Introduction

When I say “Romania” what comes to your mind? Chances are your immediate reaction would be a vision of Count Dracula terrorizing unsuspecting peasants, or a cheap vacation on the Black Sea. What should come immediately to mind, in my own opinion, is Romania’s deep and ancient Christian roots as an Orthodox country. I aim to turn my readers’ attention to Romania’s rich and ancient spiritual traditions and envision an Anglican future in this beautiful country. Beginning with some of the origins of Protestantism in Romania’s Transylvania region, this article will examine the British royal family’s ties with the Romanian royal family and the history of the CoE represented by the Church of the Resurrection in Bucharest. This article will culminate with a call to action. Romania’s spiritual tradition, with deep roots in both the East and the West, makes it an ideal land to plant the seeds of a renewed Anglican future in Eastern Europe. In a world that sees rapid change, even in historical bastions of Christianity, a sure footing for the Anglican Church in Eastern Europe will further cement the Church’s future in our unfolding post-liberal age.

A brief history lesson

The history of the Protestant churches in Romania, naturally, opens with a German Lutheran by the name of Johannes Honter. Honter was a very accomplished printer and humanist educator, who established schools and advocated for the principles of Lutheranism throughout Transylvania. This led the Romanian Saxon community to confess, as a body, the Augsburg Confession and has led to the creation of a church of the same name. Very early on in Romania, Protestantism became an ethnic issue. While the Hungarian and Szekely nobility became early supporters of Calvinism, Transylvania’s robust Saxon mercantile classes remained proudly Lutheran. Due to the position of ethnic Romanians in the social order of the day, and the long and proud resistance of the Orthodox monasteries to Roman and Islamist infiltration, very little headway was made by Protestant clergy to convert the native populace, who have constituted the majority population of Transylvania (Ardeal). Thus, Protestantism in Romania, with a few minor exceptions,^[1] has remained a tradition of the cities and associated with other ethnic groups. For political reasons, primarily in Transylvania, Romanians were relegated to the countryside, and only begrudgingly, if ever, allowed to participate in the life of the cities. While some Romanian families, seeking to win fortune or ingratiate themselves with the Hungarian ruling class, did convert to Calvinism and more rarely Unitarianism, Orthodoxy as a whole remained the religion of the Romanian people.

The reasons for the symbiotic growth of Romanian national identity and Eastern Orthodoxy are complex and myriad. Before I dive into a brief overview of that history I would recommend to you Nicolae Iorgas, Byzance apres Byzance. Romania’s history with Christianity ultimately lies in its relationship with the Roman Empire. Formerly a group of independent Balkan Daco-Thracian^[2] tribes, gold-rich Dacia was conquered and colonized, and ultimately Christianized, by the emissaries of Rome. Due to its ready absorption of Latin culture, when Rome fell and Constantinople took its place, it readily fell into the Eastern Orthodox orbit. It seems that the ascetic piety of regular monks and mendicant preachers appealed especially to a nation of beleaguered shepherds and mountain lords.

Romanian kings and lords often took to the “imperial purple” of the fallen Eastern Roman emperors, and the Christian nobility and clergy of South-eastern Europe looked to them for financial aid and refuge. The saint-king Stephan the Great built exactly 47 monasteries and churches, one after each battle against the Ottoman Turks, who ravaged the Romanian principalities for much of their history. It was a matter of pride for Romanian princes, whether in Wallachia or Moldova, to sponsor monasteries at Mount Athos, or provide rich endowments for Orthodox education in Greece itself. Romanian identity, from a very early point in its development, had at its core a strong identifying relationship with Eastern Christianity. Just as a rich Byzantine inheritance gave the Romanian princes credibility in the eyes of Europe and their people, so did the deep roots and ancient beauty of Orthodoxy anchor itself within the souls of the Romanian people.

Modern Issues

Throughout the various revolutions and wars that have since ripped apart the European continent, the historic Protestant bodies in Romania have become inwardly focused, and act less as conveyors of a renewed catholic faith, and more like ethno-cultural standard bearers. While it cannot be said that there is any state-sanctioned program of promoting the Romanian language and culture to the detriment of the German Saxon or Hungarian minorities, distrust lingers between the Protestant bodies, and tribalism dominates on the parish level. While a church engaging in culture is not inherently wrong, and indeed has proved to work for the glory of God, in Romania it has left the Protestant bodies stagnant and oftentimes shrinking. In modern times, due in large part to the influence of diaspora converts, Romania has seen the rise of native converts to traditional Protestant groups, most notably converts to the Presbyterian tradition as many diaspora Romanians have come back with the intention of church planting.

