Romania, Patriarchal Orthodox Church of

THEODOR DAMIAN

According to the census of 2002,18,817,975 people out of the 21,680,974 inhabitants of Romania are Orthodox Christians; that is, 86.8 percent. In terms of population the Church of Romania is second in size only to Russia, and the most numerous Ortho­dox Church of any state of the European Union.

The Romanian Orthodox Church is an institution of apostolic origin. The Chris­tian faith was known south of the Danube river, in the regions inhabited by Illyr­ians, Thraco-Dacians, and Greeks (today’s Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece), as far back as the second half of the 1st century, through the preaching of St. Paul and his disciples. More specifically, Christianity was spread through the preaching of the Apostle Andrew in what is today the Romanian province of Dobrogea, which, after the administrative reform of Diocletian, was called Scythia Minor. In local traditions St. Andrew is called the “Apostle of the wolves,” which is historically significant in a context where the ethnic symbol of the Dacians was the wolf’s head. In the north­ern part of the Danube river, in Dacia, which in 106 became a Roman province after being conquered by Trajan, the new faith arrived in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd centu­ries, brought by merchants, colonists, and the soldiers of the Roman army who were settled in the newly occupied territory. After the retreat of the Roman legions to the south of the Danube (271) and later, after the promulgation of the Edict of Milan (313), through which Emperor Constantine the Great granted liberty for Christians, the new religion expanded. Significant Chris­tian archeological evidence discovered in the northern territories, as well as all the words of Latin origin in the Romanian lan­guage which define fundamental notions of the Christian faith, stand as proof of this expansion. During the 4th century there also existed, on the eastern borders of the Danube, several diocesan seats such as Singidunum, Viminacium, Bononia, Ratiaria, Oescus, Novae, Appiaria, Abritus, and Durostorum, whose bishops took care of the spiritual needs of the faithful north of the Danube, too. There was a metropolitan seat at Tomis in Scythia Minor (today, Constanta) with as many as fourteen dio­ceses, active in the 4th century and led by diligent bishops (Bretanion, Gerontius, Teotim I, Timotei, loan, Alexandru, Teotim II, Paternus, and Valentinian). According to the historian Eusebius of Caesarea, a Scythian bishop was present at the First Ecumenical Council at Nicea (325) and other bishops who followed him took part in the works of the subsequent councils, as well as in the christological disputes of the time. There are also indications of the exis­tence of diocesan seats in other towns. Well- known theologians from Scythia Minor are St. John Cassian and St. Dionysius Exiguus.

Plate 56 The monastic cells (living quarters) of Rohia Monastery in Northern Romania. The monastery flourished even under communist oppression under the leadership of its higumen bishop, Justinian Chira. Photo by John McGuckin.

During the time of the persecution of Christians, many priests and faithful of the Danubian lands suffered martyrdom for Christ, such as Bishop Ephrem, killed in 304 in Tomis; the Daco-Roman priest Montanus and his wife Maxima, who were drowned, also in 304; and martyrs Zoticos, Attalos, Kamasis, and Filippos (whose relics were discovered in 1971 in a paleo- Christian basilica in Niculitel, Dobrogea). We also know of St. Sava called the Goth,

St. Niceta the Roman, and several others. Relics of martyrs who died in the Decian persecutions (249–51) have also been recently discovered by archeologists.

The second and fourth ecumenical coun­cils put the territories north of the Danube under the jurisdiction of the patriarchate of Constantinople. Later, the faithful in the Dacian lands of present-day Romania, north of the Danube, were placed under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the arch­bishopric Justiniana Prima, founded by Emperor Justinian (535). The city of Sucidava, where probably a diocesan seat existed (the ruins of a basilica from the 4th to 5th centuries were discovered there), had an important role in the introduction of Christianity north of the Danube.

All these diocesan seats disappeared about the year 600, during the great Avaro-Slavic migration. During the 7th to 10th centuries the Slavs settled on the terri­tories of present-day Serbia, Bulgaria, and their surroundings, and exerted a strong influence on Dacian Christianity to the point where even the Slavic language pene­trated into Daco-Romanian worship, even if this language was not generally under­stood by the community. Thus, the Roma­nian people were the only people of Latin origin confessing the Orthodox faith to use the Slavic (Slavonic) language in worship until about the end of the 17th century. Starting in the early 16th century, Slavonic was slowly replaced by Romanian once more. The last liturgy in Slavonic was published in Wallachia in 1736 and in 1863 Romanian became the only official language of the church.

