Romania's communist government outlawed the Greek Catholic Church, the Eastern-rite church in union with Rome, by decree on 1 December 1948, denouncing it as anti-national and anti-historical and confiscating its roughly 1,725 churches and other properties, which were transferred to the state-favored Romanian Orthodox Church. All of its bishops were arrested; most of its approximately 1,800 priests refused to sign documents accepting incorporation into Orthodoxy, and the Securitate secret police enforced the ban against clergy and believers who continued to practice underground.
Facts
The Event
When It HappenedSourced to the subject's own accountDecreed 1 December 1948; enforcement and underground survival continued through the communist period to 1989. 1 PeriodSourced to the subject's own account Principal PartiesSourced to the subject's own accountVasile Aftenie, auxiliary Bishop of Ulpiana, arrested days after the 1948 decree and tortured at the Interior Ministry under General Alexandru Nicolschi of the Securitate before dying at Vacaresti Prison in 1950; offered the position of Orthodox Patriarch if he renounced his faith, he is recorded as replying that neither his faith nor his nation was for sale. He was one of seven Greek Catholic bishops who died under the same persecution and were beatified together. 2 Victim GroupSourced to the subject's own accountThe Romanian Greek Catholic Church, numbering roughly 1.5 million believers and about 1,800 priests at the time of the ban, together with its bishops and the roughly 1,370 priests who refused to sign conversion documents and were dismissed, imprisoned or forced underground. 1 Perpetrator RegimeSourced to the subject's own accountThe Romanian communist state, which issued the outlawing decree and directed the Securitate secret police to arrest bishops and enforce clergy conversion; the Romanian Orthodox Church received the confiscated properties as the state's designated beneficiary but did not itself order the suppression. 1 Consequences
What It SettledSourced to the subject's own accountThe Greek Catholic Church ceased to exist as a legal institution in Romania for over four decades; its roughly 1,725 churches passed to the Romanian Orthodox Church, and only 430 of about 1,800 priests signed the government's conversion documents. All seven of its bishops were arrested, and all seven died in communist detention or shortly after release; Pope Francis beatified them together as martyrs in 2019. The church was legally re-recognized in 1989 after the fall of the communist government, though property restitution disputes with the Orthodox Church over the confiscated buildings continued long afterward. 1 Death TollSourced to the subject's own accountA firm, documented figure rather than an estimate: all seven Greek Catholic bishops of Romania died in communist detention or shortly after release and were beatified together as martyrs in 2019. No aggregate figure for the wider toll among the roughly 1,370 priests who refused conversion, or among lay believers who continued practicing underground, is given by either source consulted, so none is recorded here; this figure covers the episcopate only. Death TollSourced to the subject's own accountThe same firm figure as death-toll-min: all seven bishops, no wider aggregate available. Status
Official RecognitionSourced to the subject's own accountNot formally recognized by any body 1 Recognition BasisSourced to the subject's own accountNo international body has issued a formal genocide or crimes-against-humanity finding specific to this suppression; the Catholic Church's own 2019 beatification of the seven bishops as martyrs is the strongest formal recognition the episode has received, and post-1989 Romanian courts and governments have handled it chiefly as a property-restitution question rather than through criminal proceedings against the responsible officials, most of whom had died by then. 1 Connections
Associated With
Romania, Countries Carried out under the authority of the Romanian communist state against a church operating within Romania.
Source Romanian Orthodox Church in Communist Romania (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Romanian Orthodox Church in Communist Romania (Wikipedia)
In Group: State Atheism Campaigns, Article covers the 1948 forced suppression of the Greek-Catholic Church in Communist Romania as part of the state's anti-religious policyView the Source 2. Vasile Aftenie (Wikipedia)
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.