Church Reckoning with Communism in Post-1989 Romania

Lucian Turcescu; Lavinia Stan

doi:10.5771/9781498580281

Summary

The present volume focuses on the relationship with Communism of Romania's most important religious denominations and their attempt to cope with that difficult past which continues to cast an important shadow over their present. For the first time ever, this volume considers both the majority Romanian Orthodox Church and significant minority denominations such as the Roman and Greek Catholic Churches, the Reformed Church, the Hungarian Unitarian Church, and the Pentecostal Christian Denomination. It argues that no religious group escaped collaboration with the Communists. After 1989, however, most denominations had little desire to tackle their tainted past and make a clean start. In part, this situation was facilitated by the country's deficient legislation that did not encourage the pursuit of lustration, which in turn did not lead to a serious movement of elite renewal in the religious realm. Instead, a strong process of reproduction of the old elites and their adaptation to democracy has been the dominant characteristic of the post-Communist period.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2021
ISBN-Print: 978-1-4985-8027-4
ISBN-Online: 978-1-4985-8028-1
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 228
Product type: Edited Book

1. Contents No access
2. Preface No access
1. 1. The Orthodox Church Remembers Its Past: Denial, Ambiguity, and Martyrdom No access
  2. The Development of the Prison Saints Movement: Religious Devotion and Nationalist Ethos No access
  3. Pilgrimages as Sacred Travels: The Case of the Prislop Monastery No access
  4. Conclusion No access
  5. Notes No access
  6. Bibliography No access
  7. Websites: No access
2. 1. Why a Biographical Portrait of Gheorghe Nenciu? No access
  2. A New World? No access
  3. The Portrait of Gheorghe Nenciu No access
  4. Why 1977? No access
  5. The Main Accusation: Saving the Legionnaires No access
  6. Conclusion No access
  7. Notes No access
  8. Bibliography No access
3. 1. What Constitutes Collaboration and Lustration? No access
  2. 1. 1. Ștefan Buchiu No access
    2. 1. Ioan I. Ică, Sr. No access
  3. Discussion No access
  4. Conclusion No access
  5. Notes No access
  6. Bibliography No access
4. 1. The Romanian Orthodox Church and the People’s Republic No access
  2. The Serbian Orthodox Church and Josip Broz Tito’s Regime No access
  3. Conclusion No access
  4. Notes No access
  5. Bibliography No access
1. 1. The Securitate and the Catholic Church No access
  2. The Catholic Church after the Regime Change No access
  3. Conclusion No access
  4. Notes No access
  5. Bibliography No access
2. 1. The Greek Catholics and the Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist No access
  2. President Ion Iliescu and the Restitution of Greek Catholic Property No access
  3. The Difficulties of Greek Catholic Property Restitution No access
  4. The Conversions to Orthodoxy and Their Impact No access
  5. The Orthodox–Greek Catholic Historiographical Dispute No access
  6. The Greek Catholic Identity Crisis No access
  7. Sister Ionela and the Unrecognized Greek Catholic Bishops No access
  8. Conclusion No access
  9. Notes No access
  10. Bibliography No access
1. 1. The International Background of Reformed Church Relations No access
  2. The Romanian Reformed Church’s Foreign Contacts during 1948–1956 No access
  3. The Foreign Relations of the Reformed Church and the Securitate during 1957–1958 No access
  4. International Church Relations during 1959–1961 No access
  5. Methods of Building International Contacts during 1962–1967 No access
  6. Conclusion No access
  7. Notes No access
  8. Bibliography No access
2. 1. The Unitarian Church before 1945 No access
  2. The Church’s Political and Public Role before 1945 No access
  3. The Church during 1945–1948 No access
  4. The Church and the Totalitarian State No access
  5. The Communist Transformation and the Church No access
  6. Problem Management and Integration Attempts of the Communist Regime No access
  7. Conclusion No access
  8. Notes No access
  9. Bibliography No access
3. 1. The Pentecostal Church in Communist Romania No access
  2. The Response of the Regime No access
  3. A Church within a Church No access
  4. The Secret Informers No access
  5. A New Day No access
  6. What Is the Truth? No access
  7. Refuting the Myths about Revealing the Collaboration No access
  8. Conclusion No access
  9. Notes No access
  10. Bibliography No access
Conclusion No access Pages 217 - 220
Index No access Pages 221 - 224
About the Editors and Contributors No access Pages 225 - 228