Security
(the inev.- form of the state security police, established by decree on August
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28, 1948) stepped up their activities in the attempt to bring the Uniate clergy
to sign the delegations. On the other hand, acts of terrorism multiplied. The
case of Bishop Suciu may be cited in this connection. This reverend gentle-
man, on the morning of September 27, "following the consecration of the
church of Copacel (District of Fagaras), was roused before daylight and taken
by the organs of the security police to an unknown place, where he was held
for two days in a cellar, in order to prevent him from getting in touch with
the clerics and the faithful." And to show the treatment meted out to other
priests, we may consider the case of the Reverend Canon Tamaian, of Oradea,
and of his colleagues, Barbul and Ghilea, who were tortured by the police
authorities, endlessly questioned under strong spotlights, held in underground
cells, subjected to torture by electric apparatus, and so forth, in. an attempt
to make them sign their adherence to the fateful decisions scheduled to be
taken at Cluj. Even Bishop Iuliu Hossu of Cluj was confined to his house,
from September 30 to October 4, and thus prevented from getting in touch
with the clergy and faithful under his pastorate. In addition, some thirty
priests and laymen of Cluj were jailed because, unaware of the measures
taken against'their bishop, they attempted to see him at his residence.
Similar abusive and utterly illegal measures were taken against the dele-
gates themselves, as is indicated in the Apostolic note cited above. Thus the
Reverend Father Ion Florea, one of these delegates, was reported to have told
a friend of his in Bucarest how certain delegates were taken from their homes
by the police, without being allowed to take even a change of clothes, taken
to Cluj, and from there to Bucarest, where they were held incommunicado at
the Athenee Palace hotel.'
Such was the atmosphere in which the Congress of Cluj met on October 1,
1948, to decide the passing of the Uniate clergy and faithful to the Orthodox
Church.
b) THE CONGRESS OF CLUJ: DE FACTO AND DE JURE SUPPRESSION
OF THE UNIATE CHURCH OF RUMANIA
On October 1, 1948, in the hall of the Gh. Baritiu school in Cluj, thirty-eight
prelates, canons, and priests, "delegates" of the "more than 400 churchmen
of Transylvania, the Banat, Crisana, and Maramures," met in order to decide
and put into effect the issue of passing to the Orthodox Church. It is to be
noted that the number of delegates (38) was the same as that of the Protopopes
who came together at Alba-lulia on October 7, 1698, headed by the Metro-
politan Athanasius Anghel, in a synod which drew up the manifest declaring
the union with Rome. Likewise to be noted is the fact that the number of
priests who were alleged to have signed the "delegations" is given variously
in the several articles signed by the participants themselves and in the lists
annexed to official texts of the Congress. This explains in part the methods
used in gathering these signatures, as well as the numerous protests that were
immediately forthcoming from churchmen who had been fraudulently repre-
sented as signatories or who had been terrified into signing.
The Congress, "after several hours taken up with the elucidation of the
problem's positions" (Universul, October 15, 1948), resolved "unanimously
and with great enthusiasm . . . the re-entry into the bosom of the Rumanian
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Orthodox Church and the definitive severance of the ties with Papal Rome."
The debates were presided by Protopope Traian Balascu, who launched an
appeal addressed to all Greek Catholics in the country, saying: ". . . Aware of
the workings of destiny that herald a shirting future for our people, we have
approached, trembling with divine awe, the problem of the imperious need
to reclaim the spiritual unity of the Rumanian nation. . . . We, the under-
signed, churchmen answerable before God and the conscience of our people,
met together in divine spiritual concourse, upon this first day of October ...
resolve and effect our return into the bosom of our mother. the Orthodox
Church.
With unlimited love for you, clerics and laymen of the Rumanian Greek-
Catholic Church, we beseech you to follow our example, and we most earnestly
urge you to do likewise in all confidence, thus showing yourselves to be true
and worthy servants of the people and real sons of God." There follow 423
signatures of Uniate priests who passed to Orthodoxy.
The following day, the delegation arrived in Bucarest and was met at the
station by the Capital's clergy, Beaded by the Protopopes and Counsellors of
the Patriarchate.
