Romania is Orthodox. Chapter III. Romanian Orthodox Church (Part 2) In what language do they serve in the Romanian Church?

The Romanian Patriarchate, held on May 24, 2018, the Synod elected two bishops to the vacant sees of the Bessarabian Metropolis. Archimandrite Veniamin (Goreanu) was elected bishop of the diocese of Southern Bessarabia, and the suffragan bishop of the Chisinau diocese, Anthony (Telembic), was appointed bishop of Balti. The Ukrainian issue was also discussed at the Synod. How are these questions connected and what should we expect from Romanians?

Bishop Anthony (center) and Archimandrite Veniamin (right)

The problem is that the Romanian Synod made all these personnel appointments to cities located in Moldova, on the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church. This is a relatively old jurisdictional dispute between two churches. As you know, the Orthodox Church of Moldova has self-governing status within the Moscow Patriarchate. But since 1992, the so-called Bessarabian Metropolis, established by the Romanian Church while completely ignoring the positions of the Russian Orthodox Church, has been operating on the territory of Moldova. Despite the fact that back in 1945, the Russian Orthodox Church, represented by Patriarch Nicodemus (Munteanu), officially confirmed the legitimacy of the restoration of the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church over the Chisinau diocese.

One gets the impression that the leadership of the Romanian Orthodox Church does not particularly value good relations with the Russian Orthodox Church. Despite the fact that recently there have been several reasons for optimism in the development of bilateral relations. Thus, in October 2017, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, visited the Romanian Patriarchate. And in December 2017, Patriarch Daniel took part in the celebrations dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the restoration of the patriarchate in the Russian Church. However, yesterday's decisions of the Romanian Synod do not contribute to the normalization of relations between the two churches. It is noteworthy that the decision of the Synod followed just 6 days after the head of the DECR of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion, visited the Romanian Orthodox Church, who discussed “issues of bilateral interaction” with Patriarch Daniel.

Patriarch Daniel of Romania

Why did Romania make this decision? Moreover, on May 24, the day of remembrance of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius. The holiday of Slavic unity, especially revered in the Orthodox churches of Central and Eastern Europe. Probably, the point is not only that the Romanian Church lives according to a new style, but that the holiday itself does not have the same significance for it as for the Slavic churches.
This decision of the Synod was caused by several reasons, both ecclesiastical and purely political, with certain traces of Russophobia.

First of all, the Romanian Patriarchate, by expanding the network of parishes and the number of clergy of the Bessarabian Metropolis on the territory of Moldova, is strengthening its influence in the region and in every possible way contributes to Bucharest’s policy aimed at the integration of Moldova into Romania. The unionist sentiments that dominate Romanian society are caused not only by heightened national feelings, but also by socio-economic reasons. For example, in Romania, the issue of population outflow to Western European countries is acute. According to the UN, for 15 years, from 2000 to 2015. About 3.4 million people (15% of the population) left the country. According to this indicator, Romania ranks 2nd in the world after Syria. Emigration acquired significant proportions after Romania joined the EU in 2007. They plan to replace the working-age population in Bucharest with citizens of Moldova, who are promised an easy path to Europe in the event of successful integration of the two countries.

Unionist March

The Church actively supports this course of the authorities. An example from the recent past is the participation of the top leadership of the Romanian Patriarchate in official events held at a high state level in March 2018 and dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Moldova’s entry into Romania.
It seems that in the RumOC unionist interests prevail over church ones. This conclusion arises especially given the fact that the Patriarchate seeks to establish its control over the Banat region, which is located in Serbia and is home to several tens of thousands of Romanians, which is why the Serbian Patriarchate has repeatedly threatened to sever canonical communication with the Romanian Orthodox Church.

Hearings in the Romanian Parliament on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Moldova's entry into Romania. April 3, 2018

There is one more important point in the decisions of the Synod that deserves attention. The Ukrainian issue was discussed there. Obviously, they were talking about the intentions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to intervene in Ukraine and legalize the split. Either by granting autocephaly/autonomy to one of the schismatic churches or the non-existent “One Local Church”. In any case, the Greeks are threatening to establish a parallel jurisdiction, together with the already existing, canonical and generally recognized Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is in canonical unity with the Moscow Patriarchate.

It is unknown what decision the Synod made. At least the official website of RumPC is silent about this. However, the appointment of new bishops to the Bessarabian Metropolis, the actualization of a long-standing and unresolved jurisdictional problem, is fully consistent with the scheme of creating a parallel jurisdiction in Ukraine. The Romanian Patriarchate benefits from the Ukrainian scenario and will probably support Phanar. Romanians, like the Phanariots, are interested in revising canonical boundaries and abandoning previously assumed obligations. And it seems that the Romanian Patriarchate is ready to sacrifice inter-church peace for the sake of narrow national interests.

ROMANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

(Lecture notes on the history of Local Orthodox Churches of the Kyiv Theological Academy)

1. Brief outline of the history of the Romanian Patriarchate

1.1. The emergence and first centuries of existence of the Orthodox Church in Romania

It is currently believed that the territory between the Danube and the Black Sea, known from ancient sources as Scythia, was baptized thanks to the missionary work of St. Andrew the First-Called and the disciples of St. Apostle Paul. There is some evidence for this claim. Hippolytus of Rome and Eusebius of Caesarea talk about this apostolic sermon in the country of the Scythians in their works “On the Apostles” and “Church History”. To these sources one should add folk songs and poems that confirm what has been said: “The Paradise of St. Andrew”:

"St. Rivers", or "Cave of St. Andrew" (which exists to this day). There is every reason to believe that Romanian Christianity is of apostolic origin.

After 106, when the Romans conquered a significant part of the territory where the Dacians lived, more favorable conditions were created for the spread of the new Christian teaching north of the Danube. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Christianity penetrated into the Roman province of Dacia, which existed here, thanks to traders, merchants, and Roman settlers. From this period until the 6th or 7th century, there is archaeological and literary evidence that the people who lived in this area were Christians. Archaeological finds have shown that Christianity spread not only along the border of the Black Sea, but also moved north. A new religion was also practiced in Transylvania.

Linguistic studies lead to the idea that the basis of Christian lexicology in the Romanian language are words of Latin origin: church, faith, law, Father, Virgin, angel, altar, cross, prayer, sin, pagan, baptize, etc. 90% of the words in the Lord's Prayer and Creed are of Latin origin. Christianity, brought to Dacia by Roman colonists, who at first made up a large contingent of Christians, obviously should be considered brought here not from the East, but from the West, since in the 2nd and even 3rd centuries. The Byzantine Church did not yet exist. The presbyter of the Carthaginian Church, Tertullian, testifies that in his time (end of the 2nd - beginning of the 3rd century) there were Christians among the Dacians, the ancestors of modern Romanians. The Romanian people are the only people of Latin origin who have adopted Eastern Christianity - Orthodoxy.

The oldest documented bishopric on the territory of Romania in the first centuries is Tomis. Its first bishop was Ephraim.

As a result of persecution, Christians died in this territory as well. Evidence of the early development of Christianity among the ancestors of the Romanian people is the large number of martyrs who suffered during the years of persecution of the Church of Christ by Roman rulers. Perhaps most notable in this regard is St. Sava, who died near Buzau. In the ancient Christian basilica discovered in 1971, the tombs of four Christian martyrs were found - Zotikos, Attalos, Camasilas and Philip, who suffered during the reign of Emperor Trajan (98-117). There were many martyrs in the Danube region before Pannonia and during the last persecutions of the emperor Diocletian (284-305), among them the Daco-Roman priest Montanus and his wife Maxima. There were also several other remarkable theologians who came from the north of the Danube: St. John Cassian, a student of Evagrius of Pontus, and Dionysius the Younger, famous for laying the foundations of the existing chronological system, the Christian era. There is evidence in favor of the idea of ​​the existence of a church organization in the Carpathian-Danubian territories. In the 4th century. Bishop Theophilus of Gothia is mentioned as a participant in the Nicene Ecumenical Council. He was the bishop for all Christians in the Ghetto country.

In the 5th century Christianity was spread in Romania by the Latin missionary St. Nikita Remesyansky (+431). He founded monasteries in Dacia. It is known that at the II, III and IV Ecumenical Councils there was already a bishop from the city of Toma (now Constanta). But only in the XIV century. two metropolitanates are formed: one in Wallachia (founded in 1359, the first metropolitan is Iakinthos Kritopul), the other in Moldavia (founded earlier than 1387, the first metropolitan is Joseph Muschat).

The province of Dacia was part of the region of Illyricum, therefore the Dacian bishops were under the authority of the Archbishop of Sirmium, who was subject to the jurisdiction of Rome, and therefore depended on the Pope. After the destruction of Sirmium by the Huns (5th century), the ecclesiastical region of Dacia came under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Thessalonica, who was subordinate either to Rome or to Constantinople. With the establishment in the 6th century. Emperor Justinian I in his native city - the first Justinian - the center of church administration, along with other provinces subordinate to this center, Dacia was also subordinated. In the 8th century The church of this area was transferred by Emperor Leo the Isaurian to the full jurisdiction of Constantinople.

Unlike the peoples around them, the Romanians did not have a mass conversion to Christianity thanks to some missionary or political leader. They accepted the new faith gradually over the centuries and parallel to the process of formation of the Romanian ethnos.

Around 600, the entire state organization on the Lower Danube collapsed under the pressure of the Avar and Slavic tribes. Cut off from the West by the Hungarians, who were pagans until the end of the 11th century, and from the Byzantine Empire by the Slavs, who had established themselves on the Balkan Peninsula, the Romanians gradually lost ties with the Romanesque peoples. This played a role in the fact that at the beginning of the 10th century. Romanians adopted the Slavic liturgy, compiled by Saints Cyril and Methodius, which they used until the 17th century, and the Slavic alphabet, since by that time the Romanians did not yet have their own written language. The founding of the Bulgarian Church and the spread of its canonical territory to the north of the Danube at a time when the emerging Romanian Church was not yet united influenced the establishment of strong spiritual ties with the Slavs living in the south of the Danube. With the rise of the southern Slavs of Ohrid for the Romanians in the 10th century. this city becomes a religious center.

During the years of the existence of the Tarnovo Patriarchate until its abolition in 1393, the metropolitans of Wallachia were under its jurisdiction, and then again became dependent on Constantinople. In recognition of the ecclesiastical merits of the Romanian metropolises and their significance in the history of Orthodoxy, the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1776 awarded the Ungro-Wallachian Metropolitan, who was the first metropolitan in honor in its hierarchy, the honorary title that he retains to this day - Vicar of Caesarea of ​​Cappadocia, - historical cathedra, where St. Basil the Great.

The politics of the newly formed Romanian medieval principalities reveals the same direction as their religious life. They became independent in the struggle against the Hungarian and Polish states, which sought to become sovereign in these territories. The Romanian rulers always found allies among the ruling dynasties of the Slavs, who many times became their closest relatives. Family ties based on unity of faith also strengthened political ties.

However, the founders of the Romanian principalities looked beyond the Slavic world, wanting to establish and strengthen both religious and political relations with Constantinople. As a result, in 1359 the Ecumenical Patriarchate officially recognized the Metropolitan of Ungro-Wallachia, or Muntenia Sius, and his suffragan bishop Jacinthos. As Metropolitan of Moldova, Siy was first mentioned in 1386. In 1401, Metropolitan Joseph of Moldova was also recognized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

From the 15th to the beginning of the 18th century. dependence on Constantinople was rather nominal. Romanian metropolitans were elected by local bishops and princes. The Patriarch was only informed about this and asked for his blessing. In all internal affairs of governing the Church, the Romanian metropolitans were completely independent. They had a great influence on the course of government affairs.

The dioceses of the Romanian Church in the first centuries of their existence were quite extensive. As a result, auxiliary bodies of diocesan authorities supervising the order of church life, the so-called “protopopiates,” received widespread development. But the enslavement of Romania by the Turks disrupted the normal course of church life in the country.

1.2. Romanian Orthodox Church under Ottoman rule

Relations with Constantinople were sometimes complicated, but, favorable for the development of religious life in the Romanian principalities, they could not stop after the Turkish invasion. The fall of Constantinople led to the settlement of Eastern Europe by the Turks. Together with Constantinople, a significant part of the Orthodox world on the Balkan Peninsula fell under Turkish jurisdiction. Only the Romanian principalities remained autonomous.

In the XV and first half of the XVI centuries. Wallachia and Moldavia fought a difficult struggle with the Ottoman Empire, which sought to subjugate these Danube principalities. From the second half of the 16th century. The dependence of Moldavia and Wallachia on the Ottoman Empire increased. Although until the beginning of the 18th century. these principalities were ruled by their princes (lords), the situation of their population was extremely difficult.

