It is one hundred years since the union of Transylvania, Banat, Crișana and Maramureș with the Motherland was proclaimed in Alba Iulia, following the proclamation on 27 March 1918 of the union of Bessarabia, and on 28 November 1918 the union of Bukovina was proclaimed. In the hundred years that have passed since the great act of uniting the Romanians into a single country, in the century that has passed since then, numerous works have been written highlighting the sacrifices made by Romanians everywhere during the First World War, as well as the contribution of Romanian patriots to the realisation of the Great Union. As early as 1922–1924, Professor Constantin Kirițescu of Bucharest (1876–1965) had published his admirable work The History of the War for National Unification, in three massive volumes, followed by another work, in French: La Roumanie dans la guerre mondiale (Paris, 1934, 496 pp.). Numerous other historians, including military historians, have examined various aspects of our war and the Union of 1918. Unfortunately, these historians overlooked the sacrifices made by the clergy during the war and the way in which they contributed to the achievement of the Union. This was done by two parish priests, one from Cluj and the other from Bucharest, in their works: The Contribution of the Romanian Clergy of Transylvania to the War for National Unification (Cluj, 1925, 180 pp.), by Sebastian Stanca, and The Romanian Clergy and National Unification (2 vols., Bucharest, 1940) by Grigore N. Popescu, which has now been republished by the Patriarchate. In 1968, marking the 50th anniversary of the Union, numerous studies devoted to the Union appeared in the church journals of the time: The Romanian Orthodox Church, the Metropolis of Moldavia and Bukovina, the Metropolis of Transylvania, the Metropolis of Banat, and the Metropolis of Oltenia.
Now, on the occasion of the Centenary of the Union, it is fitting to recall in these pages the sacrifices made by the Romanian clergy during the war years, as well as the direct contribution of the Church’s ministers to the realisation of the Union.
Even before Romania entered the war, in 1915, the Holy Synod appointed Father Constantin Nazarie, a lecturer at the Faculty of Theology in Bucharest, as archpriest of active military priests and those who were to be mobilised. On 28 October 1915, he drew up a set of instructions concerning the duties of military chaplains: recruitment, activities in times of peace and war—particularly during military operations—the rights of the military clergy, and discipline. In the summer of 1916, he held meetings with military chaplains, providing them with the necessary guidance regarding their role in the event of war. On 15 August 1916, Professor Constantin Nazarie was appointed head of the Religious Service attached to the General Headquarters of the Romanian Army, and Father Vasile Pocitan, a teacher of religion in Bucharest, was appointed as his assistant, who later became a vicar bishop under the name Veniamin. Both held these posts until the end of the war.
The work of the military priests was very varied: liturgical, pastoral, social and cultural, consisting of celebrating the Divine Liturgy, either in the village churches near which the military units were quartered, or in makeshift tents and even in the open air; hearing the confessions of and administering Holy Communion to officers and soldiers; blessing water on the first day of the month or before setting off for battle; burying those who had fallen in the line of duty; encouraging the troops right in the trenches; caring for the wounded, alongside doctors and nurses; distributing aid to the families of those who had fallen heroically in battle, providing aid to poor children in the villages where military units were stationed; organising ‘cultural circles’ in which lessons in reading, writing, arithmetic, history and geography were held, and even organising military choirs, etc. 1.
A total of 252 priests from all over the country served as military chaplains (equivalent to the rank of lieutenant, with over 150 promoted to the rank of captain), including even a few Transylvanian refugee priests. Several of them sacrificed their lives on the battlefield in defence of their homeland: Nicolae Armășescu from Tomșani, Vâlcea; Nicolae Furnică from Urziceni, Ialomița; and Ștefan Ionescu-Cazacu from Poiana-Olt (who died from wounds sustained in the battles at Mărăști; his remains are interred in the mausoleum there). Others were taken prisoner and deported to Germany or Bulgaria, where they were forced to labour under humiliating conditions: Ioan Florescu, from Dâmbovița, a religious education teacher in Bucharest; Vasile Ionescu from Groșerea, Gorj; Gheorghe Jugureanu from Mizil, Prahova; Emanuil Mărculescu from Corabia; Ioan Rătescu; Dumitru Berlogeanu; and Ioan Cerbulescu; some died shortly after the end of the war, such as the priest Constantin Buzescu from Vitănești, Olt. Many priests were wounded.
All 252 military priests fulfilled their duty to the full on the battlefields, earning the appreciation of army commanders and receiving decorations. We quote Protosinghel Iustin Șerbănescu of Cernica Monastery, formerly a ‘troop boy’, then a private, corporal and sergeant in the army, after which he became a monk at Cernica. At the outbreak of the war, he volunteered as a military chaplain in the 4th Ilfov Regiment. In a memorandum submitted to the Ministry of War on 6 May 1918 and then another to King Ferdinand on 15 June 1918, and another on 30 August 1918, he recounted his contribution to the fighting in Transylvania, defending the retreat in the Prahova Valley, particularly at Azuga 2. One of his commanders described him in these glowing terms: “He took part in all the battles, marching at the head of the regiment’s fighters with the holy cross in his hand. On 2 October 1916, seeing that the Feldioara Regiment had lost almost all its officers in battle and that its commander had been wounded on Mount Clăbucetul Taurului, he took command of this unit and, fighting like a hero for a day and a night, drove the enemy back as far as Mount Susai, preventing them from occupying Azuga”. He was, however, taken prisoner amidst his troops, who were no longer able to defend themselves. In the summer of 1917, he managed to escape, wandering through the mountains for several months until he managed to cross over to the Romanian lines a3 For his acts of bravery, Father Iustin Șerbănescu was awarded the ‘Crown of Romania’, the ‘Star of Romania’ and the Order of ‘Mihai Viteazul’. In 1918, he accompanied our troops to Bessarabia, and then to the ‘Tisa Campaign’4.
Words of praise have been written about numerous military priests.