On Sunday, October 3, the synodal session took place, at which the dele-
gation presented the proclamation voted at Cluj. Divine service was cele-
brated subsequently in the church of St. Spiridon-the-New.
On this occasion was read the synodal act accepting the proclamation of
"return" to Orthodoxism, setting forth the re-establishment of unity of faith
and the reception into the bosom of the Rumanian Orthodox Church of all
who should desire to break with the Church of Rome.
The list of delegates who signed the proclamation is as follows: Protopopes
Traian Belascu, Aurel Drumboiu, and Nicolae Jangalau; and the priests:
P. Vascu, V. Moldovan, Z. I{entia, P. Madincea, Laurentiu Pop, I Onisor,
I. Cristean, P. Pop, Z. Borzea, Al. Stupariu, E. Colceriu, S. Santoma, E.
Mtresan, Cornel Cernescu, T. Ploscariu, I. Vatu, C. Puscasu, V. Tr. Pop,
Mircea Filip, Connel Pop, Roman Nemes, V. Ienciu, Octavian Glierasim, Sabin
Trutia, Vincent Torutiu, A. Coman, G. Zagrai, I. Florea, I. Andrasiu, V.
Negrea, V. Plesug, Al. Farcasiu, I. Pop. and D. Glodean.
As early as October 2, 1948, Mgr. Gerard Patrick O'Hara, the Apostolic
Nuncio in Bucarest, protested by verbal note, under No. 2130./1948, to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs against this "carefully prepared action, cleverly
coordinated ... against the Catholic Church of Greek rite." The Note after
invoking the argument of the international obligations undertaken by Rumania
in Article 3, Section 1 of the Peace Treaty, and the guarantees set forth by
the government of the Rumanian People's Republic in Article 27 of the Con-
stitution, and Articles I and 2 of the Law on Cults, refers to "the action
undertaken, not merely by certain irresponsible elements, but by the civil
authorities themselves." It goes on to state that, "faced with this unqualift-
able attitude" of government organs, the Papal Nunciature, "on behalf of the
Holy See and in the name of the entire Christian world; protests with all the
energy demanded by the circumstances against such procedures, unworthy
of a civilized state."
To this note, which, though severe in substance, maintains correct diplo-
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matic form throughout, the Bucarest government answered with unusual vio-
lence and in a style entirely alien to the customary language of chancelleries.
After describing the protest of the Nuncio as "an interference in the
domestic affairs of the Rumanian Popular Republic and an attempt to attack
freedom of religion," the Bucarest government "rejects the manifest calumnies
contained in this note" and states that "these defamatory assertions are a new
proof of the antagonistic attitude systematically adopted by the Apostolic Nun-
ciature toward the Popular Republic of Rumania and toward its reforms and
realizations in democracy."
The reply further 'notes that "the Apostolic Nunciature, being but the diplo-
matic representative of Vatican City, cannot take upon itself to speak `on
behalf of the entire Christian world,' as it does in its Note." Finally, after
"denouncing . . the attempted blackmail embodied in the threat that the
alleged violations of religious freedom in the Rumanian People's Republic
`will presently alienate the world's public opinion'," the reply states that "this
is in line with the campaign carried on by the imperialist circles and their
agents against the democratic achievements of the Rumanian People's Re-
public," and concludes: "The government rejects, in the most determined
manner this Note.... both as to its form and as to its contents, considering
it to constitute an act of provocation against the Rumanian State and people."
Let us see now what was the attitude of the Greek Catholic Bishopric in
the face of the events described above. On the one hand, the high prelates ex-
communicated the churchmen who had abandoned the Uniate Church; on
the other hand, they addressed a memorandum to prime minister Petru Groza.
This memorandum, dated October 7, 1948, contains an indignant protest
against the persecution carried out against the Greek Catholic clergy, and a
categorical declaration in which the Uniate bishops assert they "are firmly
determined to remain the pastors and sons of the Church of Jesus Christ,
undivided from Catholic unity . . . firmly persuaded that in this Catholic
Church, to whose service we are dedicated in life and in death, we serve the
people and the country, as we have unwaveringly done hitherto."