To escape the cruelty of the Turks, many people in the conquered territories converted to Islam or migrated to the north of the Danube. Friendly relations between the Romanian rulers and the Serbian and Bulgarian dynasties, as well as the unity of faith and a common liturgical language, favorably contributed to this migration.

Forced to leave their country, refugees took with them their cultural treasures: manuscripts, vestments, icons. Slavic monks came to the new territories, living in the spiritual atmosphere of Mount Athos, and, with financial support from the Romanian rulers, founded strong stone monasteries, which soon became real cultural centers. The most famous among these monks is Nicodemus, who, upon arriving in Wallachia, founded two monasteries: one at Vodita on the Danube, the other, which still exists, at Tisman. Serbian influence was not limited to Wallachia, some of Nikodim's students reached Neamt and Bistrita (Moldova and Transylvania), where they founded new monasteries.

In Transylvania, the religious community of Romanians survived despite the policy of Catholicization pursued by the kings of Hungary. The preservation of their faith was helped by the existence of a number of Orthodox monasteries in the 11th - 14th centuries: some of them closed, some still exist.

There was a kind of “symphony” between the state and the Church, in the Byzantine spirit. In the XIV-XVIII centuries. The Church in Wallachia and Moldavia played an important role in the political life of these principalities and completely determined their cultural and social activities. It is remarkable that the language used by both Churches was Slavic. The Romanian rulers defended their faith in the face of the Turkish invasion and were deeply involved in the church politics of their time, appointing bishops themselves; such was Stephen the Great in the territories he conquered in Transylvania, and Michael the Brave, who planned to create a union of Romanian Churches from three provinces - Transylvania, Wallachia and Moldova. They were the founders of churches and monasteries, and also donated very generously to monasteries, monasteries or temples of Athos, Constantinople, Mount Sinai or Jerusalem. New churches, chapels, and watchtowers were built with the help of the Romanians. The Romanian Orthodox Church assisted other Christian Churches in printing books in Greek, Arabic and Georgian, especially those under Ottoman rule.

Beginning with Mihai the Brave (who transferred the Mihai Vodă Church from Bucharest to the Athos Monastery of Simonopetra), Romanian rulers granted many estates to Orthodox monasteries from abroad. Donations continued until the secularization of the monastic lands in 1863, which occurred during the reign of Alexander John Cuza, and contributed to the preservation of Orthodoxy during the years of Ottoman rule.

Among the Romanian rulers of this period, a special place is occupied by Neaga of Bessarabia, who stood out for his generosity towards Orthodox monasteries throughout the East, from Mount Athos to Jerusalem. It was he who built the monastery in Curtea de Arges, and he is also the first Romanian ecclesiastical writer. His book, touching on religious but also political issues, dedicated to his son Theodosius, is the most important monument of Romanian thought, presented in the Slavic language.

In this process, some clergy stood out: Metropolitan Varlaam, who served during the time of Vasily Lupu and published the Romanian Book of Pedagogy, or Kazania, in 1643, and Metropolitan Dosifei in Moldova. He is considered the first great Romanian poet (Psalter in verse, 1673). He also established himself as a great writer ("The Life and Death of the Saints", in 4 volumes), the first translator of world theatrical productions, and it was he who first published liturgical books in Moldova. In Wallachia one can note Metropolitan Anfim Iviranul, one of the great hierarchs, censor of printing houses in Bucharest, Brasov, Snagov, Ramnitsa, where 60 books were published in Romanian, Greek, Slavic and Arabic, he completed the process of Romanization of religious services, he was the author of a good famous Didache, founder of the Monastery of All Saints in Bucharest. He served during the reign of Constantin Brancoveanu, the last Romanian ruler of Wallachia, who was martyred in Constantinople along with his sons in 1715.

In Transylvania there are visible signs of the existence of an organized life of the Church from the first quarter of the 14th century, when it was headed by an archbishop or metropolitan, who did not have a permanent place, but had to be where the rulers of Transylvania allowed them. It is important to note that in Transylvania, the Romanian Orthodox Church was not a state, official denomination, but, on the contrary, a “tolerant” religion, unlike the other four denominations, which were considered “acceptable”.

The Romanian Orthodox Church maintained relations with other Orthodox Churches. In 1642, a council was held in Iasi (Moldova), in which representatives of Greek, Slavic and Romanian Orthodoxy participated. The “Confession of Faith” of Kyiv Metropolitan Peter Mohyla was accepted at it. In the first half of the 17th century. Prince Vasily Lupu paid all the debts of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in gratitude for which Patriarch Parthenios donated the relics of St. to the Moldavian Metropolis. Paraskeva. At the beginning of the 17th century. Patriarch of Alexandria Cyril Lucaris visited Romanian lands. Patriarch Dositheos of Jerusalem (1669-1707) founded a Greek printing house in the Chetetsuya monastery. At the end of the 17th century. Antioch Patriarch Joachim V visited Muntenia. In the 17th century. Romanian metropolitans financially helped the monasteries of Mount Athos. Under the Kiev Metropolitan Peter Mohyla, the son of the Moldavian ruler, ties with the Orthodox Church in Ukraine were strengthened. Through the efforts of the Metropolitan, printing houses were established in Campulunga, Govor, Targovishte, and Iasi. He also contributed to the founding of the Higher School in Iasi, sending professors from Kyiv there. In the 17th century Relations with the Russian Orthodox Church are developing, to which they turned for help. Books were published for the Romanian Church in Moscow, Kyiv and Chernigov.

At the beginning of the 18th century, during the time of Metropolitan Athanasius Angel, in order to gain greater political rights, some of the Romanian clergy entered into a union with the Catholic Church. Thus, a division occurred in the Romanian Church, although apart from the recognition of papal primacy, all doctrine, rites of worship and the structure of the Church remained unchanged.

Since the 18th century the situation in Moldavia and Wallachia worsened even more. The rulers of these states in 1711 were allies of the Russian Emperor Peter I during the Prut campaign against the Turks, which ended unsuccessfully. Having emerged victorious, the Turks brutally dealt with the defenseless principalities and executed the Wallachian prince Brincoveana and his three young sons. In 1711 and then in 1716, the Turks gave Moldavia and Wallachia under the undivided rule of the Phanariot Greeks.

The rule of the Phanariots, which lasted more than a century, was one of the most difficult periods in the history of the Orthodox Romanian people. Buying power over the country, the Phanariot princes sought to more than compensate for the costs incurred; the population was subjected to systematic extortions, which led them to impoverishment; the law was replaced by arbitrariness. In an effort to create a Greek kingdom from the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula in place of the fallen Byzantium, the Phanariot princes tried in every possible way to implant Greek culture here and suppress everything national and original. Masses of the Greek people moved to Moldova-Wallachia, where princes of their nationality ruled.

The Greek hierarchy also assisted in the Hellenization of the Romanian people. If previously the dependence of the Church of Moldavia and Wallachia on the Patriarchate of Constantinople was nominal, now Greeks were appointed bishops, services in the cities were performed in Greek, etc. The lower clergy continued to remain national, but it had no rights. The simony developing in the country also undermined the normal course of church life. Some Greek bishops, having received an appointment to a lucrative position for money, tried to recoup their expenses by sending to church positions anyone who could contribute a significant amount of money to their treasury. As a result, many homeless priests appeared who wandered around the country, offering their services for their daily bread and lowering the already low authority of the clergy even lower.

At the same time, the activity of Elder Paisius Neametsky (Velichkovsky) (1722-1794), a Ukrainian, who is recognized as the second founder of Romanian monasticism after St. Nicodemus of Tisman. The Romanian Church canonized him as a saint in 1992.

Russia brought liberation to the suffering peoples of the Balkans. The peace treaties concluded after the Russian-Turkish wars in 1774 and 1791 eased the position of the Romanians. But they sought complete liberation from the Turkish and Phanariot yoke.

By the end of the 18th century. and the beginning of the 19th century. the so-called “United” scientists Sumuil Miciu, Gheorghe Sinchai and Petru Maior in their works sought to prove the Romanian origin of both the Romanian people and their language, as well as the heredity of the Romanian element in Dacia. Petru Maior published the first history of the religion of the Romanians (1813).

Unlike Moldova and Wallachia, there were no large monasteries in Transylvania, since there was no ruling class capable of providing everything needed for their construction. However, the first texts and manuscripts in Romanian were written in Transylvania and dated back to the 15th-16th centuries. (Voronite Psalter, Shian Psalter, Hurmuzaki Psalter). In the second half of the 16th century. Deacon Coresi published more than 20 books in Slavic and Romanian in Brasov. A new printing press was opened in Alba Iulia in the next century, and the New Testament was printed here in 1648.

The entire Bible was first translated into Romanian in 1688 in Bucharest. By the end of the 18th century, especially under the influence of the United Scientists and their school of thought, the Romanization of the liturgical service was completed. This moment has special significance in the history of the Romanian Church, because The Slavic language and Orthodoxy have been the foundations of the ethnic identity of Romanians for more than seven centuries. The Slavic language was for the Romanians what Latin was for the peoples of Western Europe. But the process of replacing this bookish language, which ordinary people could no longer understand, with Romanian began several centuries earlier. It took some time for the Romanian language to mature and be able to express the terminological subtleties of Orthodox theology.

1.3. Romanian Orthodox Church in the 19th century.

The Romanians realized their aspirations (liberation from the power of the Turks and Phanariot Greeks) at the beginning of the 19th century. saw in joining Russia. A consistent exponent of these aspirations was the outstanding Moldovan figure, Metropolitan of the 19th century. Benjamin Costakis. Being a Romanian by nationality and a true patriot, Metropolitan Veniamin always expressed the innermost aspirations of the Romanians in their relations with Russia. When at the beginning of the 19th century. a new Russian-Turkish war broke out (1806-1812) and Russian troops soon entered Moldova; on June 27, 1807, Emperor Alexander I was given an address signed in Iasi by the metropolitan and twelve noble boyars, in which they asked for the annexation of this country to Russia .

Metropolitan Benjamin energetically opposed the influence of the Phanariots on the Romanian people. For this purpose, in 1804, he established a theological seminary near the city of Iasi, in the Sokol monastery, in which teaching was conducted in Romanian. In addition, the Metropolitan took care of the publication of books of dogmatic and religious-moral content in his native language. The goal of his work was to raise the mental and moral level of Romanians.

In order to put the affairs of the Romanian Orthodox Church in proper order, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, during the stay of Russian troops in Moldavia and Wallachia (1808-1812), decided to temporarily annex its dioceses to the Russian Church. In March 1808, it was determined for the retired former Metropolitan of Kyiv Gabriel (Banulescu-Bodoni) to be exarch of the Holy Synod in Moldavia, Wallachia and Bessarabia. These dioceses were freed from subordination to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which was at that time in the hands of the Phanariots. These dioceses received in the person of Gabriel, a Romanian by nationality, an intelligent and energetic church leader. He did a lot of work in three or four years. He found a terrible picture: the majority of Greek bishops did not visit churches, the Holy Gifts were kept without due reverence; many priests did not know the order of the liturgy and were simply illiterate.

Metropolitan Gabriel brought the churches into the same condition as they were in Russia, limited the number of priestly orders to actual necessity, demanded a certain educational qualification from those aspiring to the priesthood, transformed the theological seminary in the Sokol monastery according to the Russian model, with Russian taught there language. The Metropolitan tried by all means to improve the position of the clergy and raise their authority. In 1812, after the withdrawal of Russian troops, Moldavia and Wallachia again fell under the Turkish and Phanariot yoke, after which the same unrest with which the Exarch fought began to revive.

With their attitude towards the Romanians, the Phanariots aroused such indignation among them that the Romanians, during the Morean uprising of the Greeks (1821), helped the Turks suppress the rebels. Counting on further support, the Sultan in 1822 granted the request of the Moldavian and Wallachian boyars to restore the right to elect Romanian rulers. From this moment on, the political dependence of the Romanians on Turkey begins to weaken. There was a strong rise in the national spirit: Romanian schools for the people were established, theological seminaries were opened in Bucharest and Buzau in 1836, the Greek language of worship was replaced by the native language, Romanian youth rushed to receive education abroad.

The latter circumstance tore the younger generation away from their native traditions and set them on the path of slavish infatuation with the West, especially France, its language and ideological trends. The new Romanian intelligentsia, brought up in the West, began to display a hostile attitude towards the Orthodox Church. Hatred of the Phanariots was unfairly transferred to Orthodoxy, and this caused a hostile attitude of the Romanian intelligentsia towards Russia.

