Area Handbook for Romania Part 8

The main avenue for upward mobility is education. Political considerations, however, influence both accessibility to education and accessibility to jobs that confer higher social status. Admission to educational facilities beyond the required minimum is strictly controlled and manipulated to achieve desired political, social, and economic goals (see ch. 6). The emphasis on educational credentials for upper level jobs limits the possibility of upward mobility through skill or competence alone. On-the-job training, however, does provide a means for mobility within the industrial labor force.

Partly as a result of conscious government effort and partly as a natural consequence of rapid economic expansion, upward mobility has been considerable since the end of World War II. In the early years of communist rule, this upward mobility was accompanied by a significant downward mobility of members of the former middle and upper cla.s.ses who lost their property and their jobs and were forced to take up occupations at the lower end of the social scale. By the end of the 1960s the social structure seemed to be stabilizing. The restructuring desired by the communist rulers had been accomplished, and the intelligentsia had grown to the point where it could satisfy from its own ranks most of the demand for professional and managerial personnel.

This reduction of openings in the upper strata of society for recruits from the lower levels was beginning to solidify the social structure into self-perpetuating groups whose status and privileges, or their lack, are pa.s.sed down from one generation to the next. The avenues of education and skill, however, remained open and, together with political loyalty, provided the means for social advancement.

SOCIAL VALUES

The differing life-styles of the rural and urban populations are reflected in somewhat differing values. Rural values are rooted in the land and in deep religious faith. Individualism, self-reliance, strength of character, and love of land and G.o.d are admired attributes of the rural population. For the mountain shepherd and the small farmer, self-reliance and resourcefulness are essential for survival. These qualities are praised in song and legend and are widely held responsible for the survival of the Romanian people and their culture during centuries of foreign domination. Loyalty is also a highly admired peasant quality--loyalty to the land, to the family, to G.o.d, to country, and even to one's animals.

The strong religious convictions that pervade the life of most peasants in the form of carefully observed rules of conduct and rituals are viewed by some sophisticated urbanites and peasant youths as superst.i.tion and as a sign of backwardness (see ch. 5).

The values of urban Romanians are more complex than those of peasants.

They have been influenced by ideas and values from abroad, particularly by those emanating from France. Educated Romanians have long felt a kinship with the French emotionally and intellectually and have looked to French culture as a model to emulate. As a result, Bucharest was often referred to as the "Paris of the Balkans."

Among the values shared by both urban and rural Romanians are self-reliance, resourcefulness, and patriotism or loyalty to country.

Having been ruled by Turks and Hungarians for centuries and being almost surrounded by Slavic peoples, the Romanians are very proud of their Latin heritage and their connection with ancient Rome. It is the shared Latin heritage that probably makes Romanians look to France as their cultural contact in the West.

The emphasis on self-reliance, resourcefulness, and making the best of a situation has given Romanians the reputation of being shrewd businessmen and hard bargainers.

The extent to which communist efforts to change the traditional values of the people have been successful is difficult to determine. Such values as independence, resourcefulness, and patriotism continue to be reflected in the international relations of the country, particularly in its relations with the Soviet Union.

CHAPTER 5

RELIGION

Romanians have traditionally been a very devout people. The vast majority belong to the Romanian Orthodox Church, and regular church attendance and partic.i.p.ation in church functions have been a normal part of daily life. In rural areas the clergy are heavily depended upon as counselors and confidants. As in most peasant societies, the religious beliefs and practices fostered and approved by the churches are often intermingled with folklore. Belief in the evil eye, werewolves, and vampires is common among peasants, although younger ones are less likely to take such beliefs seriously.

Aware of the deep-seated religious beliefs of the people, the communist government has done little to restrict their free expression, and officially religion is viewed as a private and personal matter.

Religious persecution has been limited to clergymen who have openly opposed the government and its policies. Government efforts, however, have been aimed at controlling the churches and using their influence with the people to further official policies and programs. At the same time, public information media and schools have been attempting to undermine the hold of religion on younger people by equating religious faith with superst.i.tion and backwardness and stressing scientific and empirical knowledge as the basis for a modern world view. Many religious values are attacked as lacking a basis in true knowledge and reality.

Those values that the government wants to preserve and promote are given a scientific-intellectual justification and are stripped of any religious meaning.