The priests who remained in the territories occupied by German troops (Oltenia and Muntenia) endured even greater suffering. Approximately 20 priests from these parts of the country were shot by soldiers of the German army. Among them was the young priest Constantin Păunescu from Radomirești, Olt, who was shot in Drăgășani in the presence of his wife, children and father, after a grave had been dug in front of him; his wife served six months in prison, and two of his children died in infancy. The following priests were shot: Vasile Iliescu from Homești, Buzău; Ghiță Giurgescu from Bârlănești, Buzău, who was bayoneted to death in his own home; Iosif Popescu from Gheboaia, Dâmbovița, killed in a field near the village; Gheorghe Chiciorea from Spulber, Vrancea, who died on Christmas Day 1917 as a result of the beatings he had suffered; his wife died a month later, leaving 11 children orphaned, etc.
Among those deported to Germany who lost their lives, we note Alexandru Georgescu from Dăneasa, Olt, sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, who died in a prison in Berlin, Iordache Pătrășcoiu from Arsurile, Gorj, who died in the Lamsdorf camp, Constantin Gogiulescu from Otești, Olt, and others. Hundreds of other priests were interrogated, beaten, robbed of their possessions and driven from their parishes. Their orphaned children and widowed wives would endure the same suffering both during the German occupation and afterwards.
Priests in the counties of Constanța, Tulcea, Ialomița and Brăila also endured the same suffering at the hands of the Bulgarian occupation forces. Around 20 were shot or died as a result of the suffering they endured (among those shot was the 98-year-old priest Constantin Niculescu from Stejaru, Ialomița County!); Gheorghe Balaban and his wife Florica, from Viziru, Brăila, and Vasile Aftenie from Valea Nucarilor. Several priests from Tulcea County and a number of monks from Cocoș Monastery were deported to southern Bulgaria. Among them was Father Ioan Florescu-Dâmbovița from the ‘Stejarul’ Church and a teacher of Religious Education in Bucharest, who was taken to southern Bulgaria and left accounts of the suffering endured in the camps at Kârdjali, Haskovo, Tolovo, Ustovo and elsewhere. Many others were beaten and robbed of their possessions 5.
We must not overlook the monks and nuns from the monasteries of Moldova who worked with great self-sacrifice to care for the sick and the wounded. Particular credit is due to Metropolitan Pimen Georgescu of Moldova, who insisted on the medical training of over 250 monks and nuns from his diocese, who subsequently worked in hospitals and medical trains. Metropolitan Pimen also made several monasteries available to the army for the care of the wounded. A Mission of Monastic Nurses was organised, led by Archimandrite Teoctist Stupcanu. Monks who had been ordained as priests (hieromonks) also served as spiritual fathers in those hospitals. It should also be noted that several monks and nuns died in the line of duty, mainly due to the typhus epidemic that was ravaging 6 at the time. After the war, Metropolitan Pimen also decided that those monks who had been ordained as priests should be assigned to vacant parishes in Moldova. The nuns came mainly from the monasteries of Agapia and Văratec; they worked in hospitals in Piatra Neamț, Iași, Botoșani and Dorohoi. Among them was the nun Mina Hociotă, from Nămăești Monastery, originally from Săliștea Sibiului 7.
In another part of Romanian territory, in Bukovina, several priests were imprisoned in the Talerhof camp, near Graz; several died there due to the inhumane living conditions (such as Simion Voloseniuc, Dimitrie Brăileanu, Gheorghe Dracinschi, Corneliu Tomovici, and the monk Chiril Cozarchievici from Dragomirna, whilst the priest Gheorghe Pițu from Cosmin was murdered. Metropolitan Vladimir Repta of Bukovina was forced to take refuge in Vienna due to the fighting taking place in Bukovina and Galicia (he also took the relics of Saint John the New of Suceava there). The Habsburg state authorities demanded his resignation on several occasions, but he refused to resign. Many priests were forced to leave their parishes during the fighting in Bukovina.
In Bessarabia, several ‘Moldovan’ priests were conscripted into the Tsarist army and sent to the front. Among them was the young priest Alexei Mateevici, who died of typhus in a military hospital. Several priests were shot during the retreat of the Bolshevised Russian troops in the summer of 1917 8.
After Romanian troops entered Bessarabia to drive out the Bolshevised Russian forces, they were accompanied by over 30 priests who, alongside several priests from the former Tsarist army, were stationed in the garrisons of Chișinău, Tighina, Bălți, Soroca, Orhei, Reni, Leova, Ismail or in military hospitals. They were priests from Old Romania as well as from Transylvania, including: Constantin Partenie, the archpriest of the military priests in Bessarabia and spiritual director of the Chișinău garrison, a former priest-colonel in the Tsarist army, Carol Voinea, Nicolae Papadima, both from Dobruja; the priest Teodor Simedrea (the future Bishop of Bălți and later Metropolitan of Chernivtsi, Tit); Gheorghe Voicu, Gheorghe Crețu, the elderly priest from Vâlcea, Meletie Răuțu; the Transylvanian priests Constantin Proca, Iosif Comănescu, Zenovie Popovici, Andrei Gâlea, etc.; and the hieromonks Calinic Pop Șerboianu, Atanasie Murza and others.
The mission of these priests was extremely difficult, as some of the Russian and Ukrainian priests there refused to conduct services in Romanian or to commemorate the royal family during services; they encountered the reluctance of some peasants and even intellectuals to accept the new political situation, as well as a lack of understanding of the state of affairs in Romania. In this situation, the Romanian priests conducted services in Romanian, always accompanied by sermons; they delivered sermons on every occasion, organised small Romanian cultural celebrations, and even ran Romanian language courses with Bessarabian schoolteachers and even with peasant believers 9.
