Orthodox religious fund of Bukovina in the context of religious and political transformations of the interwar period

Abstract

In the article the author makes main emphasis on an attempt to reconstruct in details the character and attitudes of the power that directly influenced on the activity of Orthodox religious fund. A lot of factors depended on this, one of which and the most important one was the activity of the entire Orthodox Church in Bukovina. The transformations in the structure of the Orthodox Church in Bukovina, which began as a result of the transition the region from the Austrian Empire under the royal patronage of Romania, were examined. First of all the King in Bukovina was submitted by Minister-Delegates that represented his interests there. Although, as the historical facts showed, they could change some laws that were under Romanian law. In the research is highlighted that fund was guided in his management by "Spiritual rules" of April 29, 1786 with all amendments and supplements in the Austro -Hungarian Empire. But under the leadership of Minister Iank Flondor, there have been changes in the administration of the fund. He considered it appropriate to transfer the fund management to bishop of Bukovina, which was done in the decree of 23 January 1919. The Metropolitan of those times, Vladimir de Reptu, was notified by letter of April 2, 1919. Such decision, in the author’s opinion, was the most correct, because all money of the Orthodox fund were expropriated in churches and monasteries. Minister apparently relied on the sad experience of the Austrian government intervention in the management of the fund, which has received a loan from the fund, that was used for military operations. Such policy of minister-delegate with his seat in Chernivtsi was not approved by another minister in the government of Bukovina – Ion Nistor. Being open Ukrainophobe, he perceived all actions in favor of the Orthodox Ukrainian people as extraneous. Under his pressure I. Flondor was forced to resign, while his place was taken by I. Nistor. I. Nistor considered the authorization of religious fund management to the Metropolitan of Bukovina was "illegal, hasty and ill-advised". Therefore, in the 26th of April 1919 the Minister introduced the Metropolitan the letter where the patron of fund was called the King of Romania Ferdynant and the management of fund that was passed to the bishop. The changes in this regard were on the basis of the decree-law, not just a simple letter of local government to the Metropolitan. That’s why fund continued to follow the Austrian regulations. Events that occurred further in Bukovina under Romanian left much to be desired. At the Church Congress, held in 3-25th of October, 1921, it was renamed the Orthodox Church from the "Greek-East" to "Orthodox-Romanian", also were changed the name "Greco- Eastern religious Fund of Bucovina" to "Orthodox-Romanian religious fund". As a result of these changes Ukrainian were denied the right to use the lands of the fund and profess the avital Orthodox faith because they didn’t have their church any more. The aim of these measures was the assimilation of the Ukrainian population in Bukovina. These decisions were challenged in the Congress by Dr. E. Kozak, who justly noted the equal rights for the Orthodox Church as Ukrainian, so Romanian. The scientist proposed to change its name to "Ukrainian-Romanian" or to leave as it was. In defense of fund Dr. Simon Smereka had stood, who said that when the fund renamed, Ukrainian would be deprived of the right to use it. Continued their policy of Romanization, they were dismissed from the university. The politics of Romanian Crown facilitated the process of liquidation fund, issuing in 1921 a law on agrarian reform, all agricultural lands would pass in the property to the peasants. In total, the fund has been selected 115 estates, of which 51 had possession of up to 100 hectares, and 64 – more than 100 hectares. The activity of the fund in the postwar period brought no benefit to Orthodox Ukrainian population and all nationalities that had lived in Bukovina. A complete assimilation of all spheres of life by Romanian authorities led to the cultural and spiritual decline. New administrators has led to a severe crisis, which had a disastrous effect on the Orthodox Church and, in particular, on the fund. With no restrictions on the use of forests, that remained virtually the only wealth of fund, has led to a drop in income and non-payment of salaries and pensions of the clergy. Romanian period made Ukrainians the national hostages and threw the clergy under the influence of totalitarian political regime. Unlike the Austrian administration, which has been characterized by a German order, seriousness and discipline, the Romanian administration of interwar period was frivolous. The Church Fund to the collapse of the Austro - Hungarian functioned and was controlled by the Spiritual Regulation, unchangable since 1786, and the new government entrusted the management to the two diametrically opposed entities, Bukovina Metropolis and the Ministry of Agriculture in Bucharest, crushing all kinds of conflicting regulations and church rights for the wealth until the Charter fund in 1925. Although during the attempt to amend in the diocesan fund management, Romanians suffered from inefficiency of theirs laws and again returned to the "Spiritual rules".