See also
- Anti-religious campaign of Communist Romania
- Eastern Protestantism
- The Salvation Army (Neoprotestant movement)
| Army of the Lord | |
|---|---|
| Oastea Domnului | |
| Type | Eastern Christian |
| Classification | Eastern Orthodox |
| Orientation | Evangelical, Church renewal |
| Scripture | Septuagint, New Testament |
| Theology | Eastern Orthodox theology (with some Protestant influences) |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Primate | Daniel, Patriarch of All Romania |
| Region | Romania |
| Language | Romanian |
| Liturgy | Byzantine Rite |
| Founder | Iosif Trifa |
| Origin | 1926 Sibiu |
| Recognition | 28 September 1990 |
| Branched from | Romanian Orthodox Church |
| Other name(s) | The Lord's Army |
| Official website | oasteadomnului |
The Army of the Lord (Romanian : Oastea Domnului), also known as The Lord's Army, is an evangelical "renewal movement within the Romanian Orthodox Church". [1] [2] The founder of the Army of the Lord, Father Iosif Trifa, as well as consequent leaders, Ioan Marini and Traian Dorz, felt that "people needed to come to the Gospel and that the Orthodox Church in Romania needed to return to her true mission: to serve God and to represent God in the midst of our nation". [3] Tom Keppeler writes that "what Wesley was to the Anglican Church, Trifa was to the Romanian Orthodox Church. As Wesley's preaching and ministry drew crowds from the working classes, so Trifa's as well was a ministry that grew among the villagers and workers of the fields". [4] In the 1930s and 1940s, "millions of Romanian Orthodox, including priests and religious, took part in its activities of evangelization, printing and open air meetings". [5] Members of the Army of the Lord greet one another with the phrase: "Praise the Lord !", followed by the reply: "Forever, amen !" [5]
After 1948, the movement was declared illegal by the communist regime. During this period, the "Lord's Army", led by Traian Dorz in the difficult years of Stalin, who had spent 17 years in jail for this reason, was part of the "silent church", an informal ensemble of Christian believers from various denominations, which refused to obey the Communist authorities, being for this reason considered as "printing and spreading forbidden literature", "plotting against social ordering" and "enemies of the people." [6] [7]
The Romanian Orthodox Church, or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Since 1925, the church's Primate has borne the title of Patriarch. Its jurisdiction covers the territories of Romania and Moldova, with additional dioceses for Romanians living in nearby Serbia and Hungary, as well as for diaspora communities in Central and Western Europe, North America and Oceania. It is the only autocephalous church within Eastern Orthodoxy to have a Romance language for liturgical use.
Justinian Marina was a Romanian Orthodox prelate. He was the third patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, serving between 1948 and 1977.
The Orthodox Cathedral, also known as the Metropolitan Cathedral, is a Romanian Orthodox church in Timișoara. The cathedral is the seat of the Archbishopric of Timișoara and the Metropolis of Banat. It is dedicated to the Three Holy Hierarchs, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom.
Iuliu Hossu was a Romanian Greek-Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Cluj-Gherla. Pope Paul VI elevated Hossu to the rank of cardinal in pectore, that is, secretly, in 1969 but did not publish his appointment until after Hossu's death. The Communist authorities arrested Hossu on 28 October 1948. From 1950 to 1955 he was detained as political prisoner at the Sighet Prison. He spent the rest of his life under house arrest and died in 1970. He is venerated in the Catholic Church as a martyr and blessed, having been beatified by Pope Francis.
Chinteni is a commune in Cluj County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of nine villages: Chinteni, Deușu (Diós), Feiurdeni (Fejérd), Măcicașu (Magyarmacskás), Pădureni, Săliștea Veche (Szellőcskevölgy), Sânmărtin (Szentmártonmacskás), Satu Lung (Hosszúmacskás) and Vechea (Bodonkút).
In 2006, Romanian Television conducted a vote to determine whom the general public considered the 100 Greatest Romanians of all time, in a version of the British TV show 100 Greatest Britons. The resulting series, Great Romanians, included individual programmes on the top ten, with viewers having further opportunities to vote after each programme. It concluded with a debate. On 21 October, TVR announced that the "greatest Romanian of all time" according to the voting was Stephen the Great.