While we have briefly discussed traditional Protestants in Romania, we must also look at “neo-Protestant” groups, such as the Pentecostals, Baptists, and Adventist communities. The 20 years between 1850 and 1870 saw the appearance and growth of non-traditional Protestant groups in Romania. Baptists and Adventists were the first to establish an organized presence, both communities initially being formed and sent by evangelists such as Johann Gerhard Oncken^[3] and Michael Czechowski.^[4] Early on in their history, and continuing into the present day, the Baptist church had remarkably hostile relations with the Orthodox Church. The Romanian government officially recognized in 1928 the existence of the Unitarian, Orthodox, Armenian, Reformed, and Lutheran churches as valid churches. By the same law, Baptist churches, Adventists, and Pentecostals could register as “religious organizations.” This new designation left them open to closure and censorship by the government, and with growing hostility between Baptists and Orthodox clergy, all Baptist churches were shut down for a time starting in 1938. The Romanian state, prior to the Second World War, enjoyed very close relations with the Romanian Orthodox Church, and traditionally this period saw the full identification of Romanian nationhood and Eastern Orthodoxy in a modern context. Only the Pentecostal church truly flourished during the ensuing communist era. Prominent Romanian Pentecostal leaders kept in close contact with Ceausescu, the famous hermit-dictator of Romania, and when allowed to travel abroad related to their foreign Pentecostal audiences “prophecies” about the dictator as a model peace-maker. Overall, while their behavior confused authorities, the Pentecostal churches had normal relations with the communist government and were tolerated throughout the existence of the People’s Socialist Republic of Romania.

After the 1989 Revolution, most restrictions on neo-Protestant groups were loosened. This new era of post-Communist freedom saw an uptick of converts to the Baptist and Pentecostal traditions but was also a period of mass emigration. Many Baptist and Pentecostal churches have been established across the globe, primarily in the United States of America. While they have maintained a relatively distinct identity as Romanians, this identity rarely goes further than language. The traditional Protestant traditions have been able to maintain the identity of their Hungarian and Lutheran communities, but the Baptists, Pentecostals, and evangelicals in the Romanian diaspora are quickly losing theirs. Many churches have chosen to shift away from any Romanian language services at all, and have thus melded either into larger churches that are culturally Russo-Ukrainian or have turned into American non-denominational churches. Many Pentecostal and Baptist churches abroad and in Romania hold firm to a theology of “in the world and not of it,” and thus have little to no impact on local politics or affairs, and their public perception is either non-existent or they are regarded as an interesting anomaly. Simply put, the Romanian neo-Protestant denominations, who rarely hold to a creed or confession, and even rarer still a liturgy, are not equipped to live in a post-liberal and post-Christian world.

Why the Anglican Church?

Romania currently has one standing Anglican church, the Church of the Resurrection in the country’s capital, Bucharest. The church was completed in 1914 and was deeded to the British Crown as a gift in 1900, becoming known for its frequent visitor, Queen Marie of Romania. Known as Her Royal Highness Princess Marie of Edinburgh in her youth, she was baptized in the Anglican church, and her godparents were the Empress and Tsarevitch of Russia (Maria Alexandrovna, and Alexander III, respectively). Every bit an heir to her grandmother’s, Queen Victoria’s legacy, Queen Marie soon became a national hero. Besides writing many pieces of literature in regards to Romanian folklore, and composing an Ode to Roumania, she served in military hospitals throughout the First World War. Queen Marie, while remaining respectful of the pious Orthodoxy of her subjects, remained an Anglican throughout her life. If there was ever a model of stalwart faithfulness to God, respect for nation and tradition, and a bold ecumenicist, it was Queen Marie. She was laid to rest in the royal crypt at Curtea de Arges, the historical capital of Romania and the site of some of its earliest civilization developments, where centuries of Romanian rulers are buried.

While interesting history has been covered and discussed, the fundamental question at the heart of this essay must still be answered. Why does Romania need an Anglican presence? Or further still, why do Anglicans need a presence in Romania? To address the latter, we must enter into the field of ecumenical relations. Not to wax poetic, but the Anglican churches need a presence in Romania for the life of the church itself. A renewed Anglican pursuit of common spiritual and theological interest between ourselves and the Eastern Orthodox church has no better ground zero than in Romania itself. Anglicans, and many Western Christians in general hold either polemical views of the Eastern Orthodox church as colorful mystics or are completely ignorant of Eastern Orthodoxy in general.