The movement against the Orthodox Church found support in the Romanian government. In 1859, the principalities of Wallachia and Moldova (a historical region within the Principality of Moldova) were united into one state - Romania. Under pressure from France, Alexander Cuza was elected prince. He carried out a number of reforms - he confiscated all the property of the monasteries in favor of the state, as a result of which many monasteries were closed; in 1865, without the consent of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the autocephaly of the Romanian Church was proclaimed; the governance of the Church was entrusted to the "General National Synod", which had the right to meet only once every two years and was subordinate to secular authority. In addition, elements of Western faiths began to be introduced into Orthodoxy: the Gregorian calendar was disseminated, the sound of an organ and the singing of the Creed with the Filioque were allowed during services, and wide freedom was given to Protestant proselytism. They started talking about the complete destruction of monasticism, issuing special rules according to which only 60-year-old men and 40-year-old women could become monks. The government wanted to fully embrace the culture of the European West. Minister-President M. Cogalniciano proposed in the National Assembly to accept Roman Catholicism as the official religion on the grounds that “Orthodoxy is the only obstacle to the prosperity of the Romanians.”

Patriarch Sophronius of Constantinople made sharp protests against the new autocephaly, which he sent to the prince, Metropolitan of Wallachia and Locum Tenens of the Metropolis of Moldova. A message was also sent to the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church with a call to provide spiritual help in this situation.

The government's anti-canonical measures were criticized by the most prominent figures of the Romanian Church: Metropolitan Sophronius, Bishops Filaret and Neofit Scriban, later Bishop Melchizedek of Romania, Bishop Sylvester of Kush, Metropolitan Joseph of Moldova and other representatives of the clergy.

Metropolitan Sophrony (+1861) was a student of the Neamets Lavra, a monk and a student of Metropolitan Benjamin Costakis. Heading the Metropolis of Moldova during the reign of A. Cuza, Sophronius fearlessly gave his rich preaching talent to the defense of the Church. The Romanian government sent him into exile, but the struggle did not stop.

Other selfless defenders of Orthodoxy also came forward from among the hierarchs. At their head is the great saint of the Romanian land, Filaret Scriban (+1873). He graduated from the Iasi Theological School. Already being a professor at this seminary, he entered the Kyiv Theological Academy, successfully graduated from it, and became a monk at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. After returning to his homeland, Filaret headed the Sokol Iasi Theological Seminary for twenty years, which he raised to a high level - he transformed it into an 8-grade full seminary, significantly enriched the seminary library, and founded a printing house. For his scholarship and deeply meaningful sermons, he received the name “Professor of Professors” in Romania. Prince A. Cuza offered the talented bishop the post of Metropolitan of Moldova, and his brother Neophytos (+1884) the post of Metropolitan of Wallachia, thus wanting to attract them to his side. But both of them resolutely refused to accept the appointment from the secular ruler and fearlessly came out to fight the prince’s church reforms.

The Scriban brothers combined their academic activities with the struggle against anti-canonical measures of the government. They wrote and translated (mainly from Russian) many works into Romanian. They compiled textbooks on almost all school subjects. In addition, Bishop Neophytos owns: Historical essays (on general history), A brief history of the Moldavian metropolitans and proof of the autocephaly of the Moldavian metropolitanate (the work was used to approve the autocephaly of the Romanian Church), etc. Bishop Filaret wrote: A short Romanian church history, A lengthy Romanian church history history (in six volumes; Filaret collected material for this work while he was a student at the KDA), various works of a critical and polemical direction.

The bold accusers of Prince Kuza were removed from participation in church affairs. The protests of the Patriarch of Constantinople against the violence remained unanswered. The period of the fierce struggle of the Scribans, first with the reforms of the government of Cuza, and then (from 1866) of Charles, is known in the history of the Romanian Church under the name of the struggle for the canonical system of the Church.

Cuza's arbitrariness ultimately led to the fact that in 1866 he was arrested in his own palace by conspirators who demanded his immediate resignation, and in Cuza's place the Western powers installed a relative of the Prussian king, the Catholic Charles. In 1872, a new “Law on the election of metropolitans and diocesan bishops, as well as on the organization of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Romanian Church” was issued, according to which the Romanian Church was given more freedom. The Synod was given a new structure, according to which only bishops could be its members, and the name of the Synod of Bishops “General, National,” borrowed from the Protestant church structure, was abolished. The once all-powerful Minister of Confessions received only an advisory voice in the Synod. But even now the Church has not received complete freedom from government oppression.

Thus, the results of the struggle of the Scriban brothers were very significant. First of all, interest in Orthodoxy reawakened in society. In addition, the introduction of innovations conceived by Cuza (except for the secularization of monastery property) did not materialize.

The most important issue in the church and state life of Romania, which was subject to decision by the new prince, was the receipt of legal autocephaly by the Romanian Church. Using the example of his predecessor, Prince Charles became convinced that this issue could be resolved favorably only through peaceful negotiations with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. He presented the Patriarch with a draft declaration of autocephaly of the Romanian Church with a request to consider it. However, Constantinople was in no hurry. Things moved forward only after the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, when Romania received complete political independence from Turkey. In response to a new request from the Synod of the Romanian Church, Patriarch Joachim III of Constantinople, together with his Synod, drew up an act declaring the Romanian Church autocephalous, but reserving the right to send Holy Chrism to it. But Romanian church leaders strove for complete independence, and therefore they themselves consecrated St. Peace in the Bucharest Cathedral. Having learned about this, Patriarch Joachim not only did not send an Act recognizing the autocephaly of the Romanian Church, but also condemned this act as breaking the unity with the “Great Church”. The Synod of the Romanian Church saw in the protest of the Patriarch of Constantinople his claims to universal primacy in the Church and was not slow to answer that Confirmation is a sacrament, and the Church must possess all the means to perform the sacrament, and seeking this means in other Churches would mean that this Church would not possesses the fullness of the means to sanctification and salvation; therefore, the sanctification of the World is an integral attribute of any Autocephalous Church.

Only the next Patriarch of Constantinople, Joachim IV, in 1885, granted the Romanian Church a Tomos of autocephaly. The Primate of the Church began to be called Metropolitan-Primate. In the same year, a new state law on the Church was issued, restricting its activities. This law prohibited members of the Holy Synod from participating in any meetings to discuss church affairs, except for meetings of the Synod, and also from traveling abroad without special permission from the government. By this they sought to limit the activities of the Romanian hierarchs in order to prevent them from jointly fighting for Orthodoxy with the bishops of other Orthodox Churches.

The anti-church spirit, unfortunately, has penetrated into some of the clergy, giving rise among them to such an abnormal phenomenon as “Protestant bishops.” But the Romanian people had worthy archpastors. Among them are the students of Philaret Scriban Melchizedek Romansky (Stefanescu) and Sylvester Hushsky (Balanescu).

Melchizedek (Stefanescu), Bishop of Romania (+1892) - a graduate of the CDA - acted mainly as a talented publicist and scientist in defending the rights of the Orthodox Church. He wrote the Answer of the Patriarchate of Constantinople on the question of the sanctification of the World, a number of works aimed at combating the propaganda of Catholicism and Protestantism, monographs on Russian schismatics and sectarians, a study on the Kiev Metropolitan Gregory Tsamblak, etc. He founded the "Orthodox Romanian Society", which was charged with distributing works in defense of Orthodoxy, promoting Orthodox spiritual education and enlightenment of the Romanian clergy and people. Through his efforts, the Faculty of Theology was established at the University of Bucharest.

Silvestre (Balanescu), Bishop of Xush (+1900) - also a graduate of the CDA - even before occupying the episcopal see, he headed theological schools. He boldly defended the Church, speaking in the Senate, and often persuaded the legislative assembly in favor of the Church. At the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries. Metropolitan Joseph of Moldova acted as an energetic champion of the Romanian Orthodox Church, defender of its canonical institutions and communication with other Orthodox Churches.

1.4. History of the Romanian Church in the 20th century.

In the spring of 1907, a powerful peasant uprising took place in Romania, in which many priests took part. This forced the Church and the state to carry out a number of church reforms. The Synodal Law of 1872 was revised towards expanding the principle of conciliarity in the governance of the Church and involving wider circles of clergy in the management of church affairs. A Supreme Church Consistory was created, which included not only members of the Holy Synod, but also white clergy and laity. Legislative and administrative measures were taken to improve the financial situation of the white clergy, increase their educational level, as well as streamline the economic situation and discipline in the monasteries.

After the First World War, the Romanian Church included two independent metropolises that existed before that time: Sibiu and Bukovina. The Sibiu (Germanstadt, or Transylvanian) Metropolis included the regions of Transylvania and Banat. The Transylvanian metropolitanate was founded in 1599, when the Wallachian prince Michael, having taken possession of this region, achieved the installation of Metropolitan John. However, here, as in previous times under Hungarian rule, Calvinists continued to conduct active propaganda. They were replaced in 1689 by the Catholics along with Austrian rule. In 1700, Metropolitan Afanasy with part of the clergy and flock joined the Roman Church. The Transylvanian Orthodox Metropolis was destroyed, and in its place a Romanian bishopric was established, subordinate to the Hungarian primate. The Romanians who remained faithful to Orthodoxy continued to fight Catholicism. Not having their own bishop, they received priests from Wallachia, Moldavia and from the Serbian bishopric in Hungary. At the insistence of Russia, Orthodox Romanians were allowed to enter into the canonical subordination of the Bishop of Budim, who was under the jurisdiction of the Karlovac Metropolitan. In 1783, the Romanians achieved the restoration of their episcopate. A Serb was installed as bishop, and in 1811 a Romanian, Vasily Moga (1811-1846), was installed. The Transylvanian bishop remained under the jurisdiction of the Karlovac metropolitan.

The Sibiu Church reached its peak under the highly educated Metropolitan Andrei Shagun (1848-1873). Thanks to his work, up to 400 parochial schools, several gymnasiums and lyceums were opened in Transylvania; in 1850, a printing house began operating in Sibiu (still in operation today), and in 1853, the newspaper Telegraful Romyn began to be published. The Metropolitan convened a Church-People's Council, at which the question of the church unification of all Orthodox Romanians in Austria was considered. Since 1860, the Orthodox Romanians of Transylvania, led by him, constantly petitioned the Austrian government to establish church independence. Despite the opposition of the Karlovac Patriarchate, according to the imperial decree, in 1864 an independent Romanian Orthodox Metropolis was established with the residence of the metropolitan in Sibiu. The metropolitanate had jurisdiction over the bishoprics of Arad and Caransebes and two bishoprics in the eastern Banat.

The current region of Bukovina was formerly part of the Principality of Moldova. In Bukovina there was the Radovetsky bishopric (founded in 1402 by the Moldavian prince Alexander the Good) with many churches, subordinate to the Metropolitan of Moldavia, and after the occupation of this region by Austria in 1783, it was subordinated, like the Sibiu diocese, to the Karlovac metropolitan. The Austrian emperor elected the Bukovina (or Chernivtsi - according to the place of the see) bishop, and the Karlovac metropolitan ordained. Dependence on the Karlovac Metropolitan was small, but dependence on the Austrian government was felt very much. Under the influence of Sibiu Metropolitan Andrei Shaguna, a movement for separation from the Karlovac Metropolis and unification with the Transylvanian Church into a single Romanian Metropolis also began in Bukovina, but the unification did not take place. In 1873, the Austrian authorities elevated the Bukovina diocese to the rank of an independent metropolis with the Dalmatian diocese subordinate to it, which is why it received the name “Bukovina-Dalmatia metropolis”.

In 1875, a university and the Greek-Oriental Theological Faculty were founded in Chernivtsi.

The Bukovinian-Dalmatian Metropolis had three dioceses: Bukovinian-Dalmatian and Chernivtsi, Dalmatian-Istrian, Boko-Kotor, Dubrovnitsa and Spichanskaya.

After the annexation of Bukovina to Austria (late 18th - early 19th centuries), many Romanians moved to Moldova, and Ukrainians from Galicia came to Bukovina. In 1900, Bukovina had 500,000 Orthodox population, of which 270,000 were Ukrainians and 230,000 Romanians. Despite this, the Bukovinian Church was considered Romanian. Bishops and metropolitans were elected from Romanians. Ukrainians sought the introduction of their language into worship, as well as granting them equal rights in church governance. However, their aspirations, supported by the Austrian government, only caused mutual discontent of both communities, which upset the life of the Bukovinian Church.