Patriarch Justinian appointed Thursday, October 21, to be the day for the
celebration in Alba-Tulia of "the reintegration of the Rumanian Church of
Transylvania." On that occasion a motion was voted wherein those present
declared: ". . . We break for ever our ties of all nature with the Vatican and
with Papal Rome ...
"We incorporate ourselves with our whole being to the Rumanian Orthodox
Church .. .
"From this day on, all Rumanians are united . . . in loyal obedience to
the demands for a new life of our beloved Rumanian People's Republic .. .
To the members of the High Presidium of the Rumanian People's Republic
and to the country's government, we bring our devoted thanks for the liberties
assured to all the sons of the people, liberties which have. rendered possible
the achievement of unity within the Rumanian Church."
Dr. Coriolan Tatar spoke in the name of the intellectual laymen who passed
from the Uniate to the Orthodox Church.
The solemnities ended with the consecration of the Orthodox Cathedral of
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Alba -Julia as "the Cathedral of Reintegration of the Rumanian Church of
Transylvania."
In the meanwhile, the Congress of Cluj set off such violent attacks against
the clerics who remained loyal to the Greek Catholic Church, that the earn-
paign turned into a veritable religious persecution. At the same time,
the strongest administrative pressure was brought to bear upon the Uniate
faithful to make them adopt the Orthodox faith. The primary goal was, of
course, to bring about the legal conditions provided by the Law on Cults for
the transfer of Uniate properties and churches to the Orthodox Church.
Faced with the stubborn resistance of the Greek Catholic clergy, the author-
ities resorted to mass arrests. Thus, during the night of October 27, Bishop
Sucicu was once-again seized. The following night, Bishop Valeriu Traian
Frfntiu of Oradea, together with his secretary, P. Foisor, was apprehended.
Bishop Frentiu, an old man of 74, was seriously ill at the time. Shortly
thereafter, the arrest of other prelates followed: Bishop Ion Balan of Lugoj,
Iuhu Ratiu, the. Vicar of Timisoara, Curator Iadislau Taglasiu, Protolpope Ion
Deliman of Arad, Nicolae Branzeu, Canon of Lugoj, and the Rev. losif Vezog.
At the same time, Bishop Hossu and the Reverend Aftenie, who were in
Bucarestfor the formalities in connection with the presentation of the statutes
of the Uniate Church, were likewise taken by the police. Finally, the last
of the Uniate bishops, Alexandru Rusu, was taken into custody.
Available data show that during the month of November, 1948. some 600
Greek Catholic churchmen were under arrest.
Scenes of a rare savagery marked this campaign of violence. For instance,
the Reverend Father Ilyeronimus Susman, a distinguished graduate of the
theological academy of Blaj, who had finished his studies in 1948 and had
been ordained that same year, preached an impassioned sermon in the village
of Asnip, not far from the city of Aiud. exhorting the faithful not to abandon
their Church and to refuse to sign any form of apostasy. He was thereupon
surrounded by the police and, when he attempted to escape, was shot dowvn.
In Blaj, the Institutul Recunostintei, belonging to the congregation of nuns
of the Order of the Immaculate Virgin, saw scenes of unprecedented barbarity
when the local authorities arrived to evacuate the buildings and take them over.
The dissolution of the religious community at the Monastery of Bixad, in
the district of Satu-Mare, center of the Basilian Order, was likewise marked
by acts of appalling cruelty.
To buttress the campaign of abuses and persecutions., the government
took official measures designed on the one hand to encourage passage from the
Uniate to the Orthodox Church, while on the other hand punishing attempts
of resistance. A decision of the Ministry of Cults announced that Greek
Catholic clergymen would receive their salaries upon embracing the Orthodox
Church, the moment their names were communicated to the Department by
the Church authorities. This constituted a new and very strong means of
exerting pessure upon Uniate churclmnen. Yet many not only abstained from
answering all appeals to embrace Orthodoxy, but also, when they were signed
by fraud and forgery on the lists of adherence, voiced their protest with the
utmost courage and in spite of all personal risks involved. It was not long, in
the face of such determined opposition. before the government press had to
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renounce publishing lists of Uniate priests who had allegedly passed to.
