International Orthodox Christian News

A Superficial and Aggressive Approach to Religious Life in Romania
- The annual Report of the United States Department of State –

The Romanian Orthodox Church considers that many of the observations concerning it, found in this Report, are unfair and defamatory.

The Romanian Patriarchate has learned of the issuing, on September 19, 2008, by the United States Department of State, of its tenth annual report on religious freedom around the world, including the chapter concerning Romania. The contents of this document, and especially the criticism and observations concerning the Romanian Orthodox Church, have unpleasantly surprised us and raise serious question marks concerning the objectivity, honesty and competence in religious issues of the authors of this report.

The Romanian Orthodox Church is being upbraided about alleged: intolerance towards the proselytism by other faiths; failure to return former properties of the Greek Catholic Church; promotion of a hateful discourse in the media and its own Religion textbooks; disagreement with the decision of the National Anti-Discrimination Council (CNCD) concerning the confinement of the public display of religious symbols strictly to the Religion classes; the opposition of Orthodox priests towards the burial of members of other faiths in confessional cemeteries; as well as a number of strictly internal issues concerning the dogma and teachings of the Church.

The Romanian Patriarchate states that many of these observations have been clearly exaggerated and are tendentious, consisting mainly of generalizations of accidental and isolated situations, or of ungrounded accusations, based upon a single or uncertain source, which were not verified by the authors of the Report.

It is hard to understand why the classical and universal principle, recognized as such and employed in all democratic countries, was not applied: audiatur et altera pars (listen to the other side too).

In some of the aspects signaled by the Report, the authors are criticizing, from a clearly partisan viewpoint, decisions of the Courts of Law or even try to substitute these Courts.

As far as the granting by the Romanian Government of large sums of money towards the Romanian Orthodox Church is concerned, the basic fact that the criterion of proportionality was employed is disregarded, respectively that shown by the number of faithful reported by the latest census, the distribution of funds being done in the same proportion by which our believers contribute financially to the country’s budget.

The Report shows that, erroneously, the religious experience of the U.S. is being held as normative, which cannot be applied as such in Europe. The European religious spirit, much older and richer in meanings, is not based on a radical separation between State and Church, but on reciprocal autonomy and traditional social cooperation.

This Report ignores the simple fact that what it is different is not necessarily discriminatory, and the social influence of the majority Church in Romania is not an exclusive one, such as, for example, that of the majority religious belief, that of the Mormons, in the American state of Utah. It is, of course, easier to judge others than yourself.

The criticism formulated against the Law on the Freedom of Religion and the General Status of Denominations, especially those against the three-tier recognition of religious structures (religious groups, religious associations and religions), do not take into account the unusually high number of official religions and faiths certified in Romania (18), which receive a consistent financial support from the national budget. Those who issue such criticism probably are ignorant of the fact that, in the preliminary period before the final drafting of the Law on the Freedom of Religion, international seminaries have been organized with the participation of experts from both Europe and the United States, who have contributed to the final form of the law.

As far as the patrimony problems between faiths in our country are concerned, these have a complexity hard to grasp by those who were not confronted, in their history, with the forceful imposing of a certain faith with the help of arms, or with the abusive takeover by the State of Church’s properties. Thus, in the majority of democratic countries, a completely fair solution was not reached concerning situations triggered by historic phenomena (Reform, counter-Reform, Uniatism, religious prosecution, massive migration etc.).

In this context, for a correct information of the public opinion, the Romanian Patriarchate wishes to present the real state of its relations with the Greek Catholic Church.

Thus, in synthesis, the status of properties from Romanian Orthodox dioceses in Transylvania and Banat, which were subject to the disputes between the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Greek Catholic Church, is as follows:

- properties (churches, parish houses, agricultural fields etc.) whose status was settled through dialog: 111
- properties returned through court orders: 20
- properties taken by the Greek Catholic Church through abusive occupation: 81
- churches in which there is alternative worshipping: 15
- cases in which, although there are court orders favorable to the Romanian Orthodox Church, they could not be enforced: 14
- Orthodox clergy members who, although under canonical sanctions from the Romanian Orthodox Church, have been allowed to serve by the Greek Catholic Church, which led to the deterioration of relations between the two faiths: 10 priests.

Being convinced that the Romanian and international public opinion will be able to see, objectively and impartially, the realities of religious life in Romania, we hope that those authoring future such annual reports on religious freedom in Romania will take into account the observations of the Romanian Patriarchate, in such a way that their credibility will not further diminish.


The Department of Church and Interreligious Relations of the Romanian Patriarchate

BUCHAREST, October 15, 2008

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