This continued until 1919, when a Church Council was convened, at which the unification of the dioceses of Romania, Transylvania and Bukovina took place. Bishop Miron of Caransebes (1910-1919) was elected Metropolitan Primate (the title of Metropolitan Primate was the Romanian First Hierarch from 1875 to 1925). The reunification of the Uniate Romanians with Orthodoxy took place only in October 1948.

By the decision of the Holy Synod of February 4, 1925, the Romanian Orthodox Church was proclaimed the Patriarchate. In the same year, the Charter ("Regulations") of the Church was developed, which was in force until 1948. This definition was recognized by the Local Orthodox Churches as canonical (the Patriarch of Constantinople recognized it with the Tomos of July 30, 1925). The first Patriarch, His Beatitude Myron, headed the Church until 1938. For some time he combined the position of regent of the country with the title of Primate of the Church.

From 1939 to 1948, the Romanian Church was headed by Patriarch Nicodemus, a graduate of the CDA. He translated from Russian into Romanian A.P. Lopukhin's "Biblical History" in 6 volumes, the "Explanatory Bible", the sermons of St. Dimitri Rostovsky, etc.

In 1945, a communist totalitarian regime was established in Romania. The church was eliminated from the life of the state. Many religious educational institutions and periodicals were closed, the activities of the clergy were constantly monitored, and many priests were exiled. At the same time, the state provided material support to the Church. Due to the fact that Bessarabia was annexed to the USSR in 1944 and became the Moldavian USSR, the Chisinau diocese (about 200 churches, one convent) in this territory came under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 1948-1977 The Patriarch of Romania was Saint Justinian, known for his extraordinary organizational skills. He introduced strict discipline and order in all areas of church life. In October 1948, more than one and a half million Romanians in Transylvania joined the Orthodox Church, who in 1700 accepted a union with the Catholic Church.

In 1977-1986 Patriarch Justin was the head of the Romanian Church. Since November 9, 1986, the Romanian Orthodox Church has been headed by His Beatitude Patriarch Theoctista.

After the fall of the communist regime in Romania, the Uniate movement resumed, and only the wisdom of the Romanian church leadership made it possible to retain the majority of churches for the Orthodox and avoid unnecessary conflicts. The same wisdom allowed Patriarch Theoktistos in 1989-1990. to avoid a split caused by demagogic accusations by the democratic public of the Church’s collaboration with the communist regime. The Patriarch went into monastic seclusion for several months, thus bringing the necessary repentance, after which he was returned to patriarchal service by the entirety of the Church.

At the end of 1992, relations between the Romanian and Russian Orthodox Churches deteriorated due to the anti-canonical actions of the hierarchy of the Romanian Church in relation to the Orthodox Church in the Republic of Moldova. Patriarch Theoktist received Bishop Peter of Balti, who was under the ban of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, into communion with several clergy of the Orthodox Church in the Republic of Moldova. At the same time, the Patriarchal and Synodal Act was issued on the restoration of the Bessarabia Metropolis on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to send a protest to the Patriarch of Moscow in this regard to the Patriarch of Romania and to call on the Hierarchy of the Romanian Church to correct the violations committed. The Chisinau-Moldavian diocese has been part of the Russian Orthodox Church since 1808. From 1919 to 1940, in connection with the inclusion of Bessarabia into the Kingdom of Romania, this diocese was torn away from the Russian Church and was included as a metropolitanate in the Romanian Church, which was with 1885 autocephalous. Thus, the Chisinau diocese became part of the Russian Church more than seven decades before the formation of the canonically independent Romanian Church. Currently, the Orthodox Church in Moldova is an integral part of the Moscow Patriarchate, enjoying independence in matters of internal governance. The bishops, clergy and representatives of the overwhelming majority of communities of the Orthodox Church in Moldova spoke in favor of maintaining its current status. Negotiations between the two Local Churches are currently underway on this issue. The government of Moldova refused to legitimize the Bessarabian metropolitanate for fear of provoking a church schism.

2. The current situation of the Romanian Orthodox Church

2.1. Canonical device

Currently, there are 5 metropolitanates in the Romanian Church, which include 10 archdioceses and 15 bishoprics, as well as 4 foreign dioceses:

Metropolis of Muntenia and Dobrudja - Bucharest Archdiocese, Tomis Archdiocese, Buzau. bishopric, Argesh and Muscel bishoprics, Lower Danube bishoprics, Slobozian and Calarasi bishoprics, Alexandria and Teleorman bishoprics, Giurgius bishoprics;

Metropolis of Moldova and Bukovina - Archdiocese of Iasi, Archdiocese of Suceava and Radauti, Diocese of Romana, Diocese of Hus;

Transylvanian (Ardyal) Metropolis - Archdiocese of Sibius, Vad, Felyak and Cluj Archdiocese, Alba Iulia Archdiocese, Oradea, Bihor and Selazhi bishoprics, Maramures and Satu Mar bishoprics, Covasna and Harghita bishoprics;

Metropolis of Oltenia - Archdiocese of Craiova, Diocese of Rymnica;

Banat Metropolis - Timisoara Archdiocese, Arad, Jenopolis and Helmadju Bishoprics, Caransebes Diocese, Romanian Orthodox Bishopric in Hungary;

Foreign dioceses - Romanian Orthodox Metropolis in Germany and Central Europe (Regensburg), Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in America and Canada (Detroit), Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in Western and Southern Europe (Paris), Romanian Orthodox Bishopric of Vršac (Vršac, Yugoslavia).

The Romanian Orthodox Missionary Archdiocese in the USA with a see in Detroit has existed since 1929, autonomous since 1950. It numbered in 1971-1972. 11 temples in the USA, 19 temples, 19 clergy and 16,000 flocks in Canada. The Romanian diocese in Hungary (seated in Gyula) has 18 parishes and is governed by an episcopal vicar.

In 1972, the Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church took over the so-called French Orthodox Church, established by the priest Evgraf Kovalevsky (later Bishop John). After his death, this community (several thousand people, 15 priests, 7 deacons), having no other bishop, turned to the Romanian Church to accept it into its jurisdiction and create an autonomous bishopric in France. The request was granted.

The Romanian Orthodox Church also has separate parishes in Baden-Baden, Vienna, London, Sofia, Stockholm, Melbourne and Wellington (in Australia, where over 4,000 Romanians live, 3 parishes, in New Zealand - 1 parish).

Some Orthodox Romanians in the USA are under the jurisdiction of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church in America, some Romanians in Canada are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad; a small group of Orthodox Romanians in Germany submits to the Patriarch of Constantinople.

On the territory of Romania, dioceses are divided into 141 deaneries (protopresbyteries), which by 1997 united 9,208 parishes, in which more than 12,000 priests serve. In total, there are more than 13,000 churches, chapels and monasteries in the Church, 19.5 million believers (in a country with a population of 23 million). More than 6,500 monks and nuns work in 407 monasteries.

The church is recognized as a legal entity. The state provides the Church with significant financial assistance and allocates large amounts of funds for the restoration and protection of religious monuments and for diocesan and patriarchal centers. The state pays salaries to teachers of theological institutes. The clergy also partially receives support from the state and is exempt from military service.

2.2. Primate and governing bodies of the Romanian Orthodox Church

The Primate of the Church bears the title: Archbishop of Bucharest, Vicar of Caesarea of ​​Cappadocia, Metropolitan of Ungro-Vlachia, Patriarch of Romania. The Patriarch convenes the central governing bodies of the Romanian Church for meetings and presides over them. He carries out the decisions of these highest authorities, represents the Romanian Church before state authorities, maintains relations with other Orthodox Churches, etc.

The current primate of the Romanian Church, Patriarch Theoctist (Theodore Arepasu), was born in 1915 in a village in northeastern Moldova. At the age of fourteen he began monastic obedience in the monasteries of Vorona and Neamets, and in 1935 he took monastic vows at the Bystrica Monastery of the Iasi Archdiocese. In 1937, after graduating from the seminary at the Chernika monastery, he was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon, and in 1945, after graduating from the Bucharest Theological Faculty, to the rank of hieromonk. Received the title of Licentiate in Theology.

In the rank of archimandrite he was vicar of the Metropolitan of Moldova and Suceava, studying at the same time at the Faculty of Philology and Philosophy in Iasi. In 1950, he was consecrated bishop of Botosani, vicar of the Patriarch, and for twelve years he led various departments of the Romanian Patriarchate: he was secretary of the Holy Synod, rector of the Theological Institute in Bucharest.

Since 1962, Theoktist has been Bishop of Arad, since 1973 - Archbishop of Craiova and Metropolitan of Olten, since 1977 - Archbishop of Iasi, Metropolitan of Moldova and Suceava. Occupying the metropolitanate of Moldova and Suceava (second in importance after the patriarchate), Theoktist showed special concern for the Theological Seminary in the Neamets monastery, pastoral and missionary courses for clergy, special courses for employees of the metropolitanate, and expanded publishing activities.

The highest authority on all spiritual and canonical issues belongs to the Holy Synod. The Holy Synod consists of all 40 ruling and suffragan bishops of the Church. The Synod meets for a regular session once a year, and for an emergency session as needed. The Holy Synod is obliged to preserve the dogmatic and canonical unity of the Romanian Church with the Universal Church, to discuss any dogmatic and canonical issue, to endorse all laws and statutes concerning the Romanian Church, to monitor the elections of the Patriarch, metropolitans and bishops and to check the compliance of candidates with canonical requirements. The Holy Synod elects Romanian Orthodox bishops to chairs located abroad, patriarchal vicars, has the right to judge its members, directs the activities of the executive bodies of dioceses, metropolises and the Patriarchate, and monitors the publication of books. The Synod has four commissions: 1) for external relations; 2) on issues of doctrinal and spiritual life of monasteries; 3) on disciplinary, canonical and legal issues; 4) on spiritual education.

In the periods between sessions of the Holy Synod, the Permanent Synod operates, which consists of the Patriarch - chairman and metropolitans. The competence of the Permanent Synod is similar to that of the Holy Synod, but its decisions are subject to ratification by the Holy Synod.

The central representative body of the Romanian Orthodox Church on all administrative and economic issues not within the competence of the Synod is the National Church Assembly, which convenes once a year. It consists of representatives from each diocese: one clergy and two laymen, elected by the Diocesan Assemblies for 4 years, and from members of the Holy Synod. The chairman of the meeting is the Patriarch. It supports the rights and interests of the Church, manages its cultural, charitable and economic institutions, makes decisions regarding changes in the boundaries of dioceses and metropolitan districts and the opening of new departments, manages church property, audits and approves the general budget and current account of the Patriarchate. The meeting forms a bureau and permanent commissions of six members each: 1) organizational, 2) church, 3) cultural, 4) financial and economic, 5) mandate, 6) budgetary. Its executive body and at the same time the highest administrative body for the affairs of the entire Romanian Church is the National Church Council. It consists of a chairman - the Patriarch and nine members, three clergy and six laymen elected by the National Church Assembly for 4 years, as well as Patriarchal administrative advisers. Meetings of the Council are convened as needed.

The Patriarchal administration consists of 2 vicar bishops, equal in rights to diocesan bishops, 6 patriarchal administrative advisers, the Patriarchal Chancellery and the Department of Inspection and Control. Patriarchal administrative advisers are elected by open voting by the National Church Assembly from among priests of the 1st category - doctors and licentiates of theology.

The bodies of the spiritual court are: the Main Church Court - the highest judicial disciplinary authority, Diocesan Courts, judicial disciplinary bodies operating under each deanery and at large monasteries.

2.3. Saints and shrines of the Romanian Church

Monasticism in the Romanian Orthodox Church, both in the past (excluding the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century) and in the present, was and is at a high level. The first monasteries on the territory of modern Romania were founded by the Athonite monk of Greek-Serbian origin, St. Nicodemus of Tisman (+1406), who laid the foundations of organized monasticism in the Romanian lands and created the monasteries of Voditsa and Tisman. Among the monasteries, it should be noted: the Nyamets Lavra, the Chernika, Assumption, Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helena monasteries, etc.

The Neamets Lavra was first mentioned in 1407. In 1497, a majestic temple in the name of the Ascension of the Lord, built by the governor of Moldova Stephen the Great, was consecrated in the monastery. For the Romanian Orthodox Church, this monastery had the same significance as the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius for the Russian. For many years it was a center of spiritual enlightenment. Many hierarchs of the Romanian Church came from her brethren. She demonstrated high examples of Christian life in her midst, serving as a school of piety. The monastery collected a rich library of Slavic manuscripts from the 14th to 18th centuries. Unfortunately, a fire that occurred in 1861 destroyed most of the library and many buildings in the monastery. As a result of this, as well as the policies of the government of Prince Kuza, the Nyamet monastery fell into decay. Most of its monks went to Russia, where the New Nyametsky Ascension Monastery was founded in Bessarabia - on the estates of the monastery. In the middle of the 19th century. in the Nyametsky monastery there were 1,300 monks, in the Seku monastery (in the Nyametsky district) - 400 monks. In the 90s XX century About 100 monks lived in the Lavra, there is a Theological Seminary, a library, a printing house of the Metropolitan of Moldova, and a museum. The monastery has two monasteries.

