Romanian Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Encyclopedia
The Romanian Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists is Romania
's eighth-largest religious body. At the 2002 census, 97,041 Romanians declared themselves to be Seventh-Day Adventists
; they have over 500 church buildings. The denomination originates in the 19th century and it is divided into six local conferences, standing for and named after some of the country's main historical regions
: Banat
, Northern Transylvania
, Southern Transylvania, Moldavia
, Muntenia
and Oltenia
.
priest who had embraced Adventism in the United States
) arrived at Piteşti
and introduced Seventh-Day Adventist doctrines into Romania. Among the approximately 12 people he converted was Thomas G. Aslan, who later made contact with John Nevins Andrews
and helped him prepare a Romanian-language paper. Visits in the mid-1880s from George I. Butler, president of the General Conference
, and Augustin C. Bourdeau
, an evangelist, followed these initial contacts.
In 1890 Ludvig R. Conradi entered Transylvania
, then part of Austria-Hungary
, in search of converts. As a result of Conradi's efforts, by the mid-1890s several individuals in Cluj
had converted to Adventism. Meanwhile, in 1892 Conradi organized several ethnic German
Adventists who had recently moved from the Russian Empire
to the Kingdom of Romania
into a church. Eventually these Adventists settled in Viile Noi, a neighbourhood of Constanţa
.
Johann F. Ginter, an evangelist from Russia, moved to Bucharest
in 1904 and soon converted several individuals, among them Peter Paulini (a medical student) and Ştefan Demetrescu (a Romanian Army officer), who then attended the Adventist training
school in Friedensau, Germany
. By the time Paulini and Demetrescu returned to Romania, the government had expelled Ginter, but the newly trained Romanian Adventists were ready to take his place. Conferences organized beginning in 1907 and the Romanian Union Conference formed in 1919 with about 2,000 members. Starting in 1908 Romanian Adventists had their publications printed by the Hamburg
press in Germany, but in 1920 they established the Adventist Publishing House in Bucharest. Three years later the Romanian Union Training School opened in Bucharest but moved to Diciosânmartin
in 1926 and then Braşov
in 1931. The Conference received state recognition in 1928 and was one of the fourteen faiths that retained recognition in the 1948 Law on Cults. In 1930 there were 7,700 members, 65 ministers and 290 houses of prayer.
As World War II
opened, by which time there were some 13,000 Adventists in Romania. In 1941, as Nazi German
troops entered Romania, the Wehrmacht
confiscated the training school building and completely closed the institution the next year (see also Romania during World War II
). At the end of that year the Antonescu
regime closed all Adventist churches and imprisoned church leaders, but meetings continued in secret. The school (as well as the churches) opened again in 1944 and beginning in 1950 operated under the name Romanian Theological Seminary. Meanwhile, the publishing house closed in 1942, opening again in 1944 until taken over by the government three years later. In 1946, Adventists found homes for 600 orphans affected by that year's famine in Moldavia
.
Under Nicolae Ceauşescu
, services (some of which were bilingual Romanian and Hungarian
in Transylvania) continued to be well-attended, with catechetical classes held Friday evenings and Saturdays. There were occasional reports of members having difficulties because of their views, but the official community developed a form of accommodation with the state that was on the whole acceptable to the Communist authorities
. The church leadership was reluctant to complain about state interference if it meant losing any of its "privileges", which included travel to conferences abroad by 1980. The international Adventist community, which has given careful attention to its churches in Romania, acquiesced in this posture, seeking to resolve problems as quietly and responsibly as possible, a strategy dating back to the 1930s. Individual members, though, went further sometimes: eight Adventists were arrested in summer 1979 for printing and distributing religious literature; in 1985, Dorel Cataramă was sentenced to fourteen years' imprisonment for theft despite his factory's declaration that no property was missing. By late summer 1986, with four of Bucharest's nine Adventist churches demolished, some strain had come between official church and state (see Ceauşima
).
