In Defense of the Cathedral for the Salvation of the Romanian People (Catedrala Mântuirii Neamului Românesc)

The current Romanian national cathedral is a structure which was built in the 17th century. Since that time, Romania has grown to be the second largest Orthodox national church, after Russia. I've been in the national cathedral. The Lutheran church where I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin is bigger, and actually more beautiful, especially in terms of internal lighting.

And my point is simple. The Romanian Orthodox Church needs, nay, deserves a new cathedral which matches her size and significance within world Orthodoxy.

I am a convert to the Eastern Orthodox Church of ten years. After I became Orthodox I met the Romanian-American woman I then married. We are school teachers and have spent most of our summer vacation in Romania in that time. I have learned to speak competent Romanian. I know and love Romania. 

Artist Depiction of the Cathedral under Construction

The Romanian Orthodox Church is currently building a new national cathedral. It will be called the "Cathedral for the Salvation of the Romanian People" (Catedrala Mântuirii Neamului Românesc). 

It is everything they deserve in terms of the grandeur of their Church. But, not surprisingly, there has been criticism of the project from many quarters. In this post, I will address the issues and explain why the new cathedral is so worthy of support.


The Cathedral for the Salvation of the Romanian People (Catedrala Mântuirii Neamului Românesc)

One of the common criticisms you will hear is that, the Romanians are building a huge new cathedral while people are in need. Why don't we instead spend all that money on schools, hospitals, and other support for the poor?

This immediately reminds me a quote from Gilbert Chesterton:

"Those thinkers who cannot believe in any gods often assert that the love of humanity would be in itself sufficient for them; and so, perhaps, it would, if they had it."

The point is, only the Church is criticized for spending any money not on the poor. Where are the soup kitchens that the Atheists run? (The new cathedral, by the way, will run a soup kitchen for a thousand.) Some businessman builds a new stadium for a soccer team and no one protests it telling him he should instead have built a hospital. For that matter, count up the free clinics built and operated by the Orthodox Church in Romania. They were under no legal obligation to build so much as one. And yet they built many. And the moment they decide to build a new cathedral, they are attacked for not building more hospitals? 

If you don't like the new cathedral, put your so-called ideals where they really belong. Don't blame the Church for not building one more hospital. Build one yourself. You'll find it enormously complicated. And if you actually do try to build one, you'll emerge with respect for the Church for her efforts over the centuries. 

I suspect, however, that the critics won't really try. Building hospitals is hard. Criticizing others for not building hospitals is easy.

Another criticism I have heard in Romania regards the location of the new cathedral. It is right next to the Palace of the Parliament, a monstrosity built by Ceausescu for an estimated 5.7 billion US dollars. And so, the criticism is that the new cathedral looks, next to it, like just one more building that drew enormous expense off the people.

Let's address the issue of location. If you've ever been in Bucharest, you'll notice that the Ikea store that was built after Communism is not in the downtown.  It's on the way to the airport, in an area that was completely undeveloped when I first started coming to Romania.

Why is the Ikea not downtown? For the simple fact that there is absolutely no place downtown where you could possibly have fit it in!

And, guess what? There is nowhere downtown where you also could have put a cathedral worthy of the Romanian Church. 

Imagine if they had decided to build the cathedral in that undeveloped area on the way to the airport. Then there would have been a public outcry saying, "They're building the new cathedral too far away from the city!"

Yeah, that's right. No matter what they did someone was going to criticize it.

Now, it just so happens that the only place anywhere remotely close to the city center with undeveloped land capable of housing a project as significant as the cathedral the Romanian Orthodox Church deserves is...next to the Palace of the Parliament. Building it there is not just practical. It's a necessity.

As for the cathedral being built at the expense of the people, the government donated land that was not previously being used for the project. They did so knowing that this project would eventually generate money for the nation in the following way.

Romania is growing yearly in tourism potential. When completed, the new cathedral will be a major attraction for visitors to Bucharest. Admission to the cathedral will be free. But if the Church sells candles, icons, and other items, the cathedral will end up paying for itself in the long run.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

So, in the final analysis, I could not more enthusiastically support the current construction of the Cathedral for the Salvation of the Romanian People (Catedrala Mântuirii Neamului Românesc). Until  the day of its consecration (estimated sometime in 2016), I will be donating all the proceeds from my novel A Place of Brightness to that building project. 