Orthodoxism.
Resistance was equally strong in the ranks of the laity. Such Greek Cath-
olic churches as remained open were filled to overflowing. Parishioners pro-
tected their incumbents as best they could, defending and hiding them from
the authorities with every available means. Faced with this resistance, the
Ministry of Cults took the decision on October 18 to alter the manner of com-
puting the number of those passing from the Greek Catholic to the Orthodox
faith. Thenceforth, only the heads of families were counted, in order to de-
termine the proportion of converts to those adhering to the Uniate Church.
In this way the task 'of the authorities was considerably lightened, as it was
much easier either to forge the signature of only the head of a family or
else to obtain it under threats, than to secure the signatures of the entire
family in each case. Thus, by fraud or violence, the procedure required by
the law concerning cults for the transfer of patrimony from one denomination
to another was carried out with an outward show of legality..
The cathedrals and churches in the principal centers of the Uniate Church
were first closed, then handed over to the Orthodox clergy for their own use.
Presently, `according to such reports as continue to come out of Rumania,
it would seem that the Greek Catholic bishops are being held under guard in
various monasteries. It appears that several were held for a time at
Dragoslavele.
At last, the Official Monitor for November 8, 1948, published the decision of
the Council of Ministers whereby an end is put to the mission of Bishop Iuliu
Hossu. Thus the last of the Greek Catholic bishops was ousted from his post.
The other three, Bishops Rusu, Frentiu, and Balan, had been pensioned off
on September 18 of that year.
In order to end the de jure existence of the Rumanian Uniate Church, the
decree No. 358, of December 1, 1948, issued by the Presidium of the Grand
Assembly, declared null and void all dioceses, chapters, and religious coma
munities, as well as all other institutions of the Greek Catholic Church (Art 1).
The decree provided (Art 2) that all properties pass immediately to the state,
with the exception of parish buildings and other similar edifices, which were
attributed to the Orthodox Church. This measure is legally based upon the
provisions of Article 13 of the Law of Cults, and not upon the argument of
the "return" of Uniate parishes to the Orthodox Church. Here is Article 13,
mentioned above:
"Religious cults, in order to organize themselves and to function as such,
shall previously be recognized by a decree of the Presidium of the Grand
Assembly, issued upon recommendation by the government, on the advice of
the Minister of Cults.
"In well motivated instances, this recognition shall be withdrawn with the
observance of the same forms."
Thus, a new phase-the most painful-in the fight of the communist gov-
ernment of Bucarest against the Catholic Church comes to a close. It is,
however, but a step in a far broader action which the present regime of Ru-
mania is pursuing against religion itself
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3. ATTITUDE OF THE GOVERNMENT TOWARD THE
RUMANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
Because the Bucarest government saw fit to start its fight against the various
denominations--against religion itself--by oppressing the Roman Catholic
Church and by striking down the Uniate Church, this action should not be
uriderstood to imply a persecution of certain denominations with the purpose
of protecting or of favoring others. The action---and this cannot be sufficiently
stressed-is aimed against religion as such. Its actual development ismerely a
matter of opportune tactics.
The Groza regime, notwithstanding its reiterated benevolent declarations
and in spite of all reassuring appearances, never in reality ceased its policy
ofI subjugating the Rumanian Orthodox Church to its own ends. In this field
as in others, it proceeded systematically, in accordance with a well-laid plan.
An initial phase was marked by mass purges of the Orthodox hierarchy and
clergy---similar to the purges carried out in other bodies (army, magistrature,
education, etc.). In this manner, the administration secured control of leader-
ship, by the installation of sure and devoted elements in all key positions.
It was only the second phase that was marked by the introduction of a new
legal regime, which gave the Rumanian Orthodox Church the modified stand-
ing that tallied with Coomnntunist interests. This new standing and organiza-
tion could, obviously, not stop short of reducing the religious and educational
role of the Orthodox Church to an absolute minimum. This, in turn, could
lead only to a gradual transformation of that Church into an instrument of
propaganda, and, finally, into a mere tool of the administration's basic policy:
the ultimate communization of Rumania. It is obvious, too, that the third
phase must necessarily follow: the rulers of the Rumanian People's Republic,
following the example available in the Soviet Union itself, must seek to assign
to the Orthodox Church a place similar to that which it has in the U. S. S. R.
