THE SITUATION OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH IN NORTHERN BUKOVINA DURING ALIENATION FROM ITS MOTHERLAND, BY THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE

Abstract

In 1775, the Austro-Hungarian Empire occupied Northern Bukovina, a wonderful land, sprinkled with towering mountains, covered with secular forests, rich grasslands and crystal-clear waters, and good householders and worthy people. The fate of this part of Romania was shared by other confreres, occupied by the same abusive empire: Transylvania in 1699, Banat and Oltenia in 1718. Thus, the occupied Romanians found themselves in a kind of forced diaspora, becoming neighbors of borders with their own brothers. The occupation was very oppressive, long-lasting and with disastrous consequences in all fields religious, social, and cultural, the occupier trying, and most of the time, succeeding in destroying the traditional local values and imposing its own. The phenomenon run slowly by the activity of enlightened hierarchs of the Church, as well as of some associations and institutions, which fought and defended themselves through culture, prevailing the musical culture, especially the choral one, which kept the Bukovinians closely united near the ancestral Church. Even if the Austro-Hungarian occupation brought certain benefits, it remains a black spot in bimillennial of the Romanian people.