The Orthodox Church and the Communist State

Ars Christiana No. I (XV) / 2023 ‘The Miracle’ – a film about a miracle performed by Saint Nicholas that shook the Soviet Union Elena Dulgheru

The film Ciudo/The Miracle (2009), directed by Aleksandr Proșkin from a screenplay by Yuri Arabov, recreates the miracle known as ‘Zoya’s Stiffening’, which took place in 1956 in Kuibyshev, at the height of Khrushchev’s anti-religious campaign. This historical epic traces the reactions of various social groups — a journalist, a party propagandist, a priest, Khrushchev himself — to a miracle that defies state-sanctioned scientific atheism, offering a reflection on faith, lies and collective repentance.

Studia Humanitatis No. I (XIII) / 2022 The Synodal Bible of 1968 Dan Ciachir

The period of relative liberalisation under the communist regime in Romania, between 1962 and 1968, enabled the Romanian Orthodox Church to achieve several remarkable milestones: the canonisation of the first seven Romanian saints in 1955, under Patriarch Justinian, and the printing of the Synodal Bible in 1968, in a print run of approximately 200,000 copies, made possible with the support of Queen Elizabeth II and the British Bible Society.

Studia Humanitatis No. I (V) / 2018 Father Anania Dan Ciachir

The text recounts the friendship spanning nearly three decades between the author and Bartolomeu Anania, from the moment they met at the enthronement of Metropolitan Antonie of Transylvania in February 1982 right through to the years following the fall of the communist regime. Through specific anecdotal episodes – visits to Căldărușani, late-night discussions in the studio flat near Cișmigiu Park, the dinner at Căldărușani attended by Patriarch Teoctist and Protosinghel Daniel Ciobotea – the author portrays Anania’s character as a theologian, writer and witness to the Church’s recent history, highlighting the value of his work, from Rotonda plopilor aprinși and Greul pământului to File de acatist and Cerurile Oltului.

Studia Humanitatis No. II (IV) / 2017 The historical resonance of a foundation Dinu Săraru

The article profiles Patriarch Justinian Marina, to whom the Romanian Orthodox Christian calendar for 2017 is dedicated, presenting him as the son of a peasant from Suiești, Oltenia, who, through diplomacy and wisdom, saved the institution of the Church during the communist era, securing recognition for priests as guardians of historical monuments and keeping ecclesiastical structures operational. The author records the consecration, by the Archdiocese of Râmnic, of a church, a monastery and a house-museum built in the patriarch’s native village, as the central event of the commemorative year.

Studia Humanitatis No. II (IV) / 2017 Iosif Gafton of Râmnic Dan Ciachir

Bishop Iosif Gafton of Râmnic and Argeș is remembered through a personal encounter in the summer of 1983, at the age of 87, painting a portrait of a cultured hierarch with a fiery temperament and a remarkable gift for preaching. The article also touches upon the history of Frăsinei Monastery, founded by Saint Calinic of Cernica, the only monastery in Romania which, under the communist regime, maintained a ban on women’s entry, alongside several illustrative episodes relating to breaches of this rule.

Colloquium No. II (IV) / 2017 Interview with Archimandrite Athanasios Prodromitis, Abbot of the Romanian Prodromu Skete on Mount Athos (Part I) Rev. Dr. Ștefan Zară, Monk Gherasim Prodromitul

The interview conducted by Fr. Ștefan Zară and Monk Gherasim Prodromitul features the testimony of the abbess of the Romanian Prodromu Skete on Mount Athos regarding her departure from Sihăstria Monastery in 1978, together with Archimandrite Petroniu Tănase and three other monks, and of her early years at the skete, marked by the state of disrepair of the monastic complex, the presence of some Old-Style zealot monks, and the efforts to restore liturgical and monastic life. Readers also learn about the political context of the Communist era and the revival of Athonite monasticism during those years.

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