We shall proceed to analyze the, policy of the Groza government, in its
action aimed at the subjection of the Rumanian Orthodox Church, in the light
of available evidence, passing in review the three stages Nye have indicated
above.
THE PURGES
The first concern of the Communist regime was to secure the compliance
of the entire Orthodox clergy, from the highest prelates to the last village
priest. It was hoped that the prestige of the Church might be used on behalf
of the government's aims v%ithout resorting to spectacular legislative measures
that could not fail to dismay public opinion.
A first step in this direction was an appeal addressed to the clergy, inviting
them to adhere politically to the new dispensation. The so-called "Union of
Democratic Priests," however, failed to gain much of a following, in spite of
all high-sounding promises, and in spite of the presence of one of the principal
promoters of that "Union," the Reverend Burducea, as Minister of Cults in
the Groza government.
Faced with the fruitlessness of this action, and seeing that the clergy as a
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whole showed a marked aloofness to political blandishments, the government
decided to take direct steps, ousting resistance by_ wholesale purges. Means
had to be found to get rid of the highest prelates themselves.
Investigations were initiated against some, obliging the victims to resign their
pastorates in sheer desperation. Such was the case of the Metropolitan Bishop
Irineu Mihalcescu, Archbishop of Iasi and Suceava (July 22, 1947).
In March 1947, the then Minister of Cults, Radu Rosculetz, a member of the
Liberal dissident group upder Tatarescu, made known his decision to submit
to Parliament two draft laws. The first concerned the pensioning of priests;
the other was aimed. at a redistribution of sees and set up new rules for epis-
copal assemblies.
The first became law (No. 166/1947) in short order. It provided an age
limit of seventy years for all clergy. Exceptions might be made, upon advice
from the Minister of Cults, in favor of such prelates as "have had an excep-
tional activity." Clearly, this provision gave the government a free hand
to rid itself, with a show of legality, of any resistance in high quarters. And
indeed the' Metropolitan of Oltenia, Nifon Criveanu, and Bishops Lucian
Triteanu, of Roman, Cosma Petrovici, of the Lower Danube, and Gheronte,
of Constantza, were ousted almost immediately.
Then, in view of the Episcopal and Metropolitan elections, scheduled for
November 1947, the second draft law announced by the Minister of Cults
was carried through and put into effect. Up till then, episcopal assemblies had
been elected by the faithful, who delegated their members for a three years'
period. Now, in the terms of the new law, these assemblies were to be made
up with a de jure majority, for they had to comprise members of parliament,
ministers of state, and state under-secretaries belonging to the diocese. Thus,
both in these assemblies and in the National Church Congress, which likewise
had to include members of parliament and of the government, the regime in
effect obtained a free hand.
The significance of the episcopal elections was underlined in no uncertain
fashion by the Communist press. For instance, Universul of August 28, 1948,
stated:
" ~. The conduct of the country's destinies falling to the hands of the
party of the working class and of the democratic parties and organizations,
special attention was given to the renewal of the upper cadres of the Church,
in the elections that took place in November 1947, when three hierarchs of
the people entered the synod."
These "popular" prelates were: Firmilian. Metropolitan of Oltenia, Sebastian
Rusan, Bishop of Maramuresh, and Justinian Marina, Metropolitan of Mol-
davia. We must dwell a moment upon the personality of the last-named.
A simple priest in the Ramnic eparchy, Justinian Marina had been closely
connected with the dissident "peasant" formation headed by Anton Alexan-
drescu, who had dropped out of the National Peasant party. He succeeded
in becoming at one stroke Metropolitan Bishop of Moldavia, without having
shown the least prominence or especial merit as a churchman. On May 24,
1948, he was elected Patriarch of the R. P. R. Orthodox Church, succeeding
the late Patriarch Nicodemus. As Patriarch, Justinian Marina, who had by
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then asserted himself publicly as a devoted partisan of the regime, was cer-
tainly the right man in the, right place, in the eyes of the Groza government.