In Transylvania and the Banat, the sacrifices made by the clergy were just as great. Romania’s entry into the war on 14/27 August 1916, alongside the Entente Powers, prompted the Hungarian authorities to launch a fierce crackdown on any manifestations of Romanian identity in Transylvania. Their campaign was directed primarily against intellectuals and, in particular, against priests, the spiritual leaders of the Romanian villages. Around 150 Romanian priests – whether Orthodox or United – were arrested, tried and thrown into prisons in Cluj, Târgu-Mureș, Odorhei, Oradea, Timișoara, Caransebeș, Seghedin and elsewhere. A few were sentenced to death, but most were sentenced to imprisonment, on charges of ‘treason against the (Hungarian!) homeland’ or ‘espionage in favour of Romania’.
We note the names of a few such priests: Coman Baca from Poplaca and Ioan Coman from Sita Buzăului, Brașov, sentenced to death by hanging (the sentence was not, however, carried out), Teofil Păcurariu from Nandu Vale, Hunedoara (12 years’ hard labour, reduced to five years), Mihai Ganea from Veneția de Jos, Făgăraș (eight years and six months), all of whom died shortly after their release; Nicolae Munteanu and Iosif Cațavei from Lisa, Făgăraș (four years; both died in prison); Nicolae Vlad from Șelimbăr, Sibiu (ten years), Lazăr Popa from Șinca Nouă, Făgăraș (eight years, reduced to three), Ioan Capătă from Șona, Făgăraș (five years), Ioan Modroiu from Vama Buzăului, Brașov (four years), Ioan Bogdan from Zizin, Brașov (four years), Ioan Nan from Sânpetru, Brașov (three years), Ilarie Gonțea from Țânțari, Brașov (January 1917 – April 1918), Ioan Toma from Doboli de Jos, Covasna (August 1916 – 10 May 1918), Gheorghe Burlea from Barcani, Covasna (December 1916–November 1918), Vasile Runcanu from Lătureni, Alba (September 1916–November 1918), Ioan Ciobanu from Ciglean, Sălaj (sentenced to four years’ imprisonment in Debrețin along with several fellow believers, for having provided food to Italian prisoners), Gheorghe Neagovici from Întorsura Buzăului, Covasna (three years) and others. All served only part of their sentences – mainly in the prison in Cluj – and were released following the events of autumn 1918.
A further 220 priests and some 18 female clergy, some of whom had young children, were deported to Șopron County, the most remote region in western Hungary. There they lived in the most abject poverty, being forcibly resettled either in the town of Sopron or in the villages of the county (Ruszt, Sopronnyek, Borisfalva, Csava, Lakompak, etc.). From this staggering number of deportees, we recall just a few names: Archpriest Dr Ioan Lupaș of Săliște (already a member of the Romanian Academy at that time) was deported to Ruszt (15 August–13 October 1916), and subsequently placed under house arrest in Budapest until 6 August 1917. We also note, amongst them, Dr Nicolae Stinghe from Brașov, with his wife and two children, one aged two and the other six weeks old (August 1916–May 1918), Archpriest Vasile Saftu from Brașov, with two children (August 1916–July 1918), Ioan Prișcu from Brașov, with his wife and two daughters (August 1916–January 1918), Patriciu Pintea from Cața, Brașov (August 1916–July 1918), Gheorghe Furtună from Covasna (imprisoned for one year in Brașov, then deported, August 1916–July 1918), Ștefan Rusu from Târgu Mureș (September 1916–July 1918) and many others.
Other priests were deported to the Zombor region in northern Serbia. Among those from Sibiu County, the following are worth noting: Dumitru Bunea from Sadu (10 months), Emil Dancăș from Rășinari (August 1916–June 1917), Toma Dragomir from Turnu Roșu (September 1916–November 1918), Iosif Morariu from Hosman (aged 78, September 1916–May 1918), Nicolae Pinciu, also from Hosman (one year and nine months in Becicherecu Mare), Isaia Popa from Ocna Sibiului, with his entire family (September 1916–June 1917), Trandafir Scorobeț from Roșia (later Vicar Bishop of Sibiu, under the name Teodor, imprisoned in Cluj and Oradea, then deported to Zombor, February 1917–June 1918), Vasile Spătariu from Armeni (September 1916–June 1917) and others.
In addition to these priests, there were several female clergy, who were deported on their own. Among them was Aurelia, the widow of the priest Iosif Goga from Rășinari, who was deported to Ruszt in Șopron County from 15 August 1916 until 10 May 1918. Her only ‘crime’ was that she was the mother of the poet of ‘our suffering’, Octavian Goga, who had campaigned so vigorously for Romania’s entry into the war with a view to achieving our national unity. Also from Rășinari was Elvira, the wife of the priest Emilian Cioran, who was evacuated along with her three children alongside the Romanian army beyond the Carpathians from September 1916 until Christmas of that same year, when she returned home; in February 1917 she was arrested and detained for over three months in prisons in Sibiu and Cluj. She was the mother of the future philosopher Emil Cioran! The priest’s wife Maria Morușca from Șeica Mare (sister of the theology professor Nicolae Bălan, the future metropolitan) was deported to Ruszt and Sopron from August 1916 until 10 May 1917 (along with her, 1,300 men and 220 women were also taken to Cluj).
They were escorted to the station at bayonet point, loaded into coal wagons, and made to wait for hours on end at other stations, hungry and thirsty, on their way to Șopron or other destinations; for example, such a journey from Sibiu to Ruszt took about a week. Upon arriving in Sopron or in the villages of the county, they were met with the locals’ refusal to offer them shelter, and when they did find it, it was entirely inadequate; they also faced a refusal to provide them with food; they often had to travel to other villages to find the bare necessities for food. They could not receive any aid from home, as their families either had nothing left or had taken refuge beyond the Carpathians. Only a few Romanian banks granted them some financial assistance: ‘Albina’ in Sibiu, ‘Victoria’ in Arad, ‘Ardeleana’ in Orăștie and others.
The priests thrown into prisons in Transylvania and Banat endured the same hardships: 10–15 to a cell, meagre food, often just once a day, and when summoned before the ‘investigating judge’, they were led away in chains, where they were savagely beaten by gendarmes and kicked with their boots. These were just some of the many hardships endured by the ‘Wallachian priests’, traitors to the Hungarian homeland.