Information about the Christian life of the Daco-Romanians after 600 is scant. However, there are archeological vestiges of the 7th to 10th centuries that certify its continuity on the ancient territory of Romania: ruins of churches at Niculitel and Dinogetia, in the north of Dobrogea, the small rock churches at Basarabi near Constanta, the church ruins at Dabaca (Cluj district) and at Morisena-Cenad (Timis district). In the 13th century the Romanians had bishops of their own, as can be seen from a letter of Pope Gregory IX of 1234, as well as from other records.

After the founding of the two Romanian principalities of Wallachia or Muntenia (ca. 1330) and Moldavia (ca. 1359), metro­politan sees were established in the capitals of both countries. Since Dacia, south of the Danube river, was known as Greater Wallachia, in 1359 the ecumenical patri­archate acknowledged the metropolitanate of Ungro-Wallachia for Dacia north of the Danube, having its seat in Curtea de Arges, and Bishop Iachint of Vicina became its first metropolitan. At the beginning of the 16th century two other diocesan sees were founded, subject to the metropolitanate, at Ramnic and Buzau, which have contin­ued to the present day.

In 1401 the ecumenical patriarchate acknowledged a second Romanian metro­politanate, that of Moldavia, with its seat at Suceava. At the beginning of the 15th century, two suffragan dioceses were founded at Roman and at Radauti, and later in 1598 another one at Husi. In Transylvania, under the rule of the Hungar­ian Catholic kings, three Romanian dioce­san seats were created even though the Romanians were not officially recognized as a nation by the political authorities of the time. At the end of the 15th century St. Stephen the Great, prince of Moldavia, founded a diocesan see at Vad in the district of Cluj. The Romanian Orthodox metropolitanate of Transylvania did not have a permanent residence. Hence the metropolitan resided at Hunedoara, at Feleac in the vicinity of Cluj (at the end of the 15th century), at Geoagiu and at Lancram, near Alba Iulia (in the middle of the 16th century), and then at Alba Iulia.

This metropolitanate was suppressed by the Habsburgs in 1701.

With the help of the princes of Wallachia and Moldavia, the Romanian Orthodox Church started to flourish. Many of its hierarchs became eminent scholars, such as the metropolitans Macarie, Teofil, Stefan, Antim Ivireanul, Neofit Cretanul, and Grigorie Dascalul of Ungro-Wallachia and Anastasie Crimca, Varlaam, Dosoftei, Iacob Putneanul, and Veniamin Costachi of Moldavia. The first manuscript translations into the Romanian language were liturgical books (the Codex of Voronet, the Psalter of Scheia, and the Hurmuzaki Psalter). Book printing began in Wallachia in 1507 by the monk Macarie and was continued by Dimitrie Liubavici and the monk Lavrentie. They printed liturgical texts in the Slavonic language. In Transylvania in the 16th century the printing of books in the Romanian language was started by Filip the Moldavian at Sibiu and the deacon Coresi at Brasov.

Monasticism, always an important dimension of the Romanian Orthodox Church, began steady development from the 14th century when great monasteries began to be built, many of them existing to this day: Vodita, Tismana, Cozia, Cotmeana, Snagov, Dealu, Bistrita, and later Arges, Arnota, Caldarusani, Cernica, Hurezi in Wallachia; Neamt, Bistrita, Moldovita, Humor, and later still Putna, Voronet, Sucevita, Secu, Dragomirna in Moldavia; St. Michael at Peri in Maramures, Ramet, Prislop, and Sambata in Transylva­nia, Hodos-Bodrog and Partos in Banat, and also many others. The monasteries played not only an important religious role in the spiritual life of the faithful, but also a cultural one. In these monasteries diptychs and chronicles were written, litur­gical manuscripts or teaching books in the Slavonic or Romanian languages were copied in beautiful calligraphy, and sacerdotal vestments and other liturgical objects were produced. It was in these mon­asteries that the first Romanian schools were founded: elementary and secondary first, later also encompassing higher educa­tion, such as the academies at St. Nicolae in Brasov-Schei, at Putna, at the Three Hierarchs in Jassy, St. Sava’s Academy in Bucharest, and others.