Already he had illustrated himself by the pastoral of March 14, 1948, in which
he glorified the draft constitution of the R. P. R. From his latest and most
exalted throne, he has rendered yeoman services to the regime, both by his
words and by his deeds. No more devoted tool could a Communist dispensation
find anywhere.
Thus, on the occasion of his enthronement, on June 6, 1948, Patriarch
Justinian not only appealed to the Uniate (Greek Catholic) faithful, urging
them to pass to the Orthodox Church; but he thundered against the Concordat,
denouncing loudly the alleged inequality set up among denominations by that
accord with the Holy See. The new Patriarch, it should be noted, has also
shown himself to be a fanatic partisan of the closest possible ties with the
Orthodox Church of the Soviet Union.
Yet, in spite of all these things, notwithstanding the legislative reforms and
the foreseeable results obtained at the episcopal elections of November 1947,
and May 1948, the government continually put off the elections provided by
law, for appointments to fill vacant eparchies. Awareness of a continued re-
sistance among the clergy led the government to prefer resorting to an inter-
mediary system, that of doing without titulars and assuring the conduct of
episcopates on a provisional basis, through vicars and lower ranking prelates
delegated to this effect.
It was only to be expected that a new stage was to follow: that of legislative
regulation.
THE NEW REGULATION OF CULTS
We have already spoken of the decree regulating the denominations anew,
published in the Official Monitor of August 4, 1948, when we dealt with the
tribulations of the Roman Catholic Church. That decree formally established
a privileged de jure situation for the Orthodox Church, by comparison with the
other---minority-denominations. In practice, however, the Orthodox Church
was to be subjected to the same drastic limitations and controls as the other
cults, in its organization and functions.
Article 22, which provided that "for the creation and functioning of epar-
chies (dioceses, superintendencies, etc.), an average of 750,000 faithful shall
be reckoned for each such eparchy," provided thereby also a legal basis for
a new incorporation of Orthodox eparchies. And, indeed, this new measure
was carried out by the decree No. 244, published in the Official Monitor No.
217, of September 18, 1948. This decree abolished the Metropolitan See of
Suceava and the Episcopal See of Maramuresh, and set up a single eparchy in-
stead: the Archbishopric of Suceava and Maramuresh. A second decree, pub-
lished in the Official Monitor of February 5, 1949, set forth the new bases for
the "economic -administrative organization of the Orthodox Cult," and at. the
same time once again redistributed the Orthodox eparchies. As a result of
these two decrees, through a reshuffling of eparchies, the Bishoprics of Husi
established as early as 1598), of Caransebesh, and of '.Maramuresh were in
fact abolished.
Finally, the Law on Cults, whose Article 58 abrogated "the provisions of
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the law No. 68, of March 19, 1937, for the organization of the corps of army
chaplains," abolished at the same time (Articles 59 and 60) the Orthodox
Military Episcopate whose seat was at Alba Iulia. Aside from these disposi-
tions of a general "organizational" character, this law set up in great detail
a thoroughgoing control over the entire activity of the hierarchy and clergy.
Its provisions were to be put into effect either directly by the Ministry of
Cults or by the local authorities. How that control was regulated, we have
indicated above, at the chapter concerning the Roman Catholic Church.
The law likewise abolished theological seminaries (Art. 53) of secondary
grade, as well as certain schools of university rank (theological academies),
allowing to subsist only two theological university institutes. In order to gain
a' clear picture of the significance of this measure, we must point out that up
to that time, there had existed at least a seminary at each Metropolitan and
episcopal center, while the seats of the Eparchies in Transylvania had as a
rule also a theological academy.
Reduced from the point of view of the actual means of religious manifesta-
tion, by the suppression of component eparchies (four out of eighteen) and
by the heavy blow struck at theological education, with its prestige gravely
diminished by mass arrests of the clergy of all ranks and by their replacement
with men devoted to the regime, the Rumanian Orthodox Church was left
in a sorry state, following the abusive reforms to which it was subjected by
the government.
It is clear, under the circumstances described above, that the apparently
privileged position of the Church in comparison with the Roman Catholic and
the Uniate Churches is but a mask for a very dismal reality.