Following the withdrawal of Romanian troops from Transylvania in September 1916, over 140 priests from the regions of Sibiu, Făgăraș and Brașov were forced to accompany them to Old Romania, for fear of reprisals by the Hungarian authorities. Some of them were appointed as priests in various parishes in Moldavia, whilst others ended up as far away as Ukraine. All of them returned only after the war had ended. We note in particular the writer Ion Agârbiceanu, who was then in the parish of Orlat, Sibiu County (with his wife and four children). A few of them volunteered as priests in the Romanian army.
We should also mention that a number of priests were mobilised and sent to the front to provide spiritual care for Romanian soldiers fighting in the Austro-Hungarian army in Italy or Galicia. Among them were the priest and professor Aurel Crăciunescu from the Theological-Pedagogical Institute in Sibiu; the priest Sebastian Rusan from Vulcan, Hunedoara, who towards the end of his life became Metropolitan of Moldavia; Virgil Nistor; the future Bishop Veniamin of Caransebeș; Pompei Morușca, from Șeica Mare, Sibiu; the future Bishop Policarp in America; Andrei Moldovan from Brădeni, Sibiu, who was also to become a bishop in America; the priest Ștefan Muntean from Gyula (in Hungary), the future professor at the Theological Academy in Oradea; Ioan Dăncilă from Râpa Râmețului, who after the war became a military chaplain and a teacher at the military school in Sibiu; and Ioan Felea from Pecica, Arad, the brother of the well-known professor Ilarion Felea; he was among those who organised the Legion of Romanian Volunteer Prisoners in Italy, and after the war was entrusted by the Romanian Government with the repatriation of the remains of Romanian soldiers from Transylvania and Bukovina who had died on the Italian front. Nor should we forget the military chaplain Nicolae Peicu from Galomfalău, the archpriest of Sighișoara, who died on the Italian front on 17 December 1916 10.
Nor should the Theological-Pedagogical Institute in Sibiu be overlooked, a school with long-standing Romanian spiritual traditions. Immediately after the Romanian troops crossed the Carpathians, the Hungarian authorities decided that both the Diocesan Consistory in Sibiu and the Chapter in Blaj should be transferred to Oradea. In addition to the Consistory (with the elderly vicar, Archimandrite Dr Ilarion Pușcariu, and the ‘assessors’ Nicolae Ivan, the future Bishop of Cluj, Matei Voileanu, George Proca and Lazăr Triteanu, the future Bishop Lucian of Roman, and the secretary Octavian Costea), the lecturers and students of the ‘theological’ department of the Sibiu institute were also moved to Oradea (the ‘pedagogical’ department having been transferred to Arad, along with all its teaching staff). All the Sibiu assessors and lecturers, some accompanied by their families – 23 people in total – were transported to Oradea in a cattle wagon. The journey lasted four days and four nights (they spent 19 hours in Vințul de Jos alone!); another ‘special train’ (as the Hungarian press reported), carrying teachers and priests from Sibiu, arrived in Oradea three days later. Among the teachers were: Archimandrite Eusebiu Roșca (the headmaster), Vasile Stan, Nicolae Bălan, Pavel Roșca, Romulus Cândea and Timotei Popovici. Of the other teachers, Silviu Dragomir, Ascaniu Crișan and Victor Păcală were in Arad with the ‘teaching department’, Ioan Oțoiu had taken refuge in old Romania, and Aurel Crăciunescu had been conscripted as a military chaplain in the Habsburg army. The theology students attended classes for the 1916–1917 academic year in Oradea, whilst the ‘pedagogy students’ were in Arad. It is true that most of the Sibiu pedagogy students were conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian army and sent to various fronts. Of the ‘theology students’, three were deported to Șopron County (apparently to Borisfalva): Nicolae Șoneriu (future history teacher), Ioan Pop (both in their third year) and Emil Pop from the second year (the future botanist, professor at the University of Cluj and member of the Academy). They were only allowed to return to Oradea to continue their studies in April 1917. Several other theologians from Sibiu set off with the Romanian troops across the Carpathians. Worthy of note are Nicolae Colan from Araci, Covasna – the future academician and Metropolitan of Transylvania – and his colleague Andrei Oțetea from Sibiel, the future historian and academician; Dumitru Stroia from Cacova (Fântânele), Sibiu, who later became a lawyer in Sibiu; Nicolae Tolu from Săliște; Vasile Tipuriță from Vale, Sibiu; and Vlad Enescu from Moeciu de Jos, Brașov, all second-year graduates (they were permitted to sit their third-year examinations in a special session in 1919). Nicolae Colan and Andrei Oțetea worked on the editorial staff of the newspaper Ardealul, which became România Nouă in Chișinău, alongside another ‘Sibian’ who had ended up there, the former lecturer at the Theological-Pedagogical Institute and school inspector Onisifor Ghibu.
It was not until 1 July 1917 that the state authorities approved the return of the Consistory and the Theological Institute to Sibiu, although everything had been prepared for this move as early as the end of December 1916. From the autumn of 1916 until January 1918, the building of the Theological-Pedagogical Institute was converted into a military hospital.
National Unity
After two years of war and suffering, moments of joy and spiritual uplift followed for Romanians everywhere, with the realisation of the union of Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bukovina with the ‘motherland’. In the run-up to this memorable event in our country’s history, the ancestral Church throughout the entire Romanian ethnic territory played its part.