The Romanian Orthodox Church con­tributed not only to the improvement and development of the moral, social, and cultural life of its people; it also supported other Orthodox Churches, by printing liturgical books in Greek, Slavonic, Arabian, and Georgian, and by other kinds of help offered to them. The princes of the Romanian principalities were generous founders and protectors of the monasteries at Mount Athos and Sinai, as well as benefactors of the patriarchates of Constan­tinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Georgia, and of other churches in many countries. The Romanian Church contributed to the strengthening and pres­ervation of world Orthodoxy through the well-known work The Orthodox Confession of Faith written by the Metropolitan Peter Moghila of Kiev, a Moldavian by birth. This work was approved by a synod held in Jassy in 1642, at which representatives of the Greek, Russian, and Romanian Orthodox Churches were present.

Unlike the Church of Wallachia and Moldavia, the Church of Transylvania passed through numerous difficulties because of the proselytizing campaigns undertaken by the Roman Catholic Church (14th-15th centuries), the Calvinists (17th century), and again the Roman Cath­olics (18th century). The first two were not successful, but the third one, in 1698–1701, had a more lasting effect. Transylvania was then ruled by the Habsburgs. As a result of intrigues at the imperial court in Vienna and by the Jesuits of Transylvania, a small part of the Romanian Orthodox clergy and faithful embraced the “Union with Rome” (the Unia). This diocese resulting from the Unia was placed under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic archbishopric of Esztergom, which later moved to Fagaras and then to Blaj, where in 1853 it was raised to the level of a metropolitanate. The Orthodox Romanians remained without bishops until 1761, when the court in Vienna, compelled by the revolt led by monk Sofronie, appointed for them a Serbian Orthodox bishop. The Orthodox Romanians were granted the right to elect a Romanian bishop only in 1810. The most important Orthodox hierarch of this period was Andrei Saguna, bishop and (from 1864) metropolitan, who succeeded in reestablishing the ancient Orthodox metropolitanate of Transylvania and in restoring its former development. This situation lasted until 1948, when the clergy and faithful belonging to the Unia, under pressure from the communist regime, again merged with the old Romanian Orthodox Church.

In 1859, after the union ofWallachia and Moldavia into a single state called Romania, the issues of ecclesiastical unity and auto- cephaly were once more raised. In 1864 Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza proclaimed the autocephaly of the Romanian Orthodox Church. In 1865 the metropolitan of Bucharest became “Metropolitan Primate.” In 1872 the Holy Synod was created and in 1885 the Ecumenical Patriarch Joachim IV acknowledged its autocephaly. In 1925 the Romanian Orthodox Church became a patriarchate with the first patriarch as Miron Cristea (1925–39).

In parallel with these developments, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, as always during its history, the Romanian Orthodox Church was fully involved in the major events of the Romanian people. Thus in the 1848 revolutions in the three Romanian principalities of Moldavia, Wallachia, and Transylvania, hierarchs, priests, and monks militated energetically for the realization of the national ideals of liberty and unity. Some of the notables from this time were Bishop Andrei Saguna, the priests Ioan Popasu and Simion Balint of Rosia Montana (Transylvania), Metropolitan Meletie of Jassy (Moldavia), Bishop Filotei of Buzau, the priests Radu Sapca of Celei, Oprea and George (Wallachia), and many others.

In 1859, when the Union of Romanian Principalities (Moldavia and Wallachia) took place, the church expressed itself through numerous representatives from the ranks of the clergy. Actively involved were Metropolitan Sofronie Miclescu, Bishop Melchisedec Stefanescu of Roman, Hierarch Filaret Scriban and his brother archimandrite Neofit (Moldavia); Metro­politan Nifon, Bishop Filotei of Buzau, Bishop Calinic of Ramnic, and others, who delivered sermons, wrote letters, booklets, and articles in newspapers, addressed the authorities, and mobilized the faithful in favor of the political union. Some of them were co-presidents and members in the Ad-Hoc Council and the Electoral Assem­bly that elected Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza as single ruler over both principalities, thus achieving the long fought-for dream of national unity.

In 1877 the church was actively involved in the war of independence from the Ottoman Empire. Many priests, monks, and even nuns enrolled in the army at dif­ferent levels; others organized committees of support and collections of goods needed for the troops. Archimandrite Ignatie Serian and Ghenadie Merisescu, protosincel Sava Dumitrescu, and hieromonk Veniamin Alexandrescu are just a few. In World War I (1916–18) hundreds of priests went to serve; some were killed on the front lines, others taken prisoner, deported or exiled.