This novel is set almost entirely in Romania and follows the story of a faithful Orthodox family struggling against Communism in the 1960's and then pulled into international intrigue in the early 2000's as they must once again fight against an atheistic tyranny they thought was long defeated. 

Please note, do not buy this novel if you do not want to support the new cathedral project.


If you would like to donate directly to the new cathedral, please visit their website.

The Courageous Life of Fr. Gheorghe Calciu-Dumitreasa

The Romanian Orthodox Church is facing a bit of a quandary today. One of their own, but one they once disowned, has turned up, well, having failed to decay after seven years. And in Catholic-Orthodox circles, that's a pretty big thing.

We're talking about Fr. Gheorghe Calciu-Dumitreasa. 

He lived a remarkable life. For the fullest description of his journey, you can read the Washington Post article published upon his death in 2006. But I'll briefly summarize it for you as follows.

He was a medical student when the Communist regime seized control of Romania after WWII. He spoke out publicly against the Communists and went to jail for 16 years. During that confinement, he seems to have had a faith experience and when he was finally released, he secretly pursued theological education.  He was ordained a priest in 1972. The Communist government tolerated his anti-Communist preaching for five years but finally the Church itself, probably under significant pressure from the Communist government, defrocked him. 

He was jailed again and was tortured while in confinement. The US President Ronald Reagan eventually demanded his release from prison as a condition for favorable trade with Romania. The Communist government released him. 

He and his wife Adriana and their son Andrei were allowed to go into exile to America in 1985. They settled in Virginia. Having been defrocked by the Romanian Orthodox Church, he was accepted into ministry by the anti-Communist Romanian Archdiocese of the Orthodox Church in America. 

He lived to see the end of Communism in Romania. But, being defrocked by the Romanian Orthodox Church, and serving with a Church body that had described the Romanian Bishops as nothing but Secret Police lackeys, in the few trips he made to Romania after Communism, he was not allowed official recognition or access to Churches for the saying of Mass.

I want to say, that, having spent quite a bit of time in Romania and getting to know people that had to survive the brutal Communist regime, including people of the Church, I don't judge the hierarchs of the Church. I believe that they did what they thought was necessary for the survival of the Church there in Romania. And the men who defrocked Fr. Gheorghe did so out of fear, fear for their own lives, and also fear for the survival of the Church in Romania. It was what it was.

That does not make Fr. Gheorghe any less brave for the outspoken stance he took.

He fell asleep in the Lord in 2006. He had spent his twilight years serving a Romanian parish in Virginia. But his body was sent for burial to the Petru-Voda Monastery in Romania.

Now, it is routine at monasteries to disinter bodies after seven years. That's the point after which we expect to find nothing but bones.  There's a ritual for it. Monks and Nuns spend their lives looking forward to having their bones gathered into the community collection after those seven years. 

I have often kissed glass cases of hundred of monastic skulls, venerating the lives of prayer that these men and women led for the Church.

But when they disinterred Fr. Gheorghe they found something strange.

He had not decomposed. 

There is an ancient teaching in the Great Tradition (the Catholic and Orthodox Churches before they sadly split) wherein a body that does not decay is held as proof of sanctity, meaning, such a person should then be proclaimed a Saint.

So, Fr. Gheorghe presents a quandary for the Romanian Orthodox Church. He was officially sanctioned, defrocked, by the Church at a time when they were fighting for their lives.

Now, he presents himself as a candidate for sainthood. How do you canonize a defrocked priest?

The solution may be that perhaps the Orthodox Church in America could canonize him. Reciprocally all Orthodox Churches accept the canonization of each Church.

At any rate, pray for us, Fr. Gheorghe. Let me tell you, Fr. Gheorghe, the Churches in Romania today are full every Sunday. I have no doubt that leaders in the Church committed sins against other members of the Church during Communist times. You were one of many people wronged. But the Church leaders erred while trying to preserve the Church. I know that hurt you. You are before the face of God now. And I know you forgive, just as you have been forgiven. 

But, in Romania, the Church did finally win.

May God bless the Orthodox Church in Romania.