The name of the elder Schema-Archimandrite Rev. is closely connected with the history of this Lavra. Paisius Velichkovsky - a renovator of monastic life in Romania. He and his associates in this monastery translated many patristic works from Greek into Russian.

The Chernika monastery, located near Bucharest, is historically and spiritually connected with the Neamets monastery. It was founded in the 16th century and was destroyed several times. Restored through the care of Elder George, a disciple of Elder Schema-Archimandrite Rev. Paisius Velichkovsky and a follower of the ascetic school of the Holy Mountain.

Created by Archimandrite Nicodemus in the second half of the 14th century. In the Gorzha Mountains, the Tisman Monastery in the Middle Ages was a center of spiritual enlightenment - here church books were translated into Romanian from Greek and Church Slavonic. Since 1958, this monastery has become a women's monastery.

The Assumption Monastery (about 100 monks) was founded by the ruler Alexander Lepusneanu in the 16th century. He is famous for the severity of the charter - following the example of St. Theodora Studite.

The convent in the name of Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helena was founded by the ruler of the lands of Romania, Constantin Brancoveanu, who was executed by the Turks in 1714. There are about 130 nuns in the monastery.

There are also known women's monasteries in Moldova with many nuns, such as Sucevita (founded in the 16th century, rich in interesting frescoes), Agapia (built in the 17th century, also located in a mountainous area, surrounded by formidable fortress walls), Varatek (founded in 1785 .) etc. In the Ploiesti region there is a monastery of Gichiu - founded in 1806, rebuilt in 1859, restored in 1952 after the Second World War. The monastery of Curtea de Arges, founded in the first quarter of the 16th century, attracts attention with the beauty of its architecture.

2.4. Spiritual education in the Romanian Orthodox Church

Currently, spiritual education in the Romanian Church is at a high level. There are 38 seminaries and 14 Theological Institutes in the Church, where more than 10 thousand students study. Some Romanian church leaders even believe that the opening of such a large number of religious educational institutions was a mistake. In 1884, as already mentioned, the Theological Faculty of the University of Bucharest was opened. There are 9 special medical-theological institutes. The museum business in the Church is surprisingly developed - there are 113 church and church-archaeological museums, including 13 parish ones. About 40 Orthodox programs are presented on television and radio, and 39 periodicals are published. The central publication is the journal "Romanian Orthodox Church", as well as "Orthodoxy" and "Theological Studies". Publishing work is carried out at a high level.

Compiled by: Associate Professor Archpriest Vasily Zaev, Head. Department of Holy Scripture of the New Testament, Candidate of Theology