Another great event in the nation’s history was the Great Union of 1918, when the Romanian principality of Transylvania was united with Romania (Moldavia and Wallachia). Among many clergy and hierarchs who took active part in this event were the priest Vasile Lucaciu of Sisesti, Bishops Ioan Papp of Arad and Dimitrie Radu of Oradea (who were co-presidents of the Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia where the Union was declared), and Metropolitan Miron Cristea (the future patriarch), who was the head of the delegation of the Romanians from Transyl­vania that presented to the authorities in Bucharest the document of the Union (December 1, 1918).

In 1925 the new patriarch Miron Cristea set among his priorities the construction of a new cathedral in Bucharest that he called the Cathedral for the Nation’s Salvation. He also wrote and published several books on folklore and iconography, and collections of sermons; he supported the participation of Romanian theologians in international ecu­menical congresses and meetings and initi­ated such events in Romania, too. He was followed by Patriarch Nicodim Munteanu (1939–48). Patriarch Nicodim excelled by translating and editing over one hundred theological works from Russian into Roma­nian. He wrote several original books and also was one of the translators of the Bible into Romanian. From 1948 to 1977 the Romanian Orthodox Church was led by Patriarch Justinian Marina. Under his lead­ership, although shadowed under the com­munist regime with all its restrictions and pressures, important events occurred in the life of the church, such as the organization and creation of new legislation in the church, the reintegration of the Eastern rite Catholic churches of Transylvania, the reorganization of theological education, the canonization of several Romanian saints, the reorganization of monastic life, the restoration of many ancient monuments of religious art, and the erection of new churches in villages and towns throughout the country. In his time the Romanian Orthodox Church reentered the World Council of Churches (New Delhi, 1961) and participated in all its Pan-Christian and Pan-Orthodox meetings, maintaining fraternal relations with the other Orthodox Churches, as well as with other Christian denominations.

The fourth patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church was Justin Moisescu, who carried out his responsibilities from June 19, 1977 until his death on July 31, 1986. It was through his special care that the church attained a notable level of development in the administrative, theo­logical, and cultural fields, as well as in foreign ecclesiastic relations. On November 16, 1986 the leadership of the Romanian patriarchate was entrusted to His Beatitude Teoctist Arapasu. He was elected for this ministry, having served for four decades as a high prelate at the head of some of the most important dioceses of the Romanian Orthodox Church: in Bucharest as an assistant bishop to the patriarch; at Arad as diocesan bishop; at Craiova as a metro­politan; at the Jassy seat as metropolitan. He was also locum tenens for the metropolitan of Sibiu during the vacancy there.

On September 30, 2007 the sixth patri­arch of the Romanian Orthodox Church was enthroned: His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel (metropolitan of Moldavia and Bucovina from 1990 to 2007). Under his leadership the new bylaws for the organiza­tion and functioning of the Romanian Orthodox Church were finalized. He cre­ated a new media system for the church, laid the cornerstone of the new patriarchal cathedral in Bucharest while consolidating the structures of the current one, esta­blished over a dozen social, cultural, chari­table, and educational programs, created new dioceses in the country, and canonized several new Romanian saints.

As of September 1, 2008 the Romanian patriarchate was made up of six metropol­itan sees in the country and three metropol­itan sees abroad (there are about 12 million Romanians living outside Romania), with forty-one eparchies: the Metropolitan See of Muntenia and Dobrogea at Bucharest, the Metropolitan See of Moldavia and Bucovina at Jassy, the Metropolitan See of Transylvania at Sibiu, the Metropolitan See of Cluj, Alba, Crisana and Maramures at Cluj, the Metropolitan See of Oltenia at Craiova, the Metropolitan See of Banat at Timisoara, the Metropolitan See of Bessa­rabia at Chisinau (Republic of Moldova), the Metropolitan See for Germany, Central and North Europe at Nurnberg, Germany, and the Metropolitan See for Western Europe at Paris. There is also the Romanian Orthodox archdiocese in the Americas based at Chicago. Other dioceses are in Hungary, at Gyula, in Serbia and Montene­gro (Dacia Felix) at Varset, and the Romanian Orthodox diocese for Australia and New Zealand at Melbourne.