The first Romanian province to be united with the motherland was Bessarabia, through the act of union voted by the Sfatul Țării in Chișinău on 27 March/9 April 1918 (with 86 votes in favour, 3 against, 36 abstentions, with 13 deputies absent). The Romanian territory between the Prut and Dniester rivers was returning to the country from which it had been torn away, by force and treachery, by a power alien to the Romanian people and spirit, 106 years earlier. The achievement of this memorable act was due, first and foremost, to the great scholars and patriots Pantelimon Halippa, Ion Inculeț, Ion Pelivan (all three graduates of the Chișinău Seminary and of Russian universities), Daniel Ciugureanu, Vasile Stroescu, Ștefan Ciobanu, Anton Crihan (†1993, in the USA, aged 100; buried in Chișinău) and others. Alongside them were clergymen of the Church, such as the archimandrites Gurie Grosu, the future Metropolitan of Bessarabia, and Dionisie Erhan, the future Bishop of Ismail, the priests Alexandru Baltaga of Călărași-Lăpușna (who died in 1941 whilst in Soviet exile), Andrei Murafa and others. To these was added the professor and journalist Grigore Constantinescu, who later became a priest; a native of Iași and a graduate of the Theological Academy in Kiev, who for many years taught Romanian at the Seminary in Chișinău and mentored the Romanian press in Bessarabia (for example, the church magazine Luminătorul), and was an advocate for the ‘Romanianisation’ of the local culture; the Transylvanian theologian and educator Onisifor Ghibu, who organised Romanian language courses in Chișinău in 1917–1918, and who, whilst there, launched three Romanian periodicals (Ardealul, România nouă and Școala moldovenească), campaigning – through all these endeavours – for the reawakening of the national consciousness of the Romanians in Bessarabia and, ultimately, for its union with Romania.
Another Romanian ‘region’, Bukovina (seized by the Habsburg Empire as early as 1775 through a constituent assembly in Chernivtsi), led by the priest Dionisie Bejan, proclaimed its union with the mother country, on 28 November 1918, by representatives of the local population. A National Council comprising 50 members, representing all social classes, was also elected at that time, with Dionisie Bejan as its president. The Council established a government with 14 ‘secretariats of state’, headed by Iancu Flondor. The Austrian governor in Chernivtsi was asked to transfer power to the new government.
We shall highlight just a few aspects of the contribution made by the clergy of the Romanian Church in Transylvania to the realisation of the Union.
The well-known champion of the Romanian people’s rights, the priest Vasile Lucaciu of Șișești, near Baia Mare, had travelled to the motherland, together with Octavian Goga, as early as 1914, carrying out extensive efforts to secure Romania’s entry into the war on the side of the Entente. At the same time, he was elected president of the Cultural League in Bucharest. In 1917, he was sent by the Romanian Government, together with the priest and journalist Ioan Moța from Orăștie and Vasile Stoica, a lawyer and officer in the Romanian Army originally from Avrig, to America (via Siberia and Japan), to present the Romanian demands to the political authorities there. The three delegates’ journey lasted over two months (from 18 April to 29 June). On the way, they stopped at Darnița, near Kiev, where Romanian prisoners (from the Habsburg army) were being held; these men had signed – on 13/26 April 1917 – a declaration of union with Romania.
In Washington, they held talks with a number of American figures, to whom they set out Romania’s demands: Robert Lanbing, Secretary of State; Franklin Lane, Secretary of the Interior; Newton Baker, Secretary of War; Theodore Roosevelt, former President of the United States; and the incumbent President, Woodrow Wilson. Furthermore, several meetings were organised with Romanians living in America: in Washington, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Trenton and New York. And Father Ioan Moța edited – in Cleveland, for two months – his well-known newspapers from Orăștie, Libertatea and Foaia Interesantă. Of course, the delegation of the ‘National Patriotic Mission’ also contributed to the formation of the Transylvanian volunteer corps there, who would subsequently take part in the war in Europe against the Central Powers 11. From the United States, Vasile Lucaciu travelled alone to France (Paris), Italy (Rome) and Switzerland, presenting our demands to the politicians there, whilst Ioan Moța returned, via the same route, to Chișinău.
On 17/30 October 1918, the Central Romanian National Council was established in Budapest, to be based in Arad, as the governing body of the Romanians of Transylvania and Banat, comprising Vasile Goldiș (at that time secretary of the Diocese of Arad), Aurel Lazăr, Teodor Mihali, Ștefan Cicio-Pop, Alexandru Vaida Voevod, Aurel Vlad representing the Romanian National Party, and six others representing the Social Democratic Party. The following day, that is, on 18/31 October, this Council issued a Proclamation to the Romanian nation, informing all Romanians of the establishment of the Central Romanian National Council, which it recognised as the sole governing body of the Transylvanian Romanians, as well as its principles for future action. On 5/18 November 1918, Alexandru Vaida Voevod read out in the Parliament in Budapest the Declaration of Transylvania’s independence from Hungary, adopted by the Executive Committee of the Romanian National Party.
On the basis of this Council’s directives, numerous popular assemblies were convened in the Romanian towns and villages of Transylvania, Banat, Crișana and Maramureș, which then elected county, town or municipal councils, as well as Romanian National Guards, with a view to ensuring public order and defending the people against those who might have sought to prevent them from asserting their will for freedom and national unity. At these assemblies, petitions and motions bearing thousands of signatures were adopted, calling for the union of Transylvania with Romania.
Also on the basis of directives from the Central Romanian National Council, on 14 November 1918, Professor Nicolae Bălan of the Theological Institute in Sibiu and Captain Victor Precup, a native of Miercurea Sibiului, were sent on a mission to Iași, where the state authorities of the former Romania had taken refuge. Professor Bălan was received by King Ferdinand, General Constantin Coandă, President of the Council of Ministers, General Constantin Prezan, Chief of the Army General Staff, Ion I. C. Brătianu, Nicolae Iorga and other politicians, as well as the ministers of England, France and the United States, whom he briefed on the current situation in Transylvania. In a letter sent at that time from Iași to Vasile Goldiș, he recommended that he immediately cease all negotiations with the Hungarian Government in Budapest and that, ‘as soon as possible, at a meeting to be held anywhere, but preferably in Alba Iulia, and attended by as large a crowd as possible and representatives of local councils from all over, to proclaim the unconditional annexation to Romania, before Romanian troops enter Transylvania”. A few days later, he met in Giurgiu with the French General Henri Mathias Berthelot, commander of the French Military Mission in Romania 12.
