Relations between Romanian Orthodox Church and Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1860–1880

Abstract

The autocephaly of the Romanian Orthodox Church was recognized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople on April 25, 1885. The issue of the relations between Romanian Church and Ecumenical Patriarchate was raised by the clergy and lay deputies at the legislative and consultative assembly (ad-hoc divan) of the Principality of Moldavia in the autumn of 1857. In the state-building programme and memoranda addressed to the representatives of the Great Powers, there were presented historical and canonical arguments in favour of the inherent independence of the Romanian Church, and the repeated violations of its rights by the Patriarchate of Constantinople. According to the demands of the Romanian ecclesiastical and political elites, the hierarchical relations between Romania and Constantinople should have been built on the basis of the model of relations established between the Patriarchate and the new church of the Greek state. The unification of the Romanian Principalities in 1859 and the creation in 1862 of a unified political and administrative system also made the ecclesiastical unification of Romania necessary. Thus, on December 3, 1864, an Organic Decree was promulgated on the establishment of a central synodal body, supplemented by the Regulation on the election of members of the General Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church and the internal regulations of this General Synod. The adoption of the Synodal law meant not only church unification, but in essence an affirmation of church independence or autocephaly. This chapter focuses on the issue of the church reform introduced during the formation and consolidation of the modern Romanian state. The dispute between the institution of the Church and the state led to the subordination of the former to national political power and at the same time to its autonomy in relation to foreign ecclesiastical authority. We show the efforts of the Romanian Orthodox hierarchs and politicians aimed at establishing correct canonical relations with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, while avoiding the isolation of the Romanian Church from other autocephalous Orthodox Churches.