Many of the great ecumenical projects of the last century turned foul, either because of the dubious orthodoxy of all parties involved, or the frankly ridiculous hills that many (according to the spirit of the age) chose to die on. With a new generation of both Anglican and Orthodox ecumenicists being educated and following the example of Donald Allchin and John Macquarrie, as well as the canonization of ecumenical-leaning saints such as Dumitru Staniloae, the promise of closer communion between the members of the body of Christ can be renewed. Then, there lies the political question. While Western Europe has experienced an extreme downward trend in cultural morality and bold-faced hostility from governments, the Anglican church has only to gain from the bold witness of its Eastern European brothers, the invigorating spirit and witness of a people who have lived as the last bulwark against hostile religions and ideologies. However, the Anglican Church need not approach in its relations with the East the role of an uneducated simpleton, but rather as a brother Church, positioned for mutual learning and discipleship.

What of the need in Romania for an Anglican presence? Frankly, the Orthodox Church cannot evangelize to or unite the many traditional and neo-Protestant groups in Romania. The Anglican churches can. Combining a uniquely Reformed Catholic liturgy and theology with an aesthetic system that requires conformity to local traditions and culture is exactly what the Anglican Church is prepared to do. The episcopal organization of the Anglican church has appealed to those who belong to the Reformed and Lutheran confessions, and to neo-Protestants may offer the hope of stronger governance and living in continuity with the witness of the entire Christian Church. The Anglican Church in Romania must also recognize its unique position of offering the last remnants of the Greek Catholic (Uniate) Church a representative and faithful witness to the Gospel. The Romanian diaspora tends not to be as churched or as receptive to Eastern Orthodoxy as does the homeland, and it is my conviction that the formation of an Anglican body suited to the expression of the Romanian people will be to their benefit.

Furthermore, the Anglican Church in Romania will be uniquely able to fulfill Article 34 of the Articles of Religion:

It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one, or utterly like; for at all times they have been divers, and may be changed according to the diversity of countries, times, and men’s manners, so that nothing be ordained against God’s Word. Whosoever, through his private judgment, willingly and purposely, doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church, which be not repugnant to the Word of God, and be ordained and approved by common authority, ought to be rebuked openly, (that others may fear to do the like,) as he that offendeth against the common order of the Church, and hurteth the authority of the Magistrate, and woundeth the consciences of the weak brethren.

Every particular or national Church hath authority to ordain, change, and abolish, Ceremonies or Rites of the Church ordained only by man’s authority, so that all things be done to edifying.

A Romanian Anglican mission must not seek to impose an entirely foreign spiritual and aesthetic system on any prospective converts but must meet the needs of their sheep. Therefore, much work might be done in the construction of Anglican churches to match the architecture of the Romanian Orthodox church and the inclusion of motifs found in Romania’s rich textile culture in our vestments. Far from feeling artificial, incorporating folk culture into the life of the Romanian Anglican parish would ensure its future. Liturgically, the translation of the Book of Common Prayer is of immediate and crucial necessity. Many inquirers would come to the Anglican church seeking both the familiar and the fresh, and what better to refresh the soul than the simple devotional piety of the Book of Common Prayer? Finally, the training up of native clergy. A mission to Romania will absolutely fail if its platform is an “English” novelty in the exotic Orient, a mission to Romania would not only need to seek native Romanians for discipleship pursuant to ordination but also be led by Romanian Anglicans from the diaspora.

While the Anglican Church has proven through the centuries the power of its spirituality and robust ecclesiology, what of its reception by our brothers in the Romanian Patriarchate? The recognition of Anglican orders by the Romanian Patriarchate has already happened. According to the 1937 Bucharest Report, the recognition of the validity of Anglican Holy Orders was extended to bishops, deacons, and priests. This report was issued following a committee report by an authorized representative of the Church of England and the Holy Synod of the Romanian Patriarchate, where not only were Anglican Orders affirmed as valid by the Romanian Patriarchate but the Church of England and the Romanian Patriarchate actually agreed on a definition of what Holy Communion actually is. The Romanian Patriarchate is in a unique position to benefit from and give benefit to a serious and concerted Anglican presence in Romania, with the Patriarchate and its many clerics and intellectuals making vast strides in Western Europe both in conversions and ecumenical relationships.

In a post-Christian present, traditional Christianity must see the West as a mission field now more than ever in our history. We are no longer able to turn towards the populations of Western Europe as a solid base for support or even mere toleration. Throughout history and into the present the people of Romania have proven themselves to be uniquely devout among the peoples of Europe. It is here that a missions-minded Anglican future must turn to. For the health of the Church, and for the sake of our future, new bastions must thrive. After all, if not us, then who? If not now, then when?

NIHIL SINE DEO

Notes

1. It is known that a number of Hussites lived peacefully in Moldova, until they either went extinct or folded into local Lutheran congregations. ↑
2. Indo-Europeans indigenous to the Balkans. ↑
3. The so-called “Father of Continental Baptists.” ↑
4. A former Catholic priest from Poland, converted to Adventism at a camp meeting in the state of Ohio, 1857. ↑