Kyiv 2003

In this film I will talk about Orthodoxy in Romania. Together with the film crew, we will visit Bucharest, Iasi, and other cities of Romania, we will visit the famous painted monasteries of Bukovina, we will see how monks and nuns live, we will visit the famous Neametsky monastery, where the great elder Reverend Paisius Velichkovsky lived and labored. Romania is often called the most religious country in the European Union. Almost all Romanians - 92% to be exact - consider themselves believers. According to recent sociological surveys, about 87% of the country's population professes Orthodoxy. The Romanian Orthodox Church traces its history back to ancient times. It is believed that the Apostle Andrew the First-Called himself brought the Good News of Christ to the Roman province of Dacia, which was located on the territory of modern Romania. The Romanian Orthodox Church is an apostolic church. A large number of archaeological, literary, ethnographic evidence indicates that the holy apostles Andrew and Philip preached the Gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ near the mouth of the Danube, in today's Dobruja. Unlike other peoples, the Romanians did not have a one-time mass baptism. The spread of Christianity here proceeded gradually, in parallel with the process of formation of the Romanian ethnic group, which arose as a result of the mixing of the Dacians with Roman colonists. The Romanians became the only Romance people to adopt the Slavic language in church and secular literature. Of course, although we are a local church from the large global Orthodox Church, we also have some peculiarities. And the most important of them is that the Romanian people are the only people of Latin origin and of the Orthodox faith. The first dioceses in the Romanian lands are known from the fourth century, and in the fourteenth century a church hierarchical structure was established in Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania. In the seventeenth century, after the signing of the Union of Brest, pressure increased on Orthodox Christians in Eastern Europe from both Catholics and Protestants. In 1642, a council was convened in the city of Iasi, which was supposed to give a theological response to the challenges of Western propaganda. Here, in this Gothic hall, in the monastery of the three saints of Iasi, the famous Iasi Cathedral took place in 1642, in which local, as well as Russian and Greek hierarchs took part. At this council, a confession of faith was adopted by Metropolitan Peter of Kyiv Mogila, which was written in refutation of another confession of faith circulating under the name of Cyril Loukaris, Patriarch of Constantinople. Summing up the results of the Council of Iasi, Saint Peter Mogila wrote: “At the insistence of our Russian Church, the Church of Constantinople pronounced a curse on all heretical - Calvinist articles of faith, published falsely under the name of Cyril, Patriarch of Constantinople, to seduce the faithful children of the Eastern Church. At different periods of history, the Romanian lands were in ecclesiastical dependence on different Local Churches. We became the first Orthodox Church to have the Holy Scriptures in the national language. It was fully translated and published in 1688. In 1865, shortly after the formation of the Romanian state, the local Church declared itself autocephalous. In 1925, the first Romanian Patriarch was enthroned. In 2007, Metropolitan Daniel of Moldova and Bukovina was elected as the sixth Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Situated at the crossroads between Eastern and Western civilizations, Romania has been a meeting place for different cultures for centuries. In the architecture and decoration of Romanian churches, Byzantine influence coexists with Western influence, the cross-domed design coexists with the basilica, and spherical domes coexist with pointed spire-shaped tops. The painted monasteries of southern Bukovina represent a very interesting unique phenomenon in the Orthodox tradition. The peculiarity of these monasteries is that their churches are painted not only inside, as is customary in the Orthodox Church, but also outside. The inscriptions on these paintings are always in Slavic, because at the time when these monasteries were built, and this is the end of the 15th, the end of the 16th centuries, the liturgical language in the Romanian church was Church Slavonic. The subjects of painting are very diverse. If the twelve feasts, scenes from the history of the Passion of Christ, and the Resurrection of Christ are depicted inside the churches, then other themes dominate the exterior paintings. Very often the apostles and prophets are depicted, as well as those Christians before Christ, as they were called, who were considered the ancient Greek philosophers. Therefore, we see on these wall paintings images of Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Porphyry and other Greek thinkers. All these paintings have a deeply edifying character. For example, in the Sucevita Monastery, where we are now, one of the frescoes is called Ladder. It depicts a ladder of virtues. In accordance with the book of St. John Climacus, where the entire life of a Christian and the entire spiritual struggle of a monk is presented in the form of 30 steps, at each of which the monk either acquires some virtue or renounces some vice. The image of a ladder on the outer wall was typical of churches whose patron was the metropolitan. And the fresco with the plot of the “Tree of Essene” was usually depicted on temples, the patron of which was the prince. In the Sucevita Monastery, this encyclopedia of wall paintings in Romania, both images can be seen. In the Voronets monastery, one of the frescoes depicts the Last Judgment, and here we see a space divided by a fiery river. On the right hand of Christ, who is presented as the judge of the Universe, is the space of heaven, where the saved righteous are, and on the left hand is the space of hell, where the condemned sinners are. In this fiery river itself there are well-known negative characters, such as King Herod, who condemned the Savior to death, the high priest Caiaphas, who had the Savior at his trial, the heretic Arius, who denied the deity of Jesus Christ, and also Magomed. But not Magomed is the founder of religion, the founder of Islam, but Sultan Magomed the second, under whom Constantinople fell. This event was still alive in the memory of those people who created these frescoes, since they were painted in the 15th century. According to a number of art historians, the painting of the external walls was also a kind of political manifesto. A message directed against the oppression of the Turks. A discreet message, but one that everyone saw. Throughout these paintings, among other scenes, there is the so-called fall of Constantinople. But what connection can there be between the fall of Constantinople and Moldova? According to some art historians, the image of Constantinople was a hidden protest against the power of the Turks. The largest monastery in the country, Putna, is popularly called the Romanian Jerusalem. This monastery was founded by Saint Stephen the Great, the legendary commander and builder of the Romanian state. During his reign, Stephen the Great won 34 of the 36 battles for the independence of Romania. In memory of each victory, he founded a monastery or founded a temple. This pious ruler remains Romania's beloved national hero. Here, near the mouth of the Danube, he managed to stop the onslaught of the wave of paganism. All of Europe recognized that he was a warrior of Christ, as Pope Sixtus the Fourth, a contemporary of Stephen the Great, said. Moldova is dotted with churches and monasteries. This is an expression of the love that Stefan had for God. On the day of the patronal feast, thousands of believers come to the Putna Monastery to venerate the relics of the most revered Romanian ruler. In recognition of the outstanding role of St. Stephen in the history of Romania, pilgrims wear national costumes on this holiday. We come in folk costumes, this is a sign of gratitude. Folk costume is our tradition, the heritage of our ancestors. These are outfits left over from grandmothers. Or even new ones. They are woven, embroidered, and shirts and blouses are made. Once upon a time, clothes like the ones I’m wearing now were worn every day all over the country. At home, at work, but there were also festive clothes. Today there are regions of the country, such as Maramures, where in some places such clothes are worn every day. In general, these are now clothes for holidays, for the National Day of Romania, for weddings, when they are held according to folk customs. Stephen the Great is revered here both as a brilliant ruler and as a national saint. For Orthodox Romanians in general, love for the Motherland and love for Christian values ​​are inseparable. Stefan is loved because he managed to penetrate the hearts of these people. How did he do it? After all, the heart of a people is perhaps the narrowest gate of all, as our poet says. He sacrificed himself for everyone. Like our Savior Jesus Christ, who sacrificed himself for everyone, Stefan understood and managed to support everyone, both big and small - boyars, warriors, monks, and laity. I think that’s why Stefan is loved. We have no other hero higher than him. The day of the Assumption of St. Stephen the Great is celebrated very solemnly. In honor of the holiday, they even organize a military parade with the laying of wreaths at his grave. The tomb of Stephen the Great is called the altar of national identity. Throughout Moldova today we see buildings built by Stephen the Great - fortresses for defense, churches, monasteries. Fortresses that defended the country. They also defended the faith of their ancestors. And our soldiers and officers today pay tribute to the memory of the one who devoted his entire life to serving the Motherland. Another one of the most beloved and revered saints in Romania is Saint Paraskeva, who lived in the eleventh century and accepted martyrdom for her faith. Paraskeva's relics were kept in Constantinople until 1641, when they were transferred to the ruler of Moldova, Vasile Lupu, for the nearby Monastery of the Three Saints in Iasi. Since the end of the nineteenth century, the relics of Saint Paraskeva have been in Iasi Cathedral. Up to two hundred thousand believers gather for solemn services on the day of memory of Saint Paraskeva. And a line of people reaches out to her relics, without stopping, day after day. Thousands of pilgrims from all over the world come to the shrine of St. Paraskeva. So powerful is the gift of Saint Paraskeva and her prayer before the throne of the Lord. There are a lot of people who have received healing, who have received blessings, who come with fervent prayer, as if to a friend, to the pious saint Paraskeva. Some people call her “my friend.” For us, the servants of the cathedral, Saint Paraskeva is like our mother. She helps us, guides us, teaches us and protects us in our lives. Monastic life has transformed this land for many centuries. Particularly populous and numerous monasteries have been located on the territory of the Moldavian-Bukovinian Metropolis since ancient times. There are a lot of monasteries in this part of Romania. Here on the roads there are as many signs pointing to monasteries as there are signs pointing to towns and villages. Moreover, it is not always possible to distinguish a monastery from an ordinary village by its appearance. For example, the Agapia Monastery, where we are now, is a convent with more than three hundred nuns. Most of them live in ordinary houses located around the main monastery complex. In each of the houses there live three or four sisters, one of them is the eldest, like an abbess. They do handicrafts, sew vestments, paint icons, and thereby earn their living. One of the most honorable and responsible obediences in the monastery is carpet making. The nuns of Agapia have been famous for their art of carpet weaving for several centuries. By the way, in many Romanian churches the floors are covered with carpets, because many believers pray on their knees during worship. Varatek Monastery also resembles an ordinary village. The houses where the nuns live are located right along the road. The nuns of the monastery greeted us in the evening, with candles in their hands, as if thereby reminding us of the meaning of monastic life - to be like a candle, illuminating the path for other people. The most famous monastery in Romania is Neametsky, or Neamtsului. It was founded at the beginning of the fifteenth century and became one of the largest centers of book writing, culture and education in the Moldavian lands. Neamtului Monastery is the oldest in Romania, or rather, in the Principality of Moldova. It has been mentioned since 1270. Then, in our country, as in any Orthodox country, monasticism began with hermits. In this part of Romania, the monks went into the forests growing on the Neamtsului mountains. Where the Neamtsului Monastery is located today, then, according to documents, there was a wooden church where hermits from the mountains came once every forty days and participated in the Holy Liturgy. One or two fathers took care of this temple. In 1376, the Prince of Moldova, Petru I Musat, learned of the existence of these hermits. To help them, he built a stone church to replace the wooden one. From that moment on, a communal structure of life was organized in the Neamtsului monastery, which exists here to this day. In 1779, Abba Paisiy Velichkovsky, a renowned ascetic and translator of patristic literature, moved to the Nyametsky monastery along with a group of disciples. Throughout his life, as hegumen in various monasteries, he collected patristic writings like precious stones. He himself copied the works of the holy fathers and blessed his disciples to do the same. Absorbing the experience of the ancient ascetics, Abba Paisius gradually turned into a wise mentor. Under Saint Paisius Velichikovsky, monasticism in this monastery reached its apogee. He breathed new life and reorganized the life of Orthodox monasticism throughout Europe. The monk's flock quickly multiplied, and within ten years about a thousand monks labored here. Among the monks there were representatives of twenty-three nationalities, and two liturgical languages ​​were used - Church Slavonic and Moldavian. Although the Moldavian language was then written in Slavic letters. Two choirs sang in two languages ​​at the service. The Monk Paisius paid great attention to translating the works of the holy fathers into Slavic and Moldavian languages. Several translation teams worked in this monastery, and a huge amount of work was done to translate the works of the holy fathers. The influence of St. Paisius was truly enormous. His disciples dispersed to different countries and founded or re-established more than a hundred monasteries in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Greece. The Optina elders were also disciples of St. Paisius, thanks to whom the eldership was revived in Russia in the 19th century. Russian monks from Optina Monastery and other monasteries of the Russian Empire began to come to the Neamets Monastery for apprenticeship, staying here for several months, learning the secrets of art, and participating in the spiritual life of monasticism. They became imbued with the religious and cultural life of the monastery. And going to Russian monasteries, they enriched the monastic spiritual life of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Monk Paisius Velichkovsky is rightly called the “father of Russian elders.” Spiritual leadership, eldership is the tradition on which Orthodox monasticism has relied for many centuries. Without an experienced senior mentor, confessor, it is impossible for a monk to overcome all the difficulties and temptations of monastic life. After all, by taking monastic vows, a person consciously and voluntarily renounces not only marriage, but also many other things available to ordinary people, in order to focus as much as possible on God and devote his entire life, all his thoughts and deeds to Him. Monasticism has existed in the Christian Church for more than 16 centuries. And again and again in every century new generations of monks come. How are they reproduced? After all, monks have no families, they have no children. And yet the monasteries are not empty. Monasteries are filled again and again with monks and nuns. What attracts young people to monasteries? Why are people ready to leave ordinary earthly life and enter this narrow and cramped path? First of all, it is the grace of God. That supernatural grace that is given to a person from God himself. It is no coincidence that the holy fathers called monasticism a supernatural way of life. But the great elders also play a significant role in the reproduction of monastic life in each generation. Such as the Monk Paisiy Velichkovsky. Here, in the Nyametsky monastery, he worked hard on translations of patristic works and created a Slavic codex of the Philokalia. The Monk Paisius carried out enormous systematic work on translating the works of the holy fathers into Slavic and Moldavian languages. But his scientific activity was only a natural complement to the enormous spiritual work that he carried out within the walls of the monastery. His main goal was to teach the monks to put into practice what the holy fathers wrote about. In the library of the Nyametsky monastery, precious books from the time of St. Paisius have been preserved, including this manuscript, which belongs to him. Here, in his own calligraphic handwriting, is the preface to the Philokalia, the book he translated. It begins with the following words: “God is the blessed nature, the most perfect perfection, the creative principle of all good and kind, most good and most good, having eternally given to His God-originating form the deification of man.” Paisiy Velichikovsky attracted a lot of monks of Slavic origin here. Initially, in our monasteries - be it Putna, Voronets or Sucevita - there were few monks. The Slavic system, the influence of Russia was expressed in the fact that the number of monks began to increase significantly - according to the Russian model. Romanian monasticism in the 18th - 19th centuries felt the very powerful influence of the Slavic world, the Russian world in particular. In the twentieth century, the most revered spiritual father in Romania was Elder Cleopas Ilie, who lived in the Sihastria monastery. His sermons, advice and spiritual care, compassion and love for people were talked about throughout the country. He was a spiritual father with unquestionable authority. He was called the Romanian Seraphim of Sarov. Father Cleopas was a special spiritual mentor. He confessed to the metropolitans and hierarchs of the Church. One of his students is Patriarch Daniel. He tonsured Patriarch Daniel as a monk. Father Cleopas became a blessing from the Lord, a special gift, for the Romanian people. In the monastery, his teachings and his life remain an example to follow. The communist dictatorship that established itself in Romania in the late 40s organized persecution of the church. Elder Cleopas also suffered from them - he was imprisoned more than once and wandered for a long time in the mountains. Father Cleopas was inconvenient to the communist authorities. A case was opened against him by the security authorities. He was summoned, interrogated, and just before his father’s arrest, Cleopas was warned by one believer. He received a blessing and went into the desert. Father Cleopas was a perfect person, because he went through all possible tests, through all obediences, through the school of hermitage. Once again, Father Cleopa had to go to the mountains of Moldova in 1959, when all monks under the age of fifty-five were ordered by government decree to leave the monasteries. Then the police expelled more than four thousand monks from the monasteries. In forced solitude, Elder Cleopas wrote guides to spiritual life for priests and laity, which later became very famous throughout the Orthodox world. The monasteries lost most of their inhabitants, and a number of monasteries were closed. With the help of the Lord, the Sikhastria monastery did not close. A shelter was set up here for elderly monks from various monasteries who were awaiting closure. Even during the years of the communist regime, the Romanian people remained religious and pious. Most Orthodox Christians continued to go to church and baptize their children. Villagers have always been especially devout. In Romania it was possible to preserve religion in the villages. That is, churches were not closed. The only thing that, of course, put pressure on the community was that in schools, precisely when there were religious holidays, various events were organized along the pioneer line, so that the children would not go to church. Not far from the Neamet Monastery, in the village of Petricani, in an ordinary private house there is a museum, which is considered one of the most interesting in Romania. Collector and artist Nicola Popa began collecting objects of Romanian folklore and traditional life back in the 70s of the twentieth century. But the main thing is that the creators of this museum managed to save many icons from destruction and desecration and thereby preserve the material memory of the deep religiosity of the Romanian peasants. When my father started creating his own museum, he began collecting things that people threw away, for example, irons and others. This seems paradoxical, but there were also people who threw away old icons. And my dad said that all these icons must be preserved, these shrines must be saved. In total, we have about a hundred icons from different centuries in our museum. The peasant could not imagine his life, his home without an icon. And it is with the help of these icons that we can understand how deep the spirituality and religiosity of the Romanian people has always been. Among the many Romanian traditions, the “serut myna”, which translates as “kissing hand,” is still preserved. Kissing the hand of a priest or nun, even when meeting on the street, is a completely common form of greeting for Romanians. Since 1990, new monks and nuns simply poured into the monasteries in an avalanche; many young people who could not take monastic vows under the communist regime did so immediately after its fall. Church art began to develop - new workshops of icon painting, mosaics, embroidery, church vestments, and silversmithing appeared in many monasteries. New parish churches were built in residential areas with tens of thousands of families, where previously there were not even chapels. In Romania, the church is separated from the state. But at the same time, the state provides various assistance to religious denominations. All clergy, Orthodox, Catholics, and Protestant pastors, as well as clergy of other religious denominations, receive financial assistance from the state. The state returned to church organizations the property they had owned before 1945. Therefore, some dioceses have their own forests, their own agriculture, their own land. The community of Russian Lipovans, descendants of Old Believers who fled Russia at the end of the seventeenth century and settled in Moldova and Wallachia, also receives state support from the Romanian authorities. The name Lipovane is not completely established where it came from. There are several options from the most popular ones, according to etymology, supposedly the name Lipovans came from the word linden, because they hid in linden forests or painted icons on linden trees. Most likely, this word is associated with the name Philip. Probably there was some kind of leader of the Old Believers, Philip. And from Philip came the Philippovans and Lipovans. For three centuries, the Lipovans have preserved the language and religious customs of their ancestors. Today the community numbers about thirty thousand people. Russia for us, if I can say in one word, Russia for us is a prayer. And Romania is the country that adopted us. We were born here, we studied here, we live here, we continue our lives, we work. Of course, we value Russia very much, because our roots are from there. And for us, Russia is not only a historical homeland, it is also a spiritual homeland. One of the largest Lipovan settlements in Romania is the village of Kamen on the banks of the Danube. Here, Old Believer traditions are observed especially strictly. For local women and girls, a sundress remains an Easter outfit, and men do not shave their beards and wear their shirts untucked, always with a belt. Lipovans sing at the service. The Lipovans have also preserved the ancient tradition of hook - or znamenny - singing, which is based on the monophonic choral performance of compositions. Lipovans sing at the evening service. The Romanian Orthodox Church is active in social work. In Romania, there are also public organizations of Orthodox believers that help a variety of people in trouble. Alexandra Natanie, a student at the University of Bucharest, initiated the creation of such a humanitarian organization when she was only sixteen years old. I was working as a volunteer and one day I received an email from a young woman; she wrote that she was pregnant, that her parents were pressuring her to have an abortion against her will. I decided to go with her to her parents to talk to them. Her parents said that they had no home, no food, no work, and gave many reasons why the child could not be born. I took a piece of paper and wrote down all the difficulties that interfere with the birth of a child. I posted this list on my blog. People appeared who decided to help, giving her food every month. They helped her build a house. So she kept that child, got married and had two more. For me, this story was an amazing change in fate. I realized that the most wonderful thing about volunteering is helping to save lives. Alexandra, together with other students, opened a branch of the international organization Students for Life in Romania. We provide support to pregnant young women and teenagers. We organized the first such structure in Romania. We come up with legislative initiatives and try to participate in the education of young people and popularize family values. There are a lot of young people in Orthodox churches in Romania today. They continue the traditions of piety of their people - both internal and external: long services, scarves on the heads of women, frequent confession, congregational singing of prayers. Our stay in Romania ends with a visit to the Cetatutsa Monastery. We only saw a fraction of what we could have seen at the Romanian Orthodox Church if we had stayed longer. But during these five days we saw a lot - both the ancient painted monasteries of Bukovina, and new monasteries being built and restored. We got acquainted with the social activities of the church, visited the church hospital, kindergarten, and publishing house. We saw the life of the church in all its diversity. It is often said in the West that we live in a post-Christian era. In order to make sure that this is not so, you can come to countries such as Romania, take part in an ordinary Sunday service or the service of the patronal feast of some monastery, and see thousands of people who gather for the holiday. You can visit other Orthodox countries to make sure that we live in the Christian era. That Christianity continues to live and continues to illuminate millions of people with its light.

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Prepared by Vladimir BuregaHistory of the Romanian Church: ecclesiastical aspect Today, the Romanian Orthodox Church includes more than 13 thousand church units (parishes, monasteries, monasteries), 531 monastic communities, more than 11 thousand clergy, more than 7 thousand monastics and more than 19 million laity. The Church is divided into 30 dioceses (25 of them are located in Romania and 5 outside it). Due to the fact that Romania unites territories that have long existed as separate political entities, the Romanian Orthodox Church has a special structure. Its dioceses are divided into 5 autonomous metropolitan districts.

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According to Hippolytus of Rome and Eusebius of Caesarea, Christianity was brought to the territory between the Danube and the Black Sea, then inhabited by the tribes of Dacians, Getae, Sarmatians and Carps, by the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called. In 106, Dacia was conquered by the Roman emperor Trajan and turned into a Roman province. After this, Christianity began to actively spread north of the Danube. Written and archaeological monuments testify to the persecution that Christians endured in these territories.