In Transylvania, the clergy of the Church (bishops, vicars, diocesan councillors and canons, professors of theology, archpriests and parish priests) played an active part in the struggle for national unity, assisting in the formation and operation of local national councils and guards. For example, in Sibiu the theology professors Nicolae Bălan and Silviu Dragomir were active; in Blaj the vicar Vasile Suciu (the future metropolitan), together with the professors Alexandru Borza and Alexandru Ciura; in Caransebeș Bishop Miron Cristea, Archpriest Andrei Ghidiu and theology professor Petru Barbu; in Oradea, Vicar Roman Ciorogariu (the future bishop of that see) alongside his secretary Aurelian (Andrei) Magieru, the future bishop of Arad; and many others.
National propaganda was also supported by the church periodicals of the time: Telegraful român in Sibiu, Biserica și școala in Arad, Foaia diecezană in Caransebeș, Unirea in Blaj, as well as Gazeta poporului in Sibiu, edited by the theology professors Nicolae Bălan and Silviu Dragomir and the catechist Ioan Broșu.
On 21 November 1918, the five Romanian bishops of Transylvania (the metropolitan sees of Sibiu and Blaj being vacant)—Ioan Papp of Arad, Miron Cristea of Caransebeș, Dimitrie Radu of Oradea, Iuliu Hossu of Gherla and Valeriu Traian Frențiu of Lugoj, issued a ‘declaration of allegiance’ to the Central Romanian National Council, which they recognised as the sole political leader of the Romanian nation. The document signed by the Transylvanian hierarchs was particularly significant and resonated widely amongst the clergy and the faithful 13.
On the feast day of Saints Michael and Gabriel the Archangels, the five bishops of Transylvania – both Orthodox and United – submitted a letter of allegiance or support to the National Council, from which we note the following words: ‘We, the undersigned bishops of the Romanian Orthodox and Romanian Greek Catholic Churches – are firmly convinced that the vital interests of the Romanian people, of whom we are the spiritual shepherds, demand as an absolute imperative the realisation of this right to self-determination for our nation. This right can only be realised if the Romanian nation is governed by its own sons.
For this reason, we declare that we recognise the Great Romanian National Council as the representative and political leader of the Romanian nation in Transylvania and Hungary, and we feel both entitled and duty-bound – as faithful sons of our nation – – to work with all our might towards the realisation of our aspirations”14
At the National Assembly of 1 December 1918 in Alba Iulia, the Romanian Church – both Orthodox and United – was represented, first and foremost, by its ‘ex officio’ delegates: the five sitting bishops (two Orthodox and three United), four vicars, ten delegates from the Orthodox Consistories and the United Chapters, all the archpriests, one representative from each theological and pedagogical institute, and two student representatives from each theological institute, totalling 190 people. It was also represented by the 120 priests elected as official delegates in their respective electoral constituencies; numerous denominational teachers were likewise elected.
On the morning of that memorable day, 1 December 1918, the Divine Liturgy and a Te Deum were celebrated in the two Romanian churches in Alba Iulia. The service at the Orthodox church was led by Bishop Ioan Papp, with the responses given by a group of theologians from Sibiu, led by Professor Timotei Popovici. At 10 o’clock, the Grand National Constituent Assembly convened, attended by 1,228 official delegates. Three chairmen were elected to the Assembly’s bureau – George Pop de Băsești, together with Bishops Ioan Papp of Arad and Dimitrie Radu of Oradea – three vice-presidents and nine secretaries (including Silviu Dragomir, then a professor of theology in Sibiu). As is well known, the main report was presented by Vasile Goldiș, who then read out the historic Declaration of Union with the mother country.
Following a passionate speech by Vasile Goldiș, the assembly adopted this declaration: ‘The National Assembly of all Romanians in Transylvania, the Banat and Hungarian Country (Crișana, n.n.), gathered through their duly authorised representatives in Alba Iulia on 1 December 1918, decrees the union of those Romanians and of all the territories inhabited by them with Romania”. For the provisional administration of Transylvania until the formation of a ‘Constituent Assembly’ of Romania, the Assembly decided to elect a legislative body called the ‘Great National Council’, comprising 250 members, of whom 200 were elected the following day, whilst the remainder were to be elected by the Great National Council itself. The following day, 2 December, the Grand Council proposed the members of the Governing Council as the provisional governing body in Transylvania, comprising Iuliu Maniu, President and Minister of the Interior; Vasile Goldiș, Minister of Religious Affairs and Public Education; Alexandru Vaida Voievod as Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Press, Ștefan Cicio Pop as Minister for War and Public Safety, Aurel Vlad as Minister of Finance, Aurel Lazăr as Minister of Justice, Victor Bontescu as Minister for Agriculture and Trade, Romul Boilă as Minister for Communications, Ioan Flueraș as Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Iosif Jumanca as Minister for Industry, Emil Hațieganu as Minister for the Codification of the Legal System, Ioan Suciu as Minister for Administrative Reform and the Preparation of the Constituent Assembly; Vasile Lucaciu, Octavian Goga and Valeriu Braniște were appointed ministers without portfolio.
We should also note that on ‘Horea’s Field’ in Alba Iulia, when the one hundred thousand Romanians were informed of the decision to enter into an unconditional union with Romania, several representatives of the Church also addressed the gathering, including Bishop Miron Cristea of Caransebeș, Professor Silviu Dragomir of Sibiu, Canon Victor Macavei of Blaj, Father Elie Dăianu of Cluj and others.
