The Greek-Catholic Church or the Romanian Church United with Rome was established around 1700 in Transylvania, Banat, Crisana and Maramures, territories in the Hapsburg Empire inhabited by ethnic Romanians.
The Greek-Catholic Church or the Romanian Church United with Rome was established around 1700 in Transylvania, Banat, Crisana and Maramures, territories in the Hapsburg Empire inhabited by ethnic Romanians. The church's foundation marked the beginning of the process of national emancipation of the ethnic Romanian population. Great Romanian public figures belonged to the Greek-Catholic community, including the bishop Iuliu Hossu, who read out the resolution on the union of Transylvania with Romania in Alba Iulia, and the politician Iuliu Maniu.
Blaj, a small town in central Romania, was the heart of Romanian Greek-Catholicism, being home to the Greek-Catholic bishopric and a theological academy. The Greek-Catholic priest Nicolae Lupea described the special atmosphere in "the Little Rome of the Romanians", as Blaj was called, in an interview given in 2001 to Radio Romania's Oral History Centre:
"There was a genuine theological atmosphere and students were preparing to serve their future mission as priests of the Church. The academy taught theology for four years and then graduates could sit the exam to earn their theology diploma, but this was not obligatory. The atmosphere here was truly priestly, spiritual. Students were taught various theological subjects which they would need in fulfilling their priestly duty. They were also expected to lead a spiritual life, in a state of grace and union with God."
The Romanian Church United with Rome had good relations with all the other churches and denominations in the Romanian secular space. The first persecutions began, however, in the summer of 1940 in Northern Transylvania, a territory that had come under Hungarian rule. Greek-Catholic priests and believers were deported and some killed.
The second and much bigger wave of persecutions began in 1948. The communist state banned the Church and the priests were forced to accept the union with the Orthodox Church. Those who refused were sent to prison, as was also the case with Nicolae Lupea:
"They came after me and the then rector, Gheorghe Danila, and took us to Aiud prison. He was in there for 7 months and I for 9 months and then they released us without a trial. There was a rumour they took us because Petru Groza and some of his ministers had come to Blaj in 1946, and there was a clash between workers and students from the Academy. I mean, they wanted to attack the Theological Academy, to get inside and start a fight with our students, so the students barricaded themselves inside. In the meantime, the police intervened. Petru Groza came on May 15th, and demonstrations were held, with some cheering for the king and others for the communist party."
As regards the moment prior to the banning of the church, Nicolae Lupea had very clear memories of the visit that the communist Prime Minister Petru Groza paid to Blaj in 1946 to attend the Divine Service:
"It was raining heavily and Petru Groza came out of the Cathedral sooner than expected. And when our bishop came out, Petru Groza knocked on the window and asked him to get inside his car. And, not long after, out of the blue, the Orthodox metropolitan bishop appeared, Nicolae Balan, and Petru Groza asked him to get in the car too. And when he was about to do that the Orthodox bishop slipped and our bishop reached out to help him stand up. And then the former said: "Look, Mr. Prime Minister, I caught his hand and I won't let go of it. Let the brothers break out with Rome and join us!" But our bishop said: "Your eminence, I reached out to help you stand." And then they all headed for Campia Liberatatii [Field of Freedom] and there Balan made an appeal to the Greek-Catholics, urging them to break ties with Rome and return to the traditional mother church, which meant back to Orthodoxy. After that, bishop Suciu wanted to speak, to protest, but they wouldn't let him."
There followed cruel campaigns against the Greek-Catholic priests and believers. Nicolae Lupea believes that the Orthodox Church itself contributed to the big injustice to which the communist regime subjected the Greek-Catholic church:
"Then they started arresting priests and taking them to the Securitate, where they were interrogated and asked to join the Orthodox Church. Some of them gave in, others didn't, despite being threatened and told their children would be thrown out of school, not only from normal school, but from universities as well. I would like to insist a bit here on the fact that they say that the government banned our church. It did, but in collaboration with the heads of the Orthodox Church. Balan's visit to Blaj, exactly when Petru Groza came, was no coincidence. The Orthodox Church is no stranger to our church being banned. Because that bishop, Balan, when he became metropolitan bishop of Sibiu, gave a speech and said he would not rest until he saw the Greek-Catholic Church banned. Which means dismantled, or as he said, returned to the mother church."
One of the biggest acts of injustice in Romanian history was undone on December 1989, when the Greek-Catholic Church came back to life.
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