Of all Romanians living abroad today there are also many who belong to other ecclesiastical jurisdictions, such as the over eighty Romanian parishes in the United States and Canada that belong to the Orthodox Church of America (OCA) or the Romanians around the current borders of Romania who belong to the jurisdictions of their respective countries (Serbia, Bulgaria, Ukraine). There are other Romanian monas­teries and churches in different places, such as Prodromou and Lacu sketes on Mount Athos, establishments in Jerusalem and Jericho, and parishes in Cyprus, Istanbul, South Africa, and other places.

The Republic of Moldova was in its entire history a Dacian and then Romanian terri­tory. It was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1812, until 1918, when it was reunited with Romania. In 1944 it was reannexed by the Soviet Union and became a Soviet republic. In 1991 it became an independent state. At this time, the Romanian patriarch­ate created the metropolitanate of Bessarabia for the spiritual needs of all Romanians who (except during the time of the Russian Soviet occupation) had always belonged to the Romanian Orthodox Church and who now wanted to rejoin it. However, the govern­ment in Moldova did not allow the metropolitanate to function in Moldova offi­cially. It was only in 2001 that the European Court ruled that the metropolitanate of Bes­sarabia was officially part of the Romanian patriarchate and allowed it to function there.

In the six metropolitanates in the country there is currently a total of 13,612 parishes and branches with 15,083 churches. There are also 637 monasteries and sketes with over 8,000 monks and nuns. At the central administrative level the Romanian Ortho­dox Church is structured as follows: Central deliberative bodies: the Holy Synod, the Standing Synod, and the National Church Assembly; central executive bodies: the Patriarch, the National Church Council, the Standing Committee of the National Church Council; Central administrative bodies: the Office of the Holy Synod and the patriarchal administration.

The highest authority of the Romanian Orthodox Church in all fields of activity is the Holy Synod, made up ofthe patriarch, as president, all the metropolitans, archbishops, eparchial bishops, vicar bishops, and all other serving bishops. Four synodal commit­tees are appointed for preparing the sessions of the Holy Synod: the Pastoral, Monastic and Social Committee; the Theological, Liturgical and Didactic Committee; the Canonical, Juridical and Disciplinary Com­mittee; the Committee for External Commu­nities, for the Inter-Orthodox, Inter­Christian and Inter-Religious Relations. Between the sessions of the Holy Synod the

Standing Synod is the central deliberative body which takes decisions for the life of the church. It is constituted by the patriarch, as president, the metropolitans and three other hierarchs appointed by the Holy Synod every year (an archbishop and two bishops). The central deliberative body of the Romanian Orthodox Church for all administrative, social, cultural, economic, and patrimonial issues is the National Church Assembly, made up of three repre­sentatives of each diocese (one clergy and two lay people), appointed by the respective diocesan assemblies for four years. The members of the Holy Synod take part in the meetings of the National Church Assembly with deliberative vote. The patriarch is the head of the hierarchs of the Romanian Orthodox Church and the president of its central deliberative and executive bodies. The full title of the current patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church is His Beati­tude Daniel, Archbishop of Bucharest, Met­ropolitan of Wallachia and Dobrogea, Locum tenens of the Throne of Caesarea of Cappa­docia and Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church (or Patriarch of Romania).

The central executive body of the Holy Synod and ofthe National Church Assembly is the National Church Council, made up of twelve members of the National Church Assembly (one clergy and one lay person representing every metropolitan see of the country, appointed for four years). The members of the Holy Synod can participate with deliberative vote in the meetings of the National Church Council. The assistant bishops to the patriarch are lawful members of the National Church Council, with deliberative vote; the patriarchal administra­tive vicar, patriarchal counselors, and the general ecclesiastical inspector are standing members with consulting vote.

The Standing Committee of the National Church Council functions between the meetings of the National Church Council, as central executive body, made up of the patriarch, as president, vicar bishops to the patriarch, patriarchal administrative vicar, patriarchal counselors, and the ecclesiastical general inspector. The patriarch is assisted in the exercise of his duties as president of the central deliberative and executive bodies, as well as primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church, by the Office of the Holy Synod and by the patriarchal administration, with the following departments: theological- educational, social-charitable, economic- financial, cultural, patrimony, church and interreligious relations, external communi­ties, communications and public relations, church monuments and constructions, patriarchal stavropegias and social centers, body for inspection and audit. At the local level, the component units of the Romanian Orthodox Church are the parish, monastery, protopresbyterate (deanery), vicariate, epar­chy (archdiocese and diocese), and the metropolitanate.