Valerian Trifa was a Romanian Orthodox cleric and fascist political activist who served as archbishop of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate Of America. For part of his life, he was a naturalized citizen of the United States, until he was stripped of his American citizenship for lying about his involvement in the murder of hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust and World War II.
Alexandru Baltagă 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, according to the Orthodox Church, a martyr for the faith.
Iosif Trifa was a Romanian Orthodox priest and evangelist. He founded "Oastea Domnului". He was also the uncle of Valerian Trifa. Trifa placed on the 100 greatest Romanians list.
Sergiu Grossu was a Romanian writer and theologian.
The anti-religious campaign of communist Romania was initiated by the People's Republic of Romania and continued by the Socialist Republic of Romania, which under the doctrine of Marxist–Leninist atheism took a hostile stance against religion and set its sights on the ultimate goal of an atheistic society wherein religion would be recognized as the ideology of the bourgeoisie.
The Archdiocese of Râmnic is a Romanian Orthodox archdiocese based in Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania, in the historic region of Oltenia, and covering Vâlcea County. Established in 1503-1504, although with a bishop residing there from the previous century, it is a continuation of the medieval Metropolis of Severin. Initially covering all of Oltenia, it saw a flourishing cultural and religious output during the 16th to 18th centuries, both in the see and in the monasteries of the region. The area of the diocese began to fall in 1939, reaching its current proportions in 2008, a year before it became an archdiocese.
The Diocese of Caransebeș is a Romanian Orthodox diocese based in Caransebeș, Romania, in the historic region of the Banat, and covering Caraș-Severin County. Established by the 17th century, it was moved to present-day Serbia during the 18th century, before being restored in 1865. It was dissolved in 1949 and revived in its current form in 1994.
Nicole Valéry Grossu was a Romanian Christian writer, journalist, and anti-communist activist.
The relationship between the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Iron Guard was one of ambivalence. The Romanian Orthodox Church promoted its own version of nationalism which highlighted the role of Orthodoxy in preserving the Romanian identity. Starting with the 1920s, the Church became entangled with fascist politics and antisemitism. In this context, the Iron Guard, also known as the Legion of the Archangel Michael, a fascist movement founded in 1927, became very influential with church grassroots. Numerous rank-and-file priests joined the Iron Guard ranks and actively supported its policies; so did a minority of influential high-ranking clergymen such as Nicolae Bălan or Vartolomeu Stănescu.
Nicolae Bălan was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian cleric, a metropolitan bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The son of a priest, he graduated from Czernowitz University and taught theology at Sibiu from 1905 to 1920. That year, he became Metropolitan of Transylvania, an office he would hold for the rest of his life. In the 1930s, he was an open supporter of the Iron Guard. In 1942, during the Holocaust, he intervened in Bucharest against the planned deportation of Romanian Jews from the Regat, Southern Transylvania and the Banat to the Nazi extermination camps. In 1948, after a communist regime was established, he publicly assisted the new authorities in their effort to disband the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church.
St. John the Baptist Church is a Romanian Orthodox church located at 40 Muntele Mic Street, Caransebeș, Romania. It is dedicated to John the Baptist.
The "Army of the Lord" renewal movement within the Romanian Orthodox Church has been severely persecuted for opposing or transgressing government policies, and its ministers have in some cases been beaten, jailed, or exiled.
The Lord's Army represented a very successful evangelical awakening within the Romanian Orthodox Church in the 1920s and was founded by Iosif Trifa, a dynamic Orthodox priest from Transylvania. This movement, strongly supported by Metropolitan Nicolae Balan of Sibiu, spread widely throughout the western part of Romania. Members were challenged to become soldiers of Christ and to struggle against the evil in themselves and the world.
Trifa, as well as his successors Ioan Marini and Traian Dorz, saw very clearly that people needed to come to the gospel and that the Orthodox Church in Romania needed to return to her true mission: to serve God and to represent God in the midst of our nation.
Trifa, as well as his successors Ioan Marini and Traian Dorz, saw very clearly that people needed to come to the gospel and that the Orthodox Church in Romania needed to return to her true mission: to serve God and to represent God in the midst of our nation.
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