Unlike other peoples, the Romanians did not have a one-time mass baptism. The spread of Christianity proceeded gradually in parallel with the process of formation of the Romanian ethnos, which arose as a result of the mixing of Dacians with Roman colonists. Romanians and Moldovans make up the two easternmost Romance peoples.

In the 4th century, a church organization already existed in the Carpathian-Danubian territories. According to the testimony of Philostrogius, Bishop Theophilus was present at the First Ecumenical Council, to whose authority the Christians of the “Getian country” were subject. Bishops from the city of Toma (now Constanta) were present at the Second, Third and Fourth Ecumenical Councils.

Until the 5th century, Dacia was part of the Archdiocese of Sirmium, subject to the jurisdiction of Rome. After the destruction of Sirmium by the Huns (5th century), Dacia came under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Thessalonica, who was subordinate either to Rome or to Constantinople. In the 8th century, Emperor Leo the Isaurian finally subjugated Dacia to the canonical authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople.

The formation of Romanian statehood was delayed due to constant raids on this territory by various nomadic tribes. At the end of the 3rd century, the Goths and Gepids invaded here, in the 4th-6th centuries - the Huns and Avars. Since the 6th century, the Slavs became neighbors of the Romanians. From the 7th century, the Romanians gradually began to lose ties with the Romanesque peoples and experience Slavic cultural influence.

Historically, Romania is divided into three regions: in the south - Wallachia, in the east - Moldova, in the northwest - Transylvania. The history of these lands developed differently.

At the end of the 8th century, Wallachia became part of the First Bulgarian Kingdom. At the beginning of the 10th century, Romanians began to perform divine services in the Church Slavonic language, which was in use here until the 17th century. The Wallachian Church submitted to the canonical authority of the Bulgarian Church (Ohrid and then Tarnovo Patriarch).

In the 11th-12th centuries, Wallachia was attacked by the Pechenegs, Cumans and other Turkic peoples, and in the 13th century, part of its territory came under the rule of the Mongol-Tatars.

Around 1324, Wallachia became an independent state. In 1359, the Wallachian governor Nicholas Alexander I obtained from the Patriarch of Constantinople the elevation of the Church on the territory of his state to the rank of metropolitanate. Until the 18th century, the Wallachian Metropolis enjoyed the rights of broad autonomy. Its dependence on Constantinople was nominal.

Metropolitans were elected by a mixed Council of bishops and princes. The right of ecclesiastical trial over metropolitans belonged to a council of 12 Romanian bishops. For violation of state laws, they were tried by a mixed court consisting of 12 boyars and 12 bishops.

From the beginning of the 15th century, Wallachia became a vassal of the Turkish Sultan. However, it was not part of the Ottoman Empire, but was only its tributary. Until the 16th century, Wallachian governors were elected by the highest clergy and boyars, and from the 16th century they began to be appointed by the Sultan from among ethnic Romanians.

The history of Moldova turned out somewhat differently. Its territory, although not part of the province of Dacia, nevertheless experienced strong Roman influence in the 2nd-4th centuries. From the 6th century the Slavs began to settle here. Since the 9th century, the Slavic tribes of the Ulichs and Tivertsi lived between the Prut and Dniester rivers. Since the 10th century, these lands entered the sphere of influence of Kievan Rus. However, the invasions of the Cumans and Pechenegs led to the disappearance of the Slavic population here by the end of the 12th century. In the XIII - early XIV centuries, Moldova was under the rule of the Mongol-Tatars. In the first half of the 14th century, the Tatar-Mongol yoke was overthrown and in 1359 an independent Moldavian principality arose, led by governor Bogdan. Bukovina also became part of this principality.

Due to numerous invasions and a long absence of national statehood, the Moldovans did not have their own church organization until the 14th century. Divine services were performed here by priests who came from the neighboring Galician lands. After the founding of the Moldavian Principality, by the end of the 14th century, a separate Moldavian Metropolis was established within the Patriarchate of Constantinople (first mentioned in 1386).

The young Moldavian state had to defend its independence in the fight against the Poles, Hungarians and Turks. In 1456, the Moldavian rulers recognized vassalage to the Turkish Sultan. Moldova, like Wallachia, until the beginning of the 16th century retained the right to choose its rulers. From the beginning of the 16th century they began to be appointed by the Sultan.

Despite the dependence on the Ottoman Empire, the position of the Church in Wallachia and Moldova was much better than in the neighboring lands. Under the patronage of local rulers, complete freedom of worship was maintained here; it was allowed to build new churches and found monasteries, and convene church councils. Church property remained inviolable. Thanks to this, the Eastern Patriarchates, as well as the Athonite monasteries, acquired estates in these lands, which were one of the important sources of their income.

In 1711, Moldavian and Wallachian governors opposed the Turks in alliance with Peter I during his Prut campaign. Russian troops were defeated, after which relations between the Romanians and Moldovans with the Ottoman Empire deteriorated sharply. In 1714, the Wallachian ruler C. Brancoveanu and his three sons were publicly executed in Constantinople.

The Moldavian ruler D. Cantemir fled to Russia. Since 1716, Phanariot Greeks began to be appointed governors in Wallachia and Moldova. The process of Hellenization began, affecting not only the state, but also the Church. Ethnic Greeks were appointed bishops to the Wallachian and Moldavian metropolises, and services were performed in Greek. Active emigration of Greeks to Wallachia and Moldova began.

In the second half of the 18th century, the Wallachian Metropolitan was recognized as the first in honor among the hierarchy of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and in 1776 he was awarded the honorary title of Vicar of Caesarea in Cappadocia, a historical see headed by St. Basil the Great in the 4th century.

As a result of the Russian-Turkish wars of the second half of the 18th century, Russia received the right to patronize Orthodox Romanians and Moldovans. In 1789, during the second Russian-Turkish war, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church established the Moldo-Vlachian exarchy, the locum tenens of which on December 22 of the same year was appointed by the former Archbishop of Ekaterinoslav and Tauride Chersonese Arseny (Serebrennikov). In 1792, Gabriel (Banulesco-Bodoni) was appointed Metropolitan of Moldo-Vlachia with the title of Exarch of Moldavia, Wallachia and Bessarabia. But already in the next 1793 he was transferred to the Ekaterinoslav See, retaining the title of Exarch. During the war of 1806-1812, Russian troops controlled the territory of the Moldavian and Wallachian principalities for four years (1808-1812). Here the activities of the exarchate were resumed. In March 1808, Metropolitan Gabriel (Banulesco-Bodoni), who had been retired since 1803, was again appointed Exarch of Moldavia, Wallachia and Bessarabia. In 1812, according to the Treaty of Bucharest, Bessarabia (the lands between the Prut and Dniester rivers) became part of Russia, and the power of the Phanariots was restored in the rest of Moldova and Wallachia. The Chisinau diocese was formed from the Orthodox parishes of Bessarabia that found themselves on the territory of the Russian Empire. On August 21, 1813, it was headed by Gabriel (Banulesko-Bodoni) with the title of Metropolitan of Chisinau and Khotyn. The Moldo-Vlachian exarchy was finally abolished on March 30, 1821.

In 1821, during the uprising of the Morean Greeks, the Romanians and Moldovans did not support the rebels, but, on the contrary, supported the Turkish troops. As a result, in 1822 the Sultan restored the right of the Moldavian and Wallachian boyars to independently elect their rulers.

After the Russian-Turkish War of 1828-29, Wallachia received autonomy, the guarantor of which was Russia. In 1829-34, the Wallachian Principality was under direct Russian control. In 1831, the Organic Regulations, drawn up by General Kiselev, were put into effect here and actually became the first Romanian constitution.

As a result of the Crimean War (1853-1856), the Russian protectorate over Moldova and Wallachia was abolished. In 1859, Colonel Alexander Cuza was elected ruler of Wallachia and Moldova simultaneously, which meant the unification of the two principalities into a single state. In 1862, a unified National Assembly was convened in Bucharest and a unified government was created. The new state became known as the Romanian Principality.

The Romanian government began to actively interfere in church affairs. First of all, in 1863 the secularization of the monastery property was carried out. All movable and immovable property of the monasteries became the property of the state. This measure was dictated by the government’s desire to finally deprive the Greek hierarchs, who had significant property in Moldova and Wallachia, of the opportunity to influence the Romanian Church.

In 1865, under pressure from the secular authorities, without preliminary negotiations with Constantinople, the autocephaly of the Romanian Church was proclaimed. Its management was entrusted to the General National Synod, which included all the bishops, as well as three deputies from the clergy and laity of each diocese. The Synod was to meet once every two years. His decisions received force only after approval by the secular authorities. Metropolitans and diocesan bishops were appointed by the prince on the proposal of the Minister of Confessions.

Patriarch Sophronius of Constantinople did not recognize the act of declaring autocephaly and sent protests to Prince Alexander Cuza, Metropolitan of Wallachia and Locum Tenens of the Metropolis of Moldova.

In the wake of the fight against the “Phanariot heritage,” the Romanian government began to introduce elements of Western culture into church life. The spread of the Gregorian calendar began, the use of an organ during worship and the singing of the Creed with the Filioque were allowed. Protestant confessions received complete freedom of preaching. The interference of secular authorities in church affairs caused protests from a number of Romanian and Moldavian hierarchs.

In 1866, as a result of a conspiracy, Alexander Cuza was removed from power. Prince Carol (Charles) I from the Hohenzollern dynasty became the Romanian ruler. In 1872, the “Law on the election of metropolitans and diocesan bishops, as well as on the organization of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Romanian Church” was issued, which somewhat weakened the dependence of the Church on the state. In accordance with the new law, only bishops could be members of the Synod. The Minister of Confessions received only an advisory vote in the Synod. Prince Carol I also began negotiations with Constantinople regarding the recognition of the autocephaly of the Romanian Church.

After the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War on May 9, 1877, the Romanian parliament declared the country's full independence, which was recognized at the Berlin Congress in 1878. After this, Patriarch Joachim III of Constantinople issued an act granting autocephaly to the Romanian Church. At the same time, Constantinople retained the right to consecrate the holy world. The Romanian church authorities refused to grant Constantinople the right to create peace and, without the blessing of the patriarch, solemnly performed the rite of consecration of the world in the Bucharest Cathedral. After this, Patriarch Joachim III again interrupted canonical communion with the Romanian Church.

The final reconciliation of the two Churches took place in 1885. On April 23 of this year, Patriarch Joachim IV of Constantinople issued a Tomos recognizing the full autocephaly of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The Tomos was solemnly read in Bucharest on May 13, 1885.

The territory of Transylvania was conquered by the Hungarians in the 11th-12th centuries. Orthodoxy in the Kingdom of Hungary did not have the status of a legally recognized religion (recepta), but only a tolerant one (tollerata). The Orthodox population was obliged to pay tithes to the Catholic clergy. The Orthodox clergy was considered an ordinary tax-paying class, which paid state taxes, and if the parish was located on the land of a landowner, then also dues in favor of the latter. In 1541, the Principality of Transylvania was formed, which emerged from the rule of Hungary and recognized the suzerainty of the Turkish Sultan over itself. During the reign of the Wallachian prince Mihai the Brave (1592-1601), Transylvania, Wallachia and Moldova briefly united into one state. As a result of this unification, a separate metropolitanate was established in Transylvania in 1599. However, Hungarian rule was soon restored here. In the middle of the 16th century, Hungarians living in Transylvania adopted Calvinism, which became the dominant religion here.

The Orthodox metropolitan was subordinate to a Calvinist superintendent. Throughout the 17th century, Calvinist princes sought to introduce customs into the life of the Orthodox that would bring them closer to the Reformed churches. In 1697, Transylvania was occupied by the Habsburgs. After this, in 1700, Metropolitan Athanasius and part of the clergy entered into a union with the Roman Catholic Church. The Romanians who remained faithful to Orthodoxy received priests from Serbian bishops located in Austria. In 1783, a separate Orthodox diocese was again established in Transylvania, but this time as part of the Serbian Metropolis of Karlovac. Until 1810, bishops in Transylvania were appointed by the Metropolitan of Karlovac from among ethnic Serbs. In 1810, the Austrian government granted the Transylvanian clergy the right to elect their bishops from among ethnic Romanians. Since the beginning of the 19th century, the residence of the Romanian bishop of Transylvania was in Hermannstadt (now the city of Sibiu). On December 24, 1864, by imperial decree, an independent Romanian Orthodox Metropolis was established in Sibiu, to whose canonical authority all Romanians living in Austria were subject. After the creation of the dual Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1867, Transylvania became part of the Kingdom of Hungary.