During the communist regime, while it managed to survive and even have certain accomplishments, the church was severely restricted in its potential, mission, and activities. In the initial phases of commu­nist rule in particular, the faithful were direct witnesses of the persecution, arrest, torture, and killing of thousands of Orthodox priests. One recent study docu­ments that approximately 4,000 Orthodox priests were sent to communist prisons, sometimes two or three times, while others were killed. From the upper ranks of the hierarchy, seventeen bishops were demoted and fifteen were exiled. Many had to endure long years of detention (Caravia et al. 1999).

In a book published by the Romanian Academy, where the authors present a small, but representative selection of 180 informative notes, reports, referrals and accounts, addresses of various informers, militia and security agents, and administra­tive functionaries from the communist system at the local or national level, over 1,800 references are made to Orthodox bishops, priests, deacons, theology profes­sors, theology students, monks, chanters, and believers who were opposing the regime and who were conducting so-called “anti­democratic” activities, speaking against the communist government or writing articles of anti-communist propaganda in the eccle­siastical press (Paiusan and Ciuceanu 2001). Though derided by communist propaganda it was because of Patriarch Justinian Marina’s extraordinary skill and practical wisdom that while suffering this level of persecution the church could still not only hold on, but also develop and grow. In many other countries under communist rule such growth was not possible.

The church was forced to renounce its social philanthropic activities arising from its vocation of mercy; it had to strictly limit itself to the liturgical-sacramental dimen­sion of its existence. The formation of priests and theologians was restricted to five theological seminaries at the high- school level (one at each of the five existing metropolitan sees) and two schools of theology at the university level. The patri­archate and each metropolitan see had its own theological journal published a few times a year, besides a pastoral guide published once a year. The communist government exerted strict control over their content. In the metropolitanate of Transylvania there was also a bi-weekly newspaper, Telegraful Roman, which was and still remains the only publication in the entire country to appear without inter­ruption since its foundation in 1853.

After the fall of the communist regime in 1989 the Romanian Orthodox Church, which, according to repeated surveys, con­tinues to enjoy the highest trust among Romanians, had a chance to develop at all levels. The church canonized thirty-six Romanian saints and extended the honor­ing at the national level of another forty-two local saints, so that the total num­ber of Romanian saints, including those previously canonized, rose to ninety-seven. Some of these are Daniel the Hermit (Sihastrul), Evangelicus of Tomis, Gherman of Dobrogea, John Cassian, Gheorghe of Cernica, Nicodim of Tismana, Oprea Nicolae, Paisy Velichovsky of Neamt, Sofronie of Cioara, Visarion Sarai, and Voivode Stephen the Great.

One of the most important aspects of the church since 1989 has been its engagement in social work. At the central and regional levels, departments, programs, and branches were created that cover a vast and diverse area of social work. To enhance the efficiency of its philanthropic activity the church signed sev­eral protocols with the government and in 2007 it established the Philanthropic Feder­ation of the Romanian Patriarchate. There are now in the Romanian patriarchate over forty offices of coordination of social work and assistance, with over 200 employees qualified in social work as well as theology. The number of social assistance establish­ments founded and administered by the patriarchate is over 350 and includes shelters for children (109) and for the elderly (51), soup kitchens and bakeries (106), clinics and pharmacies (37), counseling centers (33), centers for victims of human trafficking (2), and centers for assistance for families in dif­ficulty (19).

These institutions are developing pro­grams for the help of children who come from poor families, for the prevention of school drop-out, for orphan children, for those in correctional facilities, and for the help of the Roma population. There are also programs for religious assistance in hos­pitals, in nursing homes, and in homeless shelters, where well over 300 churches and chapels exist with over 300 priests; programs of religious assistance in prisons (over fifty churches and chapels with as many working priests), and programs of religious assistance in the military units (over eighty churches and chapels with about eighty military priests). The church trains its own workers in such fields. For this reason it introduced in theological schools at the university level sec­tions, programs, and curricula ofsocial assis­tance. Another expression of the social engagement of the church is evident in the constitution of local committees of bioethics in Cluj, Jassy, and Bucharest, and a National Committee on Bioethics with the special task to study and evaluate the specific issues raised by bioethics, such as abortion, contraception, genetic manipulation, in vitro procreation, and organ transplants. These committees are creating the documentation based on which the church will express its official position.