With the collapse of the Communist regime
, a new publishing house opened in 1990 and the Romanian Adventist College of Health in 1991. Despite the difficulties of two world wars and a Communist dictatorship, Adventism grew faster in Romania than elsewhere in Europe.
A small but related group, the Reformed Adventists in Romania, originates in a schism brought about in early 20th-century United States. This church spread to Germany and reached Romania during World War I
. Members, who are convinced they are living in the Last Days, object to oaths, military service, and reportedly marriage, probably because Saint Paul enjoins Christians to abstain from normal marital relations during the end times. They were involved in confrontation with the Communist state (which declared them illegal in 1948) and the official church, to which they were an obvious embarrassment and whose leaders they felt very strongly were too closely linked with the regime.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
's eighth-largest religious body. At the 2002 census, 97,041 Romanians declared themselves to be Seventh-Day Adventists
Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
; they have over 500 church buildings. The denomination originates in the 19th century and it is divided into six local conferences, standing for and named after some of the country's main historical regions
Historical regions of Romania
At various times during the late 19th and 20th centuries, Romania extended over the following historical regions:Wallachia:*Muntenia or Greater Wallachia: as part of Wallachia, joined Moldavia in 1859 to create modern Romania;...
: Banat
Banat
The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...
, Northern Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, Southern Transylvania, Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
, Muntenia
Muntenia
Muntenia is a historical province of Romania, usually considered Wallachia-proper . It is situated between the Danube , the Carpathian Mountains and Moldavia , and the Olt River to the west...
and Oltenia
Oltenia
Oltenia is a historical province and geographical region of Romania, in western Wallachia. It is situated between the Danube, the Southern Carpathians and the Olt river ....
.
History
In 1868-69 Michał Belina-Czechowski (a former Roman CatholicRoman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
priest who had embraced Adventism in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) arrived at Piteşti
Pitesti
Pitești is a city in Romania, located on the Argeș River. The capital and largest city of Argeș County, it is an important commercial and industrial center, as well as the home of two universities. Pitești is situated on the A1 freeway connecting it directly to the national capital Bucharest,...
and introduced Seventh-Day Adventist doctrines into Romania. Among the approximately 12 people he converted was Thomas G. Aslan, who later made contact with John Nevins Andrews
John Nevins Andrews
John Nevins Andrews , was a Seventh-day Adventist minister, missionary, writer, editor, and scholar...
and helped him prepare a Romanian-language paper. Visits in the mid-1880s from George I. Butler, president of the General Conference
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists is the governing organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It is located in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States, where it moved in 1989...
, and Augustin C. Bourdeau
Bourdeau brothers
Augustin Cornelius and Daniel T. Bourdeau were Seventh-day Adventist ministers who helped establish the church in Quebec, Canada.- Biography :...
, an evangelist, followed these initial contacts.
In 1890 Ludvig R. Conradi entered Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, then part of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, in search of converts. As a result of Conradi's efforts, by the mid-1890s several individuals in Cluj
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...
had converted to Adventism. Meanwhile, in 1892 Conradi organized several ethnic German
Ethnic German
Ethnic Germans historically also ), also collectively referred to as the German diaspora, refers to people who are of German ethnicity. Many are not born in Europe or in the modern-day state of Germany or hold German citizenship...
Adventists who had recently moved from the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
to the Kingdom of Romania
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
into a church. Eventually these Adventists settled in Viile Noi, a neighbourhood of Constanţa
Constanta
Constanța is the oldest extant city in Romania, founded around 600 BC. The city is located in the Dobruja region of Romania, on the Black Sea coast. It is the capital of Constanța County and the largest city in the region....
.