Bukovina, which had been part of the Principality of Moldova since the 14th century, was subordinated to the Austrian crown after the Russian-Turkish War of 1768-1774. A separate diocese, which existed here since 1402, became part of the Karlovac Metropolis. In 1873, by imperial decree, the Bukovina diocese received the status of an independent metropolis. The Dalmatian diocese was also included in its composition, so the metropolis began to be called Bukovinian-Dalmatian or Chernivtsi (after the place of the metropolitan residence).

As a result of the First World War, the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed. Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia became part of the Romanian Kingdom. The metropolises and dioceses located in these territories became part of the single Local Church.

On February 4, 1925, the Romanian Orthodox Church was proclaimed the Patriarchate. The legality of this decision was confirmed by the Tomos of the Patriarch of Constantinople dated July 30, 1925. On November 1 of the same year, the solemn enthronement of the first Romanian Patriarch, His Beatitude Miron, took place.

After the outbreak of World War II in June 1940, Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina were annexed to the Soviet Union. The Orthodox parishes located in this territory came under the canonical jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate.

On June 22, 1941, the Kingdom of Romania, together with Germany, entered the war with the USSR. According to the German-Romanian agreement concluded in Bendery on August 30, 1941, the area between the Dniester and Bug rivers was transferred to Romania as a reward for its participation in the war against the Soviet Union. The Romanian zone of occupation received the official name Transnistria (Transnistria), it included the left bank regions of Moldova, the Odessa region and part of the territory of the Nikolaev and Vinnitsa regions. The Romanian Church extended its canonical authority to these territories. In September 1941, the Romanian Patriarchate opened an Orthodox mission in Transnistria led by Archimandrite Julius (Scriban). With the support of the Romanian military authorities, churches and monasteries that ceased their activities under Soviet rule began to open here. Romanian priests were sent to empty parishes. The main attention was paid to the restoration of church life on the territory of Moldova. But even on Ukrainian lands, the Romanian Patriarchate sought to retain control over Orthodox churches. In Transnistria, the activities of the Ukrainian Autonomous and Autocephalous Churches, which existed freely in the Reichskommissariat Ukraine, were prohibited. On November 30, 1942, the Theological Seminary was opened in Dubossary. On March 1, 1942, theological courses for students of all faculties began at Odessa University. In the future, it was planned to create a separate theological faculty in Odessa. Since January 1943, the Orthodox Theological Seminary began operating in Odessa.

The Romanian government, with the help of the Church, sought to Romanianize all of Transnistria. Most of the clergy of Transnistria were of Romanian origin. The Romanian language, Romanian liturgical traditions, and the Gregorian calendar were introduced into worship. For monasteries and churches that resumed their activities, utensils were brought from Romania. All this caused protests from the Slavic population.

From the end of 1942, the mission was headed by the former Metropolitan of Chernivtsi Vissarion (Pui), a graduate of the Kyiv Theological Academy, who somewhat suspended the process of Romanianization of Transnistria.

In November 1943, Transnistria was divided into three dioceses. In February 1944, in Bucharest, Archimandrite Antim (Nika) was consecrated Bishop of Ismail and Transnistria. But already at the end of February, changes at the front forced the mission to leave Odessa and move first to Tiraspol and then to Izmail. On September 12, 1944, an armistice was signed in Moscow between Romania and the USSR, according to which the Soviet-Romanian border as of January 1, 1941 was restored. Thus, Moldova and Northern Bukovina again became part of the USSR. Southern Bukovina remained part of the Romanian Kingdom. In the territories included in the Soviet Union, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate was restored.

On December 30, 1947, King Michael abdicated the throne. The Romanian People's Republic was proclaimed. Socialist transformations began in the country. This was reflected in the life of the Church. In October 1948, the Uniate Church was liquidated. It should be noted that during the interwar period (1918-1938), about 1.5 million Uniates lived in Romania (mainly in Transylvania). The Uniate Church, like the Orthodox Church, had state status in the Romanian kingdom. Now its activities in Romania have been completely prohibited. However, the reunification of the Uniates, initiated by the secular authorities, turned out to be fragile. After the fall of the communist regime, a significant part of the population of Transylvania returned to the union.

Despite the harsh socialist regime, the Church in Romania was not systematically persecuted. Legally, the Romanian Orthodox Church was not separated from the state. The Romanian Constitution of 1965 proclaimed only the separation of the school from the Church (Article 30). In accordance with the decree “On the general structure of religious confessions,” the Church had the right to create charitable organizations, religious societies, conduct publishing activities, own movable and immovable property, use state subsidies and subsidies for the clergy and religious teachers.

The Romanian Patriarch was a member of the Grand National Assembly. From 1948 to 1986, 454 new churches were built in Romania. After the 1977 earthquake, 51 churches were restored with government funds.

After the formation of the independent Moldavian state in 1991, some clergy and laity of the Moldavian diocese, which is part of the Russian Orthodox Church, began to advocate the transition to the jurisdiction of the Romanian Church. This position was most actively defended by the vicar of the Moldavian diocese, Bishop Peter (Paderaru) of Balti and Archpriest Peter Buburuz. At the congresses of the clergy held in Chisinau on September 8 and December 15, 1992, an almost unanimous desire was expressed to remain under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. Bishop Peter was banned from the priesthood for disobedience to his ruling bishop, Metropolitan Vladimir of Kishinev, and for failing to attend a meeting of the Holy Synod. Despite this, on December 19, 1992, Bishop Peter and Archpriest Peter were accepted into the jurisdiction of the Romanian Patriarchate without a letter of release from the Russian Church. On the territory of Moldova, the Bessarabian Metropolis of the Romanian Church was created, headed by Bishop Peter, who was elevated to the rank of metropolitan. This metropolitanate included a small number of Orthodox parishes from Moldova. Currently, negotiations are underway between the Russian and Romanian Churches to normalize the situation caused by the schismatic activities of Bishop Peter.

Today, the Romanian Orthodox Church includes more than 13 thousand church units (parishes, monasteries, monasteries), 531 monastic communities, more than 11 thousand clergy, more than 7 thousand monastics and more than 19 million laity. The Church is divided into 30 dioceses (25 of them are located in Romania and 5 outside it). There are two theological institutes (in Bucharest and Sibiu) and seven theological seminaries. Due to the fact that Romania unites territories that have long existed as separate political entities, the Romanian Orthodox Church has a special structure. Its dioceses are divided into 5 autonomous metropolitan districts. The jurisdiction of the Romanian Orthodox Church also extends to Romanians living in Western Europe, North and South America, Australia and New Zealand. Since 1929, the Romanian Orthodox Missionary Archdiocese has been operating in the USA and Canada, with its center in Detroit. In 1972, the French Orthodox Church with several thousand believers became part of the Romanian Church as an autonomous bishopric. Romanian bishoprics also operate in Hungary and Yugoslavia.

Prepared by Vladimir Burega

Meeting with Orthodox Romania

Last year I was in Romania for several months for work. Lived in Bucharest, but managed to travel around the country. Before that, I knew very little about this country, almost nothing, but the impressions of getting to know Her turned out to be even more vivid.

Romania is an Orthodox country. According to official data, about 87% of the country's population belongs to the Romanian Orthodox Church. And in Bucharest this figure reaches 95%. Orthodox churches in the capital are found at every step. Romanians told me that even the all-powerful Ceausescu at one time could not, as he planned, destroy a significant part of the Orthodox churches in the country.

Most of the churches in Romania are old, but new ones are being created slowly (after all, there is an economic crisis), but the work is moving forward. I watched one such construction site for several months on my way to work.

Much more often than in Russia one can observe the picture when passers-by, including young people, make the sign of the cross when passing by an Orthodox church. In general, in my opinion, there are more young people serving in churches than in Russia. Churches are full on Sundays during services.

The architecture of Romanian Orthodox churches is unique and magnificent. However, in the very center of Bucharest there is a church, as if transferred there from Russia - our typical architecture, towers with “onions”. And there was nothing surprising here. This church was built at the beginning of the twentieth century with money from the royal family. Here then there was a Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church, and Russian priests served.

There are no eight-pointed crosses of ours in Romania. Once in the city of Cluj (in the north-west of Romania), I gave a note in a church, and out of habit, I depicted a Russian Orthodox cross on top. The servant, however, for some reason did not want to take the note from me. We could not understand each other, did not find a common language in the literal and figurative sense of the word. It turned out that the problem was in the cross I depicted. When I tore a strip of paper with a cross from the sheet (I keep this strip), the note was accepted. Then they explained to me that, most likely, they considered me to be a representative of some unknown sect with my unusual cross.

Some external details of the service in Romanian churches are characteristic, for example, there are many young people. Women's heads, as a rule, are not covered; many of the women wear trousers. The behavior of parishioners in the temple is reverent and benevolent towards each other. The bulk of the parishioners conduct the service standing, although there are quite a lot of chairs on which older people sit.

Icons on the walls of churches are usually mosaic. There are no candles placed in front of the icons, only lamps are lit in front of the altar near the icons of the Savior and the Mother of God. During the service, parishioners hand over purchased and lit candles along with notes to the northern gate to the priest, who takes the notes and candles to the altar.

Parishioners are allowed free access to the icons on the iconostasis during services. For the convenience of kneeling prayer, pillows are placed near the altar icons. To shorten the path, parishioners now and then walk from one icon to another along the salt right in front of the Royal Doors.

During Holy Communion, they approach the Chalice, holding a lit candle in their left hand. The cup is not kissed. Confession takes place during the service.

Small radio microphones are attached to the priests' robes. Speakers inside the temple amplify the voices of the priests; in addition, loudspeakers are installed outside, so what is happening in the temple can be heard on neighboring streets.

There are bells in churches, although there are no bell towers; usually the bells are installed on the church building. They are driven by an electric motor, swaying and hitting a stationary “tongue”.

In general, the service is structured the same way as ours. You understand it completely by analogy with the service in a Russian church. Just as we sing in chorus (rather, say out loud in chorus) the Creed and the prayer “Our Father.” The singing at the service is peculiar; I was told that it is similar to what is heard in Greek Orthodox churches.

The Romanian Orthodox Church lives according to the Gregorian calendar, so Christmas and other permanent holidays are at different times for us and for them.

I remember the meetings and conversations with Romanian priests. One of them (unfortunately, I forgot his name) came from the USA, converted to Orthodoxy, and became a priest in that same former Russian church. The other, Father Peter, was the rector of the metochion of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Bucharest. After the monastery was closed by the Romanian authorities, he became a priest in the same church. He pronounces some of the exclamations during the service in our language (the Church Slavonic language is the same for us and the Bulgarians), this makes a very strong impression on the Russians present at the service. Father Peter speaks excellent Russian, spiritually cares for many Russians living in Bucharest.

But most of all I communicated with Father Dumitru (I addressed him in the Russian manner and out of habit - “Father Dimitri”). He is Romanian, but comes from Ukraine. Speaks Russian well.

The impression from communicating with Romanian priests is only positive. They showed me examples of true pastoral love for parishioners.

And the Romanians themselves are generally friendly, friendly people; when communicating with many of them, you feel their peasant roots. The opinion that Romanians are gypsies is erroneous. The gypsy population of this country is very peculiar, and, it must be said, creates a number of social and other problems for Romania.

I will share my impressions of Orthodox Easter in Bucharest in 2010, which was celebrated by parishioners of the Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul in Bucharest.

In the evening after 11 pm on the eve of Easter, people began to gather in the square in front of the temple. Shortly before midnight, this large square becomes completely filled with people. Almost everyone holds unlit lamps in glass jars in their hands. Despite the dense crowd of people, no conversations can be heard, and there is no traffic noise (the traffic around is blocked). Everyone is waiting for the Holy Fire. A table is brought out to the steps in front of the temple, with candles on it.

And so they take out the Holy Fire, just brought from Jerusalem, from the temple. From this candle people light their lamps, the fire is instantly transmitted to everyone in the square. The priests read prayers, the Easter troparion is sung repeatedly (the melody is different from ours):

Christos a inviat din morti

However, then everything looks much more prosaic. Having chanted the troparion, the bulk of those present in the square disperse, taking with them the Holy Fire. The remaining relatively few follow the priests into the temple. The Easter service begins.

The temple turns out to be about one-third full. Despite the fact that the service is in progress, the parishioners are actively communicating with each other, and a steady hum of conversations can be heard. People actively move around the church, gather in groups, disperse again, chatting animatedly, sometimes standing with their backs to the altar. Everyone has joyful faces, a general bright Easter mood takes possession of everyone. Few people remain in the church until the end of the service (at two-thirty in the morning). The Monday after Easter is a day off in Romania.

Alexy Kalachev