After 1989, religious education has been expanded at all levels. Religion has been reintroduced as a compulsory discipline in high schools, a subject taught by over 10,000 teachers. The number of Orthodox theological seminaries at high-school level has risen from five to thirty-nine (with over 700 teachers and over 6,000 students annu­ally); there are now schools of religious chanters and post-high-school departments with double specialization in theology and social work; fifteen schools of theology at university level with eight specializations and approximately 450 professors teaching over 11,000 students (7,000 male and 4,000 female). There are master’s programs at eleven of the fifteen schools of theology and doctoral programs at the theological schools in Bucharest, Sibiu, Cluj, and Oradea. The church offers scholarships for students from the Republic ofMoldova and from other Romanian areas around the current borders of the country.

The Romanian Orthodox Church has a long and significant tradition of theological education. Among the best- known theologians, past and present, are Dumitru Staniloae (dogmatic theology); Petru Rezus (fundamental theology); loan Zagrean (moral theology); Bartolomeu Anania, Vasile Tarnavschi (biblical studies); Mircea Pacuraru (historical studies); Ioan G. Coman (patristics); Liviu Stan (canon law); Ene Braniste (liturgics); Atanasie Negoita (Oriental studies); Ioan Bria (ecumenical studies). At the present time the most widely known Romanian theolo­gian in Romania and abroad is Dumitru Staniloae (1903–93). He taught at the theological schools of higher education in Sibiu and Bucharest, but also spent five years in communist prisons (1958–63). He published many books of dogmatic and moral theology, and translated works from the church fathers in a series called Philokalia that appeared in twelve volumes. His works have been translated and published in French, English, German, Greek, and Serbian. He is considered one of the most important theologians and Christian thinkers in the world today.

One of the most important achieve­ments of the church after 1989 has been the unprecedented use of mass-media technology. In a world dominated by com­munication, the church remains faithful to the traditional means of conveying the right teaching of faith, but is open to modern technology in its missionary work. Thus the Basilica press center of the Romanian patriarchate was set up in Bucharest shortly after the inauguration of Patriarch Daniel Ciobotea in the fall of 2007. The new institution is seated in the patriarchal palace and made up of five branches: the Trinitas radio station, the Trinitas TV station, a group of three publications (Lumina – “The Light,” a daily newspaper; Lumina de Duminica – “Sunday Light,” a weekly publication; Vestitorul Ortodoxiei – “Herald of Orthodoxy,” a monthly magazine), the Basilica news agency, and a press and public relations office. There is also a multitude of other magazines and publishing houses for reli­gious books, from those belonging to major church dioceses, to those belonging to deaneries and even parishes. The radio sta­tions and programs that were created at the diocesan centers are part of this revival, too, as well as numerous workshops where reli­gious objects for liturgical use and daily spiritual needs are manufactured.

During its entire existence the Romanian Orthodox Church has brought its direct and effective contribution to the most important events that marked the history of the nation and to the development of Romanian cul­ture, while maintaining the aspirations ofthe Romanian people for national liberty and social justice and helping strengthen the con­sciousness of national unity. The Romanian Orthodox Church is thus one of the most vigorous branches of world Orthodoxy. It is capable of a significant contribution for fur­thering the cause of Orthodoxy, to help improve ecumenical and brotherly relations among all Christian churches and denomi­nations, and to promote peace and good understanding among peoples.

SEE ALSO: Canonization; Contemporary Orthodox Theology; Education; Newly Revealed Saints; Philokalia; St. John Cassian (ca. 360-ca. 435); St. Paisy Velichovsky (1722–1794); Staniloae, Dumitru (1903–1993)

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Caravia, P., Constantinescu, V., and Stanescu, F. (1999) The Imprisoned Church: Romania 1944–1989. Bucharest: Romanian Academy, National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism.

Damian, T. (2005) “The Romanian Orthodox Church Between Deja-vu and Pas encore,” La voie de la Lumiere, year 11, Nos. 129–30, Montreal.

Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church (2009) “Situatia Bisericii Ortodoxe Romane si Legaturile ei Ecumenice in Contextul Noii Europe (1989–2009),” Meridianul Romanesc, year 36, No. 13, Santa Clarita, CA.

Danila, N. (2001) Daco-Romania Christiana: Florilegium Studiorum. Bucharest: Danubius. Diaconescu, M. (1999) Istoria literaturii daco- romane. Bucharest: Alcor Edimpex.

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