THE NEW ATTITUDE OF THE GOVERNMENT
Certain available indications allow the belief that the official policy of the
regime toward the Orthodox Church has already entered a new, considerably
harsher, phase.
Thus, at the inauguration of the Orthodox Theological Institute of Cluj, on
December 5, 1948, the Minister of Cults, Stanciu Stoian, attempted to mini-
mize, in his address, the role played by the Orthodox Prelates who had acted
in favor of the "return" of the Greek Catholics to Orthodoxism. He asserted
that "the people itself desired its own spiritual reintegration; the people alone
freed itself from the oppression of the act of 1700." This was the first time
such an official atitude was evidenced; before that, the regime had never
ceased underlining the significant contribution of Patriarch Justinian and of
other high churchmen to the "act of reintegration."
It is certainly not irrelevant to recall that this same Stanciu Stoian saw
fit to appoint as personnel director of the Ministry of Cults a communist
worker named Dobogan, underlining the significance of this appointment "in
a department where the most reactionary spirit used to reign."
Finally, at the opening of the courses of the University Theological Institute
of Bucarest, on January 30, 1949, the official addresses indicated that one of
the Institute's main tasks was to give special attention to a new training
and orientation, pastoral and social, for the clergy, to guide the latter "in the
service of the people and of peace." Special courses of missionary guidance
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were inaugurated, which all priests were invited to attend. The significance
of these new courses was stressed by the Conununist press. Thus, Universul
of February 26, 1949, wrote: "The need for these courses had been felt lately,
in the first place, because a new and proper orientation of the clergy had
become necessary in all directions in which popular democracy seeks to raise
the masses of the people."
The innovation aroused grave concern and fear among the clergy, particu-
larly because an examination was provided at the close of the courses, in
order, as Universul of February 2G, 1949, put it, to "qualify and evaluate .. .
calling some to higher posts, reducing others to lower places." The same paper
further indicated what was expected of the new priests: "Today the social
order is different, and the outcasts of yesterday are now at the head of public
affairs. We must not expect their compassion . . . It is entirely dependent
on ourselves to remain in the responsible jobs we have."
In line with these alarming manifestations, we must assuredly place, too,
an article in Scanteia of February 22, 1948, entitled "In the Matter of
Religious Liberties." That article set forth the official position of the R. P. R.
with regard to religious freedom, indicating that "our clergy has before it the
example of the Orthodox clergy of the Soviet Union." It observed, moreover,
that the party of the working class could not "remain indifferent to the various
prejudices and mystic views cultivated in the ranks of the workers by the
bourgeois-landowning regime."
In view of the understandable emotion these manifestations produced in the
country, Patriarch Justinian found it expedient to call to Bucarest some five
hundred priests, and. on the occasion of a solemnity which took place on
February 27. 1949, to assert: "The regime of popular democracy in our
country . . . assures us full freedom of organization and action, without
interfering in the least in religious concerns of the Church." And he exhorted
the attending churchmen to abstain from what he described as "hampering
the activity of our state."
But the state of uneasiness among the Orthodox clergy was not allayed.
There was even talk of certain high prelates who had been placed under en-
forced domicile. As in all epochs of religious persecution, in Rumania, too,
about this time, rumors concerning certain supernatural phenomena began to
circulate. People spoke of divine signs and even of instances of miracles.
These things may very well be taken to correspond to that "religious thirst
of the people," which Patriarch Justinian himself acknowledged in his pastoral
of February 27, 1949. In any event, there can be no doubt that a very real
spiritual force still inspires the resistance of the Orthodox clergy as a whole.
It is reflected in the very pastoral that eve have just mentioned, and which
was intended precisely to quench it.
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THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICY WITH REGARD TO
THE OTHER DENOMINATIONS
While the Groza government was doing its utmost to subject or else to
suppress the Churches that represent the overwhelming majority of the Ru-
manian people, it was also carrying out systematically a parallel action against
the other denominations represented in the R. P. R. Against the latter, too,
a similar method is discernible. The weapons used come under the same
two general headings: measures of fact on the one hand, and legislative dis-
positions on the other.
