A Fragment from the Process of Disintegration of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Interwar Hungary

Abstract

"Abstract: The joy brought by the unification of Romania through the Treaty of Trianon was not felt the same by all Romanians. Various constraints started to be imposed on those who remained within Hungary’s borders. From the point of view of the Romanian Orthodox Church, the Romanian Orthodox represented practically 80% of the Romanians remaining in Hungary. Which was not something to disregard. Except for Budapest, the Romanian Orthodox parishes were located in eastern Hungary, from north to south, right next to the Romanian border. The Treaty of Trianon, although anticipable, took the Romanian Orthodox Church by surprise (compared to the Serbian Orthodox Church), as the Romanian parishes in Hungary had their governing structures (archpriestship/episcopate) in Romania. Moreover, the parishes were not subordinated to a single eparchy centre but were divided between the eparchies of Arad and Oradea. Between 1920 and 1946, the two eparchies did not give up the canonical territory from Hungary. And at the level of the Romanian Patriarchate, no plan was proposed to merge the parishes in Hungary, to be subordinated to a single eparchy, as we would say today, in a state of emergency. This was not done until 1946."