In line with its view of religion as a private and personal matter, the government has not published any statistical or other information pertaining to the various religious communities since 1950. Research on the role of religion in the daily life of the people has been discouraged; therefore, up-to-date information is restricted to observations by foreign visitors to the country. According to reports from such observers, more than twenty years of communist effort to undermine religion as a force in the life of people has been unsuccessful. Some of the clergy have lost their former influence by openly working on behalf of the government, and some young people question the relevance of some beliefs and practices. The fundamental faith of the people, however, has been little changed. Even longstanding members of the party have been publicly criticized for subscribing to religious views and practices.

CHURCH-STATE RELATIONS

The Const.i.tution of 1965 guarantees freedom of conscience and freedom of religion to all citizens. It also specifically guarantees the right not to profess any religion. The organization and activities of any church are regulated by state law, and religious organizations are prohibited from operating any educational inst.i.tutions other than those for the training of clergy and members of religious orders.

Within these broad guarantees and prohibitions, the state exercises strict control over the organization and activities of religious denominations through its Department of Cults, which functions in accordance with the General Regulations for Religious Cults pa.s.sed by the Grand National a.s.sembly in 1948. Under these regulations the state must approve the statute of organization and administration and the statement of beliefs of any church before it can be recognized as a legal body. Clerical appointments are subject to state approval, and all clergy must take an oath of allegiance to the Socialist Republic of Romania.

All legally recognized churches receive state subsidies for salaries of clergy and other operating expenses; churches are not allowed to receive any income or financial a.s.sistance directly. Budgets are subject to approval by the Department of Cults, which may withhold funds for individual parishes or for salaries of individual clergymen if their activities are found to be in violation of the policies or laws of the state. The Department of Cults may also suspend any policy decision, regulation, or other measure pa.s.sed by the governing body of a church if it is deemed contrary to the provisions of law either directly or indirectly.

State supervision and control of administrative and financial affairs of religious denominations had existed in Romania before the communists took power. The terms of the General Regulations for Religious Cults followed in many ways the Law on Cults of 1928; however, several differences in the degree of control point out the fundamental difference in church-state relations in these two periods. Before 1948, for instance, the churches could receive income from property and donations in addition to the state subsidy. More important, however, the earlier law gave the state no right to interfere in matters of belief except in the case of minor sects whose specific beliefs were subject to approval. The 1948 law makes the state the ultimate authority on matters of faith as well as administration. Thus the intent of the earlier law appeared to be the regulation of the activities of essentially independent bodies, but the intent of the present law is to give complete authority and control to the state.

In practice, state control of religious bodies has been carried out through its control over finances and through its confirmation of clerical appointments. No changes have been made in the traditional methods of selecting and appointing clergy and laymen for the various positions in the church. By using its power to confirm these selections, however, the state has managed to fill all the important positions and decisionmaking bodies with persons willing to cooperate and carry out state policy. The state has refused to grant recognition to the Roman Catholic Church because of the church's belief in the supremacy of the pope in all matters of faith and morals and in church administration; however, the church does function with the tacit agreement of the regime.

THE ROMANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

The Romanian Orthodox Church is the most important church in the country and the one into which the vast majority of Romanians are born. It is an independent Eastern Orthodox church headed by a patriarch in Bucharest.

Its membership in the 1950s, after the incorporation of the Uniate church, was estimated at more than 15 million.

Romanians were introduced to Christianity during the period of Roman rule of Dacia. By the tenth century they were known to be following the Slavonic liturgy of the Eastern Christian Church. Old Church Slavonic remained the liturgical language until the late sixteenth century, when it began to be replaced by Romanian.

During the period of Turkish rule in Walachia and Moldavia and of Hungarian rule in Transylvania, the Romanian Orthodox Church helped to maintain the national consciousness of the Romanian people and was active in their struggle to achieve national unity and independence (see ch. 2). The Turkish policy of religious tolerance enabled the church to thrive in Walachia and Moldavia; in Transylvania, however, a post-Reformation settlement between the Hungarian rulers and the various churches did not recognize the Romanian Orthodox Church as a legal denomination.

