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EXPRESSION OF RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT DURING THE COMMUNIST REGIME IN ROMANIA
Abstract
The policy imposed by the authorities in Romania from the moment of transitioning to the communist regime (1947), followed the Soviet model, which was based on the materialist-atheist ideology, however adapted to Romanian society. The repercussions were multiple, among them including the suppression of free expression of religious sentiment. In this context were most of the cults in Romania, among which the Orthodox Church. Predominant in Romania, this Church suffered greatly from the communist regime, which persecuted not just the ecclesiastical hierarchy, but also its prominent followers. Situated in an irreducible antagonism that completely contradicts each other, Christianity, on one hand, as the religion of freedom, love, and life, and Communism, on the other hand, as anthropocentric and atheist ideology, imposing itself through hatred and terror, were permanently positioned in opposition. The persecution started by the communist regime made many victims, with people from all social categories and religious convictions, of different ages whether they were men or women, young or old. Although many of these people enjoyed societal prestige at that time, they were still declared “enemies of the people” and, consequently, endured tortures and persecutions with an inhuman intensity. In the process of communizing the society, the Orthodox Church was seen as an obstacle in the way of forming the “new man”, being subjected to a systematic campaign of intimidation and control by the authorities, through a series of repressive actions (control of the clergy, limiting worship practices, imprisonment, expulsion of monks from monasteries etc.). All these aspects have been presented in this study, making use of the following methods: analytical, comparative, historical and descriptive, in accordance with archival data and other related studies
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