Johann F. Ginter, an evangelist from Russia, moved to Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
in 1904 and soon converted several individuals, among them Peter Paulini (a medical student) and Ştefan Demetrescu (a Romanian Army officer), who then attended the Adventist training
Friedensau Adventist University
Friedensau Adventist University is an institution run and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Germany, a protestant church...
school in Friedensau, Germany
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
. By the time Paulini and Demetrescu returned to Romania, the government had expelled Ginter, but the newly trained Romanian Adventists were ready to take his place. Conferences organized beginning in 1907 and the Romanian Union Conference formed in 1919 with about 2,000 members. Starting in 1908 Romanian Adventists had their publications printed by the Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
press in Germany, but in 1920 they established the Adventist Publishing House in Bucharest. Three years later the Romanian Union Training School opened in Bucharest but moved to Diciosânmartin
Târnaveni
Târnăveni is a city and municipality in central Romania, Mureş County. It lies on the Târnava Mică River in central Transylvania. The city administers three villages: Bobohalma, Botorca and Cuştelnic; the last was part of Găneşti Commune until 2002....
in 1926 and then Braşov
Brasov
Brașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania....
in 1931. The Conference received state recognition in 1928 and was one of the fourteen faiths that retained recognition in the 1948 Law on Cults. In 1930 there were 7,700 members, 65 ministers and 290 houses of prayer.
As World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
opened, by which time there were some 13,000 Adventists in Romania. In 1941, as Nazi German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
troops entered Romania, the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
confiscated the training school building and completely closed the institution the next year (see also Romania during World War II
Romania during World War II
Following the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the Kingdom of Romania officially adopted a position of neutrality. However, the rapidly changing situation in Europe during 1940, as well as domestic political upheaval, undermined this stance. Fascist political forces such as the Iron...
). At the end of that year the Antonescu
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
regime closed all Adventist churches and imprisoned church leaders, but meetings continued in secret. The school (as well as the churches) opened again in 1944 and beginning in 1950 operated under the name Romanian Theological Seminary. Meanwhile, the publishing house closed in 1942, opening again in 1944 until taken over by the government three years later. In 1946, Adventists found homes for 600 orphans affected by that year's famine in Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
.
Under Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
, services (some of which were bilingual Romanian and Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
in Transylvania) continued to be well-attended, with catechetical classes held Friday evenings and Saturdays. There were occasional reports of members having difficulties because of their views, but the official community developed a form of accommodation with the state that was on the whole acceptable to the Communist authorities
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
. The church leadership was reluctant to complain about state interference if it meant losing any of its "privileges", which included travel to conferences abroad by 1980. The international Adventist community, which has given careful attention to its churches in Romania, acquiesced in this posture, seeking to resolve problems as quietly and responsibly as possible, a strategy dating back to the 1930s. Individual members, though, went further sometimes: eight Adventists were arrested in summer 1979 for printing and distributing religious literature; in 1985, Dorel Cataramă was sentenced to fourteen years' imprisonment for theft despite his factory's declaration that no property was missing. By late summer 1986, with four of Bucharest's nine Adventist churches demolished, some strain had come between official church and state (see Ceauşima
Ceausima
Ceauşima is a vernacular word construction in Romanian, sarcastically linking former Communist leader Nicolae Ceauşescu to Hiroshima. This portmanteau term was sometimes coined in the 1980s to describe the huge urban areas of Bucharest that Ceauşescu ordered torn down, comparing the results with...
).
With the collapse of the Communist regime
Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
, a new publishing house opened in 1990 and the Romanian Adventist College of Health in 1991. Despite the difficulties of two world wars and a Communist dictatorship, Adventism grew faster in Romania than elsewhere in Europe.
A small but related group, the Reformed Adventists in Romania, originates in a schism brought about in early 20th-century United States. This church spread to Germany and reached Romania during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Members, who are convinced they are living in the Last Days, object to oaths, military service, and reportedly marriage, probably because Saint Paul enjoins Christians to abstain from normal marital relations during the end times. They were involved in confrontation with the Communist state (which declared them illegal in 1948) and the official church, to which they were an obvious embarrassment and whose leaders they felt very strongly were too closely linked with the regime.