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The Romanian Orthodox Church (Biserica Ortodoxă Română in Romanian) is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches. A majority of Romanians (18,817,975, or 86.8% of the population, according to the 2002 census data) belong to it. Among all Orthodox Christians, the mere numbers of Romanians make the Romanian Orthodox Church second only to the Russian Orthodox Church in size.

Adherents of the Romanian Orthodox Church sometimes refer to it as Dreapta credinţă ("right/correct belief"; compare to Greek ὀρθὴ δόξα, "straight/correct belief"). Orthodox believers are also sometimes known as dreptcredincioşi or dreptmăritori creştini.

History

In 1859, the Romanian principalities of Moldova and Wallachia formed the modern state of Romania. The hierarchy of the orthodox churches tends to follow the structure of the state. Therefore, shortly after, in 1872, the orthodox churches of the former principalities (the Metropoly of Ungrovlahia and the Metropoly of Moldova) decided to unite to form the Romanian Orthodox Church. In the process, they canonically separated from the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Romanian Orthodox Church declared autocephaly. In the same year was constitued a separate synod.

The Patriarchate of Constantinople only recognized the autocephaly of the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1885. First organized with the rank of Metropoly, the Romanian Orthodox Church became a Patriarchy in 1925, when the ranks of the Romanian Orthodox Church grew following the formation of Greater Romania.

The Communist regime
The Communist government, through the 1948 Law of Cults made the Church tightly controlled by the state. The monasteries were transformed into craft centers and priests were encouraged to learn other 'worldly' jobs.

The leadership of the Church had good relations with the Communist regime, but there were many members of the clergy which dissented: until 1963 as many as 2,500 individual priests and monks were arrested and further 2,000 monks were forced to give up the monastic life.

While the dissenters were sentenced to fairly long terms in prison, there were also many priests who collaborated and were informers for Securitate, the secret police. In 2001, the Romanian Orthodox Church tried unsuccessfully to change the law which allowed the access to the archives of Securitate, in order to deny public access to the files of the priests which collaborated with the Securitate.

It was only after the 1989 Romanian Revolution, when Romania became democratic, that the Church was freed from state control.

The Church in Moldova
Romanians in the Republic of Moldova belonging to the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia (rom. Mitropolia Basarabiei), having resisted russification for 192 years (after the annexation of Bessarabia by the Russian Empire in 1812) are 2 million strong in 2004. In 2001 they won a landmark legal victory against the Government of the Republic of Moldova at the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights.

This means that despite current political issues, the Moldovan Metropolitan Church is now recognized as " the rightful successor" to the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia and Hotin, which existed from 1918 till 1940 and was only brought by Stalin under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church's Moscow patriarchate.

Relationships with the Greek Catholic Church

Unique features

The Romanian Orthodox Church is the only Orthodox church using a Romance language in the divine liturgy.

Byzantine religious records also mention a unique form of bishoprics in the region - namely the chorepiscopate or countryside episcopate - as opposed to the better-known religious centers in large cities. This can possibly be compared to the "monastic bishops" of Ireland, who united the functions of countryside Abbot with that of district Bishop in another country that did not emphasize an urban episcopate, at least for a time.

The very word for "church" in Romanian, Biserică is unique in Europe. It comes from Latin "basilica" (in turn a loanword from Greek βασιλικα - meaning "communications received from the king" and "the place where the Emperor administered justice"), rather than "ecclesia" (from Greek εκκλησία, from "those called out").

Canonical status

The Romanian Orthodox Church is organized as the Romanian Patriarchate. The highest hierarchical, canonical and dogmatical authority of the Romanian Orthodox Church is the Holy Synod.

Organization

There are five Metropolitanates and ten archbishoprics in Romania, and more than twelve thousand priests and deacons, servant fathers of ancient altars from parishes, monasteries and social centres. Almost 400 monasteries exist inside the country for some 3,500 monks and 5,000 nuns. Three Diasporan Metropolitanates and two Diasporan Bishoprics function outside Romania proper. As of 2004, there are, inside Romania, fifteen theological universities where more than ten thousand students (some of them from Bessarabia, Bukovina and Serbia benefiting from a few Romanian fellowships) currently study for a doctoral degree. More than 14,500 churches (traditionally named "lăcaşe de cult", or worshiping places) exist in Romania for the Romanian Orthodox believers. As of 2002, almost 1,000 of these were either in the process of being built or rebuilt.

Relations with other Orthodox Jurisdictions

Most Eastern Orthodox autocephalous churches, including the Romanian, maintain a respectful spiritual link to the Ecumenical Patriarch. Now in office is His All-Holiness Bartholomew I, Patriarch of Constantinople and New Rome.

Famous theologians

Father Dumitru Stăniloae (1903 - 1993) is one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century. His other magnum opus, aside from his duhovnicesc (deepest spiritual) opus, is the 45-year-long comprehensive collection known as the Romanian Philocaly.

Father Archmandrite Cleopa Ilie (1912 - 1998), elder of the Sihastria Monastery, is the most representative elder and spiritual father of contemporary Romanian Orthodox spirituality.

List of Patriarchs

See Patriarch of All Romania

Current leaders of the Church

See also

References

Notes

External links

Churches and Monasteries

History

Religious Heritage and Cultural Tourism Programmes

Beliefs

Romanian Orthodoxy outside Romania

Eastern Orthodox churches | Religion in Romania | Romanian Orthodox Church

Església Ortodoxa Romanesa | Rumänisch-Orthodoxe Kirche | Iglesia Ortodoxa Rumana | Église orthodoxe roumaine | Chiesa ortodossa rumena | Roemeens-orthodoxe Kerk | ルーマニア正教会 | Biserica Ortodoxă Română | Румынская православная церковь | Romanian patriarkaatti

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Romanian Orthodox Church".

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