Here is what Miron Cristea said at the time: “Even if every memory of our centuries-long martyrdom were to be erased from our souls, we still cannot think of anything other than what our brothers in Bessarabia and Bukovina have decided and done, namely the Union with our beloved Romania, bringing the whole of our ancestral land under its wing. This must be our sole aspiration; but the supreme ideal of every people inhabiting a compact territory must be its national and political unity. We would be ignorant people, deserving of the world’s contempt, if, in today’s circumstances, we were to harbour any other desire. Only through the union of all Romanians everywhere can such products and manifestations of our national genius emerge, which, through their specifically Romanian characteristics, will contribute to the progress of humanity. I feel that today, through our unanimous voice, we shall throw wide open the gates of the Carpathians for ever, so that the warmest Romanian life may pulse through their veins and, through this, ‘that unfulfilled dream, the child of suffering, for whose sake both our forefathers and our parents have fallen asleep’”" Bishop Iuliu Hossu then read out the resolution adopted at that time by the National Assembly.
In the Grand National Council, comprising 200 (later 250) members, in addition to the bishops, 50 clergymen (theology professors, archpriests and priests) were also elected.
On 14 December 1918, a delegation from the Grand National Council, comprising Vasile Goldiș, Alexandru Vaida-Voievod and Bishops Miron Cristea of Caransebeș and Iuliu Hossu of Gherla, presented the act of Transylvania’s union with Romania in Bucharest.
They received a grand welcome. As soon as they arrived at Gara de Nord, the delegation was met by members of the Government and the Army General Staff, led by Ion I. C. Brătianu and General Constantin Prezan; representatives of the Romanian Academy, led by its president, Petre Poni; leaders of the Romanian Cultural League and other Romanian societies, delegates from the Transylvanian ‘Avram Iancu’ regiment, and others. The welcoming address was delivered by the Mayor of the Capital and Prime Minister Brătianu, to whom Bishop Miron Cristea replied. On 14 December 1918, the delegation was received by King Ferdinand, and Vasile Goldiș delivered a speech and presented him with the Act of Union (written on parchment in Sibiu by a theology student).
On the basis of the report drawn up by Prime Minister Ion I. C. Brătianu, King Ferdinand issued, on 11/24 December 1918, the Decree-Law on the Union of Transylvania with Old Romania and the Decree-Law on the Provisional Organisation of Transylvania, according to which ‘public services’ remained under the control of the Governing Council, whilst the following were transferred to the administration of the Romanian Government: foreign affairs, the army, the railways, the postal service, the telegraph, the telephone service, financial transactions, customs, public borrowing and the general security of the state. It was specified that – on a provisional basis – Transylvania was to be represented by ministers without portfolio. The Prime Minister’s report, together with the Royal Decree ratifying the union of Transylvania, Banat, Crișana, Sătmar and Maramureș with the Motherland, was published in the Official Gazette No. 212 of 1918.
Thus ended the Romanian people’s centuries-long struggle for freedom and national independence, and for national unity, ushering in a new chapter in the history of Romanians everywhere – one which, unfortunately, was all too short-lived 15.
Meanwhile, the situation in Banat was more chaotic, as the region had come under Serbian military occupation. At the beginning of 1919, the ‘Banat League’ was formed, under the active chairmanship of Dr Avram Imbroane (a theologian and deacon), with several priests among its leaders. The League set out to inform international public opinion and the Paris Peace Conference about the issue of Banat and Romania’s rights over this territory. Under the League’s guidance, numerous meetings were convened in various towns across Banat, at which resolutions to this effect were adopted. A delegation elected by the League travelled to Bucharest, and then to Paris, to present a memorandum to the Peace Conference concerning ‘our rights over the territory inhabited by the Romanians of Banat’. The delegation included the priest Dr Ion Sârbu from Rudăria-Caraș Severin, a highly regarded historian, and Professor Constantin Nedelcu. Priest Ion Sârbu’s historical knowledge proved to be of real use in briefing the Romanian delegation at the Peace Conference.
A new wave of suffering for the Romanians in the western parts of Transylvania, particularly in Arad, Bihor and Sătmar, began with the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and, above all, following the outbreak of the Bolshevik ‘revolution’ in Hungary, led by Bela Kuhn. Of particular significance is the massacre that took place at Beliș, in the Gilău Mountains (Cluj County), where, at the instigation of the Hungarianised Armenian János Urmánczy, a special detachment killed 45 peasants (men, women, young people and the elderly) from that village, along with others from neighbouring villages. Another massacre took place in Târgu Lăpuș, immediately after 1 December. In January 1919, a further massacre occurred in Ciucea.
Further massacres took place in Mândruloc, Curtici, Șiria, Socodor, Tăuți and other villages in Arad County. Similar massacres occurred in the villages of Bihor County. Vicar Roman Ciorogariu and the priests Gheorghe Tulbure, Andrei Horvat, Deseanu and Aurelian Magier (the future Bishop Andrei) were imprisoned for several days, and all the money found in the ‘Consistorial House’ was seized. Over 40 priests left their parishes and took refuge in Oradea or other towns.
Following the collapse of the dual monarchy and the Bolshevisation of the remnants of the Hungarian and Szekler armies, in the early months of 1919, seven Romanian priests and three theologians were killed, whose names must be inscribed forever in the annals of Romanian martyrdom: Ioan Opriș of Cristiș (now Oprișani, Turda), Cornel Leucuția and Cornel Popescu from Șimand, Arad, Augustin Târziu from Chereluș, Arad, Mihai Dănilă from Dijir, Bihor, Isidor Silaghi from Bicău, Satu Mare; Corneliu Gavriș from Voinești, Satu Mare; and the theology graduates Atanasie Conciatu from Deta, Timiș, and Ioan Vasile Filip from Lazuri, Bihor, who was shot in Marghita16 A few days after the proclamation of the Union, more precisely at 4 o’clock in the morning on 6 December 1918, Ioan Munteanu from Poiana Sibiului, a graduate of the Theological Institute of Sibiu (1917), who was at that time a law student in Budapest; he died a hero, fighting as a Legionnaire for the defence and glory of Greater Romania" (Telegraful Român, nos. 138 and 139, 1918).
