Religious persecution during the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina
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During the
Soviet occupation During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into two different ...
, the religious life in Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina underwent a persecution similar to the one in
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
between the two
World War A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...
s. In the first days of occupation, certain population groups welcomed the Soviet power and some of them joined the newly established Soviet '' nomenklatura'', including
NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...
, the Soviet
political police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...
. The latter has used these locals to find and arrest numerous
priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...
s.''Martiri pentru Hristos, din România, în perioada regimului comunist'', Editura Institutului Biblic şi de Misiune al Bisericii Ortodoxe Române, București, 2007, pp. 34–35. Other priests were arrested and interrogated by the Soviet NKVD itself, then deported to the interior of the
USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
, and killed. Research on this subject is still at an early stage. As of 2007, the Christian Orthodox church has granted the
martyrdom A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
to circa 50
clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
men who died in the first year of Soviet occupation (1940–1941). In 1940–1941, some churches were sacked, looted, transformed into public or utility buildings, or closed.
Tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...
es were set, which the believers were obliged to pay if they wanted to pray and be allowed to hold the
mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
. When
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
n authorities returned after June 1941, churches and
monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
were rebuilt and opened again, but persecution resumed in 1944, when Soviet forces reconquered the territory. The (incomplete) list below contains clergymen of any denomination. Like the majority of the population of the region, most of the people named below were
Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...
Christian Orthodox. A person is listed below only if the church has officially used the term ''
martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
'' in reference to the individual. In doing so,
Christian churches In ecclesiology, the Christian Church is what different Christian denominations conceive of as being the true body of Christians or the original institution established by Jesus. "Christian Church" has also been used in academia as a synonym for ...
have to follow a three-step rule: ''martyrium materialiter'' (violent death), ''martyrium formaliter ex parte tyranni'' (for the faith on the part of the persecutors), ''martyrium formaliter ex parte victimae'' (conscious acceptance of God's will). *
Alexandru Baltagă Alexandru Baltagă (April 14, 1861 – August 7, 1941) was a Bessarabian Romanian Orthodox priest, a founder of the Bessarabian religious press in the Romanian language, a member of Sfatul Țării (1917–1918), a Soviet political prisoner, and, ...
, founder of Bessarabian religious press in
Romanian language Romanian (obsolete spellings: Rumanian or Roumanian; autonym: ''limba română'' , or ''românește'', ) is the official and main language of Romania and the Republic of Moldova. As a minority language it is spoken by stable communities in ...
, member of the
Sfatul Țării ''Sfatul Țării'' ("Council of the Country"; ) was a council that united political, public, cultural, and professional organizations in the greater part of the territory of the guberniya, Governorate of Bessarabia in the disintegrating Russia ...
(1917–1918) *Alexandru Motescu, a Bessarabian Romanian Orthodox priest in the city of
Tighina Bender (, Moldovan Cyrillic: Бендер) or Bendery (russian: Бендеры, , uk, Бендери), also known as Tighina ( ro, Tighina), is a city within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova under ''de facto'' control of the u ...
. According to the deposition of several witnesses in face of the ''Comisia de triere'' in
Buzău The city of Buzău (formerly spelled ''Buzeu'' or ''Buzĕu''; ) is the county seat of Buzău County, Romania, in the historical region of Muntenia. It lies near the right bank of the Buzău River, between the south-eastern curvature of the Carp ...
in 1941, at the onset of the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia, he was caught by a group of Communist supporters and violently mocked. His
tongue The tongue is a muscular organ in the mouth of a typical tetrapod. It manipulates food for mastication and swallowing as part of the digestive process, and is the primary organ of taste. The tongue's upper surface (dorsum) is covered by taste ...
and
ear An ear is the organ that enables hearing and, in mammals, body balance using the vestibular system. In mammals, the ear is usually described as having three parts—the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear consists of ...
s were cut, then he was taken to the
altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
, where he was set on fire, and died in horrible pain.''Martiri pentru Hristos, din România, în perioada regimului comunist'', Editura Institutului Biblic şi de Misiune al Bisericii Ortodoxe Române, București, 2007, p. 764 * Artemie Munteanu,
abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The ...
of the
Noul Neamț Monastery Noul Neamț Monastery ( ro, Mănăstirea Noul Neamț; russian: Свято-Вознесенский Ново-Нямецкий монастырь) is an all-male Moldovan Orthodox monastery located in Chițcani, near Bender and Tiraspol. Geographi ...
*Gheorghe Munteanu (born April 22, 1909, d. 1940), a Bessarabian Romanian Orthodox priest. In 1931, he graduated from the Faculty of Theology of the University of Iaşi, and was ordained a priest in December 1931, being assigned to the Neruşai parish, Ismail County. On July 1, 1935, he became parish priest of the Regina Maria Church in a suburb of the city of Ismail. He was arrested in the summer of 1940 his hair was cut and his beard was shaved amidst demands that he renounce his faith. When he repeatedly refused, his NKVD tormentors smashed his head on the steps of the Cathedral in Ismail. The people of the city buried him secretly.''Alfa şi Omega'', an I, nr. 1, ianuarie 1995, p.5, cf. above


See also

*
Religion in the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was established by the Bolsheviks in 1922, in place of the Russian Empire. At the time of the 1917 Revolution, the Russian Orthodox Church was deeply integrated into the autocratic state, enjoying official status. This was a si ...
*
Soviet anti-religious legislation The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
*
Persecution of Christians in Warsaw Pact countries After the October Revolution of November 7, 1917 (October 25 Old Calendar) there was a movement within the Soviet Union to unite all of the people of the world under Communist rule (see Communist International). This included the Eastern bloc countr ...
*
Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union Throughout the history of the Soviet Union (1917–1991), there were periods when Soviet authorities brutally suppressed and persecuted various forms of Christianity to different extents depending on State interests. Soviet Marxist-Lenini ...
* Persecutions of the Catholic Church and Pius XII * USSR anti-religious campaign (1917–1921) *
USSR anti-religious campaign (1921–1928) The USSR anti-religious campaign (1921–1928) was a campaign of anti-religious persecution against churches and Christian believers by the Soviet government following the initial anti-religious campaign during the Russian Civil War. The elimina ...
*
USSR anti-religious campaign (1928–1941) The USSR anti-religious campaign of 1928–1941 was a new phase of anti-religious campaign in the Soviet Union following the anti-religious campaign of 1921–1928. The campaign began in 1929, with the drafting of new legislation that severely ...
*
USSR anti-religious campaign (1958–1964) Nikita Khrushchev's anti-religious campaign was the last large-scale anti-religious campaign undertaken in the Soviet Union. It succeeded a comparatively tolerant period towards religion which had lasted from 1941 until the late 1950s. As a resul ...
*
USSR anti-religious campaign (1970s–1990) The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
* Eastern Catholic victims of Soviet persecutions * Persecution of Muslims in the former USSR * Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Soviet Union * Red Terror


References

{{reflist, 35em Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina Political repression in the Soviet Union Persecution of Christians in the Eastern Bloc Soviet World War II crimes History of Christianity in Romania History of religion in Moldova Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic History of Budjak History of Chernivtsi Oblast Romania in World War II 1940s in Ukraine History of religion in Ukraine 1940 in Christianity 1941 in Christianity Anti-religious campaign in the Soviet Union Persecution by atheist states Anti-Christian sentiment in Europe Religious persecution by communists