Orthodox believers in Romania according to the 2002 census

In the Principalities and the Kingdom of Romania[edit]

The Orthodox hierarchy in the territory of modern Romania had existed within the ecclesiastical
jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople until 1865 when the churches in the
Romanian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia embarked on the path of ecclesiastical
independence by nominating Nifon Rusailă, Metropolitan of Ungro-Wallachia, as the first
Romanian primate. Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, who had in 1863 carried out a
mass confiscation of monastic estates in the face of stiff opposition from the Greek hierarchy in
Constantinople, in 1865 pushed through a legislation that proclaimed complete independence of
the church in the principalities from the patriarchate.
In 1872, the Orthodox churches in the principalities, the Metropolis of Ungro-Wallachia and
the Metropolis of Moldavia, merged to form the Romanian Orthodox Church.
Following the international recognition of the independence of the United Principalities of
Moldavia and Wallachia (later Kingdom of Romania) in 1878, after a long period of negotiations
with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Patriarch Joachim IV granted recognition to the autocephalous
Metropolis of Romania in 1885, which was raised to the rank of Patriarchate in 1925. [6]
Romanian Orthodox theological education was underdeveloped at the end of the nineteenth-
century. The theological institute at Sibiu, for example, had only one theologian as part of its
faculty; the rest were historians, journalists, naturalists, and agronomists. The focus of priestly
education was practical and general rather than specialized. In the early twentieth century the
curriculum of a priest included subjects such as hygiene, calligraphy, accountancy, psychology,
Romanian literature, geometry, chemistry, botany, and gymnastics. A strong emphasis was
placed on church music, canon law, church history, and exegesis.[7]
After World War I, the Kingdom of Romania significantly increased its territory. Consequently, the
Romanian Orthodox Church needed massive reorganization in order to incorporate
congregations from these new provinces. This led to shortages and difficulties. The Church had
to establishing a uniform interpretation of canon law. It had to handle public funds for paying
clergymen in the newly acquired territories and, generally speaking, manage the relationship with
the state. The legislation was intricate. The Statute on the organization of the Romanian
Orthodox Church adopted by the Romanian parliament on May 6, 1925, counted 178 articles.
The law on the functioning of the Romanian Orthodox Church counted 46 articles. Legislators
adopted the Transylvanian tradition of mixing clergymen and laymen in administrative
assemblies and granted bishops seats in the Romanian Senate. [8] However, the context also
allowed a number of young theologians like Nichifor Crainic, Ioan Savin, or Dumitru Stăniloae to
study abroad. These theologians proved extremely influential after their return to Romania and
helped shape theological academies. With a few rare exceptions, like Gala Galaction, the
Romanian Orthodox theologians of this period embraced nationalism. Their scholarly works are
thus imbued with nationalist ideology.[7]
The second half of the 1920s is marked by the rise of antisemitism in Romanian politics with
figures such as A.C. Cuza or Iron Guard founding father Codreanu. Antisemitism also became
apparent in church publications. In 1925, for instance, church journal Revista Teologică (The
Theological Review) published an anti-Semitic article by Sibiu professor priest Pompiliu Morușca.
Morușca's article blamed the Jews for the economic situation of Romanians in Bukovina. It is a
testimony of an older form of anti-Semitism going back to the 19th century. The Romanian
Orthodox Church would evolve different forms of antisemitism in the 1930s. [9] The Concordat of
1927 also triggered anti-Catholic reactions.[8]