The army of Greater Romania, which occupied Hungary, including Budapest, was accompanied by over ten priests from all parts of the country. Special mention must be made of Father Iustin Șerbănescu, now an archimandrite; Ioan Partenie from Bessarabia, who was held captive by the Bolsheviks for a time; Ioan Dăncilă from Transylvania, who had also been conscripted into the Hungarian army; Iosif Comănescu, Ioan Nan, Ilarie Dodu (from whom we have a detailed report on the services he conducted) and others17.
*
The Transylvanian Romanians welcomed the Romanian army, General Traian Moșoi, General Henri Mathias Berthelot, head of the French Military Mission in Romania, and subsequently King Ferdinand and Queen Maria with great joy.
During 1919, steps were taken to Romanianise the state administration and secondary and primary education, to establish the Romanian University of Cluj – in which the professor and theologian Onisifor Ghibu played a significant role – the names of many streets in the towns of Transylvania were changed, amongst other measures. It is worth noting here that many priests and theology graduates devoted themselves to Romanian education, taking up posts as teachers at the new Romanian secondary schools.
The Union of 1 December had beneficial consequences not only for the unified Romanian nation-state, but also for the Church. On 18/31 December 1919, Bishop Miron Cristea of Caransebeș was elected to the vacant seat of Metropolitan Primate of Romania; in 1925, he became the first Patriarch of Romania. Also in 1925, the new Statute on the Organisation of the Romanian Orthodox Church came into force, laying the foundations for a unified church structure.
- 1
Gheorghe NICOLESCU, Gheorghe DOBRESCU and Andrei NICOLESCU, Priests in the Struggle for the Great Union, 1916–1918, Bucharest, 2000, pp. 11–24.
- 2
Gheorghe NICOLESCU, Gheorghe DOBRESCU and Andrei NICOLESCU, Priests in the Struggle for the Great Union, 1916–1918, pp. 282–283, 289–290 and 295–301.
- 3
Gh. POPESCU, The Romanian Clergy and the Unification of the Nation, vol. I, Bucharest, 1940, pp. 113–114.
- 4
Gh. POPESCU, The Romanian Clergy and the Unification of the Nation, pp. 113–114.
- 5
Gh. POPESCU, The Romanian Clergy and the Unification of the Nation, Vol. I, pp. 55–61.
- 6
Teoctist STUPCANU, ‘The Activities of the Monks of the Diocese of Moldavia during the War’, in Monastic Life, Iași, vol. I, 1934, pp. 315–327; Gr. Popescu, op. cit., pp. 71–85.
- 7
Metropolitan Antonie PLĂMĂDEALĂ wrote about her in ‘Marina Hociotă – Mother Mina of Săliștea Sibiului – a new Ecaterina Teodoroiu in the 1916–1918 war’, in Biserica Ortodoxă Română, vol. XCVI, 1978, nos. 11–12, pp. 1274–1282.
- 8
According to Fr Grigore N. POPESCU, op. cit., passim.
- 9
Gheorghe NICOLESCU, Gheorghe DOBRESCU and Andrei NICOLESCU, Priests in the Struggle for the Great Union, 1916–1918, pp. 310–311 and 328–330.
- 10
Mircea PĂCURARIU, The Hungarian State’s Policy towards the Romanian Church in Transylvania during the Period of Dualism (1867–1918), Sibiu, 1986, pp. 260–282. See also Gr. N. POPESCU, op. cit., under the relevant entry; Sebastian STANCA, op. cit., Cluj, 1925, 180 pp. (reprinted in Deva in 2017).
- 11
According to Vasile NATEA, A Day in History: 1 December 1918, Bucharest, 1968, pp. 83–87.
- 12
Ioan DĂNCILĂ, ‘The Church of Our Ancestors and Our Great Union. Metropolitan Nicolae Bălan’s Contribution to the Act of Union’, in the volume Tribute to His Eminence Dr Nicolae Bălan on the Twentieth Anniversary of his Archpastoral Ministry, Sibiu, 1940, pp. 42–55.
- 13
On 26 October 1918, on the initiative of Bishop Miron Cristea, the name of Emperor Charles IV of Austria-Hungary was removed from church services and replaced with ‘the Grand Council of the Romanian Nation’. The proposal was accepted by all the Transylvanian bishops and communicated to all the priests. It is understood that, after 1 December, King Ferdinand and Queen Maria were commemorated during services.
- 14
Ioan CLOPOȚEL, The 1918 Revolution and the Union of Transylvania with Romania, Cluj, 1926, p.
- ”"
The speech published by Z. SANDU (Nicolae REGMAN) in his book The Great Assembly at Alba Iulia, Sibiu, 1919, pp. 45–50, and vol. Speeches Delivered by His Eminence Dr Miron Cristea, Bucharest, 1923, pp. 3–8.
- 15
For information on the events of 1918, see: Z. SANDUL (Nicolae REGMAN), The Great Assembly of Alba Iulia, Sibiu (1919), 72 pp.; Ion CLOPOȚEL, The 1918 Revolution and the Union of Transylvania with Romania, Cluj, 1926, 175 pp., as well as those published in 1968 and 1978: Vol. The Completion of the Unification of the Romanian National State. The Union of Transylvania with Old Romania, Bucharest, 1968, 520 pp.; Ștefan PASCU, The Great National Assembly at Alba Iulia, Cluj, 1968, 510 pp.; Vasile NETEA, A Day in the History of Transylvania: 1 December 1918, Bucharest, 1970, 208 pp. See also the journal The Romanian Orthodox Church, vol. CXVI, 1978, nos. 11–12, pp. 1250–1316; Metropolis of Transylvania, vol. XXIII, 1978, nos. 10–12, pp. 700–797; Metropolis of Banat, vol. XXVIII, 1978, nos. 10–12, pp. 577–657.
- 16
According to Sebastian STANCA, op. cit., pp. 151–162.
- 17
Gheorghe NICOLESCU et al., op. cit., pp. 378–380 et seq.