In order to gain legal status and its accompanying freedoms and benefits, a major portion of Romanian Orthodox clergy and laymen in Transylvania agreed, in 1698, to accept the jurisdiction of the pope while retaining Orthodox liturgy and ritual. The resulting Uniate church was an important religious and political force in Transylvania until the communist government forced it to reunite with the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1948. As the church of the Romanian people in Transylvania, the Uniate church played a major role in their emanc.i.p.ation and eventual integration into a greater Romania.

With over 1.6 million adherents in 1948, the Uniate church in Romania was the second largest and second most influential church in the country. Fearing and resenting the influence of the Roman Catholic pope with such a large number of its people, the communist regime decreed that the Uniates be merged with the Romanian Orthodox Church and disavow allegiance to the pope. Some Uniate clergy and laymen resisted and were persecuted and imprisoned. The pattern for the dissolution of the Uniate church was the same everywhere in Eastern Europe, and from 1946 to 1950 the Uniate congregations were absorbed into the various national Orthodox churches.

Until the Romanian state was enlarged in 1918, the Orthodox faith was, with minor exceptions, the exclusive religion of the country. The Romanian Orthodox Church was legally accepted as the national church and was supported by the state. Its hierarchy generally supported the policies of the government both as individuals and as officials of the church. The close relationship between church and state was of particular significance in rural areas, where the church was often called on to carry out local government functions. As the only literate person in the area, the parish priest was often not only the spiritual mentor of the population but also the teacher, judge, and government official. The power of the church in relation to the population, therefore, was based on both spiritual and governmental authority. In the eyes of the devout peasant, the local priest was an important authority on a variety of matters as well as a confidant and adviser.

The role of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the life of the country changed considerably after World War I with the addition of substantial populations of other faiths. Efforts to secure a favored position in its legal relationship to the state and to other denominations were defeated when pressure from the Roman Catholic and Uniate churches forced the government to guarantee religious freedom and the complete equality of all churches. At the same time, the Orthodox church's former role in the administration of governmental affairs at the local level was being lost to a growing secular civil service and educational system. The position of the church in the life of the average communicant, however, continued to be one of considerable power and influence. As the largest Orthodox church outside of the Soviet Union, the Romanian Orthodox Church also exercised a degree of leadership among other Orthodox churches.

The revised statutes of the Romanian Orthodox Church issued in 1949 differ little from those in effect before that date. Authority was somewhat more centralized, and the prerogatives of the patriarch were more clearly defined, but the structure of the church remained essentially the same. The patriarchate is divided into five metropolitanates, which in turn are divided into twelve dioceses. Each diocese is composed of parishes encompa.s.sing 1,500 to 2,500 communicants each. The clerical head at each level is a.s.sisted in his religious and administrative duties by a council composed of one-third clergymen and two-thirds laymen. The administration of monasteries falls under the jurisdiction of the head of the diocese. Since a 1952 reorganization of inst.i.tutions for religious training, the Romanian Orthodox Church has had two theological inst.i.tutes for the training of clergy and six schools for chanters and for monastic priests.

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

The Roman Catholic Church is second in size of membership to the Romanian Orthodox Church and, since the absorption of the Uniates by the Orthodox church, the most important minority religion. Its estimated membership of between 1.2 million and 1.5 million in the 1960s was composed mostly of Hungarians and German Swabians (see ch. 4).

As the princ.i.p.al denomination of the Hungarian minority, the Roman Catholic Church has played a cultural and political role in the life of the country as well as a religious one. The well-organized body of the church and its related inst.i.tutions have been a natural vehicle for the promotion of Hungarian group interests and the preservation of Hungarian cultural traditions. Catholic schools, which were independent of government control until 1948, most often used Hungarian or German as the language of instruction.

The Concordat of 1927 between the Holy See and the Romanian state defined the legal position of the Roman Catholic Church in Romania until the communist takeover. It gave the church full equality with the dominant Romanian Orthodox Church and other denominations and granted it sole control over its educational inst.i.tutions, hospitals, and charitable organizations. In contrast to all other denominations, the Roman Catholic Church was free from state administrative control and did not receive any financial support from the state. The concordat was abrogated by the Romanian government in 1948, and since that time the position of the Roman Catholic Church has been unclear.

