Romanian-Bulgarian Religious Relations during the First World War
Romanian-Bulgarian Religious Relations during the First World War

Summary/Abstract: After the outbreak of the First World War, when Bulgaria joined the Central Powers through the alliance with Germany, and Romania joined the Entente, the religious relations had a few special times. The defeat of the Romanian army in Dobrudgea and its occupation by the German – Bulgarian troops brought about a real exodus of the Romanian Orthodox clergy who took refuge especially to Moldova. The war ruined a few churches of Dobrudgea and destroyed the houses of the priests who had left their parishes. The issue of the priests fled from Dobrudgea was discussed within a Council met in Iasi in the summer of 1918, when the participants tried to find solutions for their return to their parishes. I personally examined the documents of this council found today in the Archives of the Metropolitanate of Moldova and Bucovina, because they reveal the deficiencies of the Romanian Orthodox Church in regard to the administrative organization both in Dobrudgea and in the Quadrilateral. Our study approaches two major events occurred in the Bucharest occupied by the German-Bulgarian troops: the Te-Deum service celebrated in the honor of the royal family of Bulgaria in the Metropolitan Cathedral and the attempt to steal the Holy Relics of Pious Dimitrios Basarabov. The German administration has also been involved in the two events, because the Primate metropolitan Conon asked them to resolve these religious Romanian- Bulgarian conflicts. The documents which mention the two events can be found in the Archives of the Holy Synod of Bucharest and have a special significance because they represent an aspect less examined of the First World War and of the Romanian-Bulgarian relations. The theme of this study has never been approached so far by the Romanian theologians and historians, the research covering a gap in the study of the history of the First World War and of the Romanian- Bulgarian relations.

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