My husband's great grandfather helped build this formerly Greek Catholic church before the second world war. The entire village was Greek Catholic. It was given to the Orthodox by the communist government and so remains. A neighboring village with two churches (Greek Catholic for Romanians, Roman-rite Catholic for the German minority)- the Greek Catholic church was given to the new Orthodox and the Germans moved back to the West. The Roman-rite church remained empty. After 1989, the Germans rent the Roman rite church to the Greek Catholics and the Orthodox still worship in the formerly Greek Catholic church. Before the second world war, there were no Orthodox in the area, but people- understandably- wanted to stay out of the labor camps so they 'converted.' Now? People go the church that is closest and attend services where they will see their friends and co-workers. They worship t the church of their fathers- not great-grandfathers- so they attend the Orthodox church.
Lord have mercy
ReplyDeleteYour good husband gave (loaned?) a book to me a few years ago titled
ReplyDelete"The Romanian Byzantine-Rite Catholic Church - Thirty Years of Persecution in Romania (1948-1978)". A subtitle is The Romania Martyr Bishops of the Byzantine-Rite Church.
The author is Pierre Gherman. I read the 64 page book and highly recommend it. It may be hard to find one though. Thanks for your post.
Why did the communists give the church to the Orthodox?
ReplyDeletebecause Orthodoxy is/was the state religion. Some Orthodox priests were formed by the communists, many also informed on the confessions of believers (this is not true of all)
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