The Catholic bishops have refused to recognize the supremacy of the state over church affairs as expressed in the General Regulations for Religious Cults of 1948, and consequently the state has not granted the church legal recognition as a religious denomination. Between 1948 and 1967 the government tried to force the church into submission by systematically weakening its position. Uncooperative clergy were either imprisoned or otherwise prevented from exercising their clerical and administrative duties; all church schools, hospitals, and charitable inst.i.tutions were taken over by the government, and all other church a.s.sets were confiscated. All but two monasteries and three convents were disbanded, and even these were not permitted to accept new novices. In addition, the organization of the church was reduced from six to two dioceses, Alba-Iulia and Bucharest. Since the church has not been receiving a state subsidy and has been forbidden to seek contributions, most clergy have been supporting themselves by working at lay jobs.

Church buildings have been deteriorating because of lack of maintenance, and many travelers have commented on the marked difference in appearance between the decaying Catholic churches and the well-maintained Orthodox churches.

As part of a general political liberalization in 1967 the arch-bishop of Alba-Iulia, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Romania, and other clergy were released from imprisonment. The action marked the reopening of contacts between the Roman Catholic Church and the Romanian government in an effort to reach a satisfactory agreement that would normalize the position of the church in the country. Additional government effort to reach an accommodation with the church has been demonstrated by the appropriation of funds for the restoration of the historic cathedral of Alba-Iulia. Other denominations had been receiving regular funds for the maintenance and restoration of religious buildings of historic or artistic significance, but the Roman Catholic Church had been denied such funds until 1967. In 1972 contacts between Romania and the Holy See, which had begun in 1967, were continuing. Several meetings had taken place between the Romanian Orthodox patriarch, Justinian, and Cardinal Koenig, who heads the Vatican secretariat for nonbelievers. No agreement legalizing the position of the Roman Catholic Church in Romania has been reached, however.

The government promoted the creation of the Catholic Church of Romania, which was formed in 1951. It is administratively independent of the pope and recognizes the supremacy of the state over church affairs. Legal justification for the move was found in a statute pa.s.sed in Transylvania in the seventeenth century that placed the conduct of Catholic church affairs in the hands of clergy and laymen directly subordinate to the pope in order to preserve the church from engulfment by the Reformation. In early 1972 the Catholic Church of Romania was headed by a council composed of both lay and clerical members. It recognized the pope as supreme authority on matters of faith, morals, and dogma but rejected any organizational connection with the Holy See.

PROTESTANT CHURCHES

Protestantism is closely identified with the Hungarian and German minorities of Transylvania. Although the churches themselves have refrained from any political activity on behalf of the minorities, their ethnic composition has made them politically significant at times. The Protestant population, estimated at about 1.2 million in 1950, was divided into Calvinist, Lutheran, Baptist, Seventh-Day Adventist, Evangelical, and Pentecostal churches.

The largest Protestant denomination is the Reformed (Calvinist) Church, with a membership estimated at 780,000 in 1950. The membership of this church is almost entirely Hungarian, and its center is at Cluj, a Calvinist stronghold since the Reformation. Most of the Hungarian aristocracy in Transylvania adopted Calvinism during the Reformation, a period when the Roman Catholic Church was weak in that region. This weakness of the Roman Catholic Church and the political and economic independence of the Transylvanian n.o.bles prevented an effective counterreformation and allowed Protestantism to remain strong in Transylvania while the rest of Hungary was Roman Catholic.

Next in size are the Lutherans, with an estimated membership of 250,000 in 1950. Lutheranism is represented by the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession, headed by a bishop at Sibiu, and the Evangelical Synodal Presbyteral Church of the Augsburg Confession, headed by a bishop in Cluj. Membership of both churches is predominantly German.

Lutheranism was adopted by the Transylvanian Saxons at the same time that Calvinism was adopted by the Hungarians. In 1938 there were 400,000 Lutherans in Romania; their number was reduced through the loss of northern Bukovina and through the emigration of Saxons to Germany during the 1940s. Continued emigration is further reducing the Lutheran population.

The Baptist, Seventh-Day Adventist, and Pentecostal churches were united by government decree in 1950 into the Federation of Protestant Cults.

The estimates of the membership at the time of the merger vary greatly, but it probably included between 50,000 and 100,000 Baptists, 15,000 to 70,000 Adventists, and about 5,000 Pentecostals. Before their merger none of these churches had a central organization in Romania, as their congregations were directed from abroad.