Thus, the law for the reform of education (August 3, 1948) abolished with-
out discrimination all denominational schools. The law on cults (August
4, 1948) put the same controls and thoroughgoing regulations upon every
manifestation of religious life, whatever the denomination.. Lastly, the decree
of November 3, 1948, by nationalizing all health and sanitary institutions,
invaded and took over a broad and very important field of activity that had
belonged to the various denominations.
In order to convey an idea of the degree of supervision to which all religious
denominations are subjected, we shall quote the text of the decree No. 37,
for the organization of the Ministry of Cults, published in the Official Monitor
of February 5, 1949. Here is the part relating to the department's attributions:
"The Ministry of Cults is the public service through which the State exer-
cises its right of surveillance and control guaranteeing the use. and exercise of
freedom of conscience and of religion.
"To this effect-
"It supervises and controls all religious cults and their institutions-com-
munities, associations, orders, congregations, and foundations of a religious
nature, whatever their kind may be;
"It supervises and controls the special religious education of the personnel
of all religious denominations;
"It approves the founding of new religious communities, parishes, and
administrative units, the creation of new personnel posts, and the appoint-
ments, whether they are paid by the state or not, in the services of the various
denominations;
"It supervises and controls all funds and possessions, whatever their origin
and nature may be, of the religious cults;
"It assures the task of watching over the relations and correspondence
between the cults of the country and those abroad;
"It has various other tasks in connection with religious cults."
Churchmen of the various denominations who refused to submit to the
measures introduced by the government were obliged to withdraw. Some who
could still do so, sought refuge abroad. One such case is provided by Grand
Rabbi Safran, who left the country and presently, is a professor at the
University of Geneva.
If it were still necessary to cite instances of the manner in which freedom
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of religion is understood and applied in the so-called Rumanian People's
Republic. volumes could be written.
The situation of the various lesser denominations and religious sects in
Rumania is no less deplorable. What the official attitude is in their respect,
ma y best be gathered from the following quotation from Scanteia of February
22.. 1949:
"An especially har,nful part is being played by the various religious sects,
rwhich, behind the screen of religious faith. hide their ties with divers imperial-
is! officines of reactionary- propaganda and espionage."
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CONCLUSION
The atmosphere of suppression and terror, we feel, has been made suffi-
ciently evident by the examples we have presented in the foregoing pages.
Under the circumstances, what sinister irony is provided by the joint motion
which the heads of the Orthodox, Calvinist, Lutheran, Jewish, Unitarian,
Armenian Gregorian, Lipovan, and Moslem Churches were forced to sign
on the occasion of their meeting of June 23, 1949! For here is what that
piteous joint motion proclaimed:
"The regimeNof popular democracy of the Rumanian People's Republic ...
translates into fact the provisions of the R. P. R. Constitution, and guarantees
in an effective manner freedom of conscience and freedom of religion through-
out the country, by assuring to the various denominations the right to organize
themselves in accordance with their own rules, in conformity with their own
teachings, canons, and traditions." (Documentation Catholigue, July 17, 1949.)
It cannot, of course, be denied that in Rumania, as elsewhere behind the
Iron Curtain, religion was an effective, organized obstacle to the communiza-
tion of the country. Unfortunately, it is no less undeniable at the present
time that the communist government of Bucarest, like the rest of the Kremlin's
puppet formations, has to a large extent succeeded in eliminating-or at least
in crushing-that obstacle.
This deliberate and ruthless action of a government, imposed from without
and repudiated by the people of Rumania, has had and has, as we have amply
shown, the undeniable character of a systematic suppression of religious
freedom.
It is hardly necessary to add that this action constitutes at the same time a
flagrant violation of the Rumanian Peace Treaty. It is, moreover, but one
chapter of an entire series of such acts that run directly counter to the letter
and spirit of that Treaty.
Like all other fundamental liberties and human rights, freedom of religion
is a thing of the past in the so-called Rumanian People's Republic. This is
a state of affairs that cannot conceivably be countenanced by the conscience
of the civilized world. It is a problem that cannot fail to be of the deepest
concern to the United Nations.
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