Here is a Romanian news article about the finding of his incorrupt body:

Dracula is Dead and the Romanian Orthodox Church is Alive

I've just finished Sheilah Kast and Jim Rosapepe's book Dracula is Dead. The subtitle is a nice summary of the general format and tone of the book: How Romanians survived Communism, ended it, and emerged since 1989 as the new Italy. 

Of particular interest to me and readers of this blog will be an outsider's observations on the resurgence of the Romanian Orthodox Church and its vitality among young people today. 

A fascinating part of the book recounts how Patriarch Teoctist describes all the challenges the Romanian Orthodox Church had faced long before, during, and then after the fall of communism. The Church had been impoverished in the period of Monarchy and then marginalized in the period of communism. But what fascinates me is to imagine Teoctist, born in 1915, facing the challenge of leading the Romanian Orthodox Church into what Western Christians sees as the greatest crisis since Roman Persecution--Modernity and Apathy:

"And now we're going through a different type of change--democracy and pluralism, which is very different from what we had before: dictatorship and cult of personality. Now it's this confrontation between ideas. The difference is extraordinary." (p. 39)

I stood in line in 90 degree heat for five hours in 2007 for the chance to kiss the hand of the departed Patriarch Teoctist. He deserved my devotion because no matter what sad compromises the bishops had to make under communism, they managed to preserve something that transcended it. Vocations to the monastic life are thriving in Romania. The Churches are full on Sunday with people of every age. 

In fact, my recent discussion with Father Picioruș, who runs Theology for Today (Teologie Pentru Azi), convinces me that the Romanian Orthodox Church has actually managed to sidestep Western Modernism entirely and emerge in the period of Post-Modernism with a compelling strength.

Do read Dracula is Dead if you want to learn more, not only about modern Romania, but also to get an idea of why Orthodoxy there is experiencing what Newman called the Second Spring.

Theology for Today (Teologie pentru azi)

When I made my first visit to Romania in 2004, I saw two young men wearing black slacks, white shirts, and ties. And I knew immediately what they were. They were Americans, to be sure. Whether they were Adventists, Mormons, or Jehovah's Witnesses was up for grabs and actually unimportant. These people were here to convert Orthodox to whatever it is they were.

I had myself been received into full communion with the Orthodox Church just a year earlier. And as an American myself, I felt a particular responsibility to help galvanize the Orthodox here in Romania against this invasion, as it were.  And so, I made a video in Romanian and I composed articles in Romanian describing the biblical texts most commonly used by Protestants against Orthodox (and Catholics for that matter), as well as biblical proofs for Orthodox teaching on points in dispute.

Looking back, I realize now that my motive in doing all that work actually had in it a touch of the same paternalistic spirit which prompts American Protestants to try to convert Orthodox over here. At that time, I thought they needed my assistance to combat this onslaught. 

Now, I have been told by many Romanian Orthodox that they have found my video and essays helpful. I thank God if they are.

But in the years since I made those materials, I have come to understand that the Romanian Orthodox Church is blessed with strong members using the latest technologies to present Orthodox Faith in a dynamic and engaging way. An example can be found in the website Theology for Today (Teologie pentru azi).

I had the deep pleasure of spending an afternoon with Father Dorin Octavian Picioruş, who runs Theology for Today (Teologie pentru azi). The subtitle of this site is significant--An Orthodox-Christian Platform for a Different Kind of Post-Modernity (O platformă creştin-ortodoxă pentru o altfel de postmodernitate). Father Picioruş is very in tune with the challenges and opportunities in articulating the ancient Christian faith to a generation yet unborn. And a visit to the site is a visually stunning and edifying experience.

Father Picioruş and his wife Preoteasa Gianina Maria-Cristina Picioruş are both sound academics, with doctorates in theology and literature. One thing that impresses me and makes us such kindred spirits, is that they have a desire to access the primary texts in their original language and for that reason have learned them.

But this site is no repository of dusty academic ideas. This is a place where, as the title states, Theology for Today comes alive.

If you would like to help them with a donation, they list their bank information to send a donation: 

Picioruş Gianina Maria Cristina

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Even if you don't read Romanian, you'll see that this site is exactly the kind of thing that shows the bright future the Romanian Orthodox Church has, all on its own, with or without the help of Americans like me. But I count it as a blessing if I help in any way.