THE IMAGE OF COMMUNISM REFLECTED IN THE ARCHIVES OF A FEW ORTHODOX PARISHES OF BUCHAREST
THE IMAGE OF COMMUNISM REFLECTED IN THE ARCHIVES OF A FEW ORTHODOX PARISHES OF BUCHAREST

Summary/Abstract: The Archives of the Orthodox parishes are a source not used yet because of the disinterest manifested by clergy on one hand, and because of the chronological gaps most of them have on the other hand, so that it is very difficult to make a clear cut history of the parish life. Deposited in improper conditions most times, the parish documents were lost or damaged, especially the old ones, so that today they can be still used only with great difficulty. The most interesting documents of these archives are the reports drafted by the parish councils where part of the faithful participated, namely those elected by the parochial Assembly and by the servant priests. Most times they render the changes occurred in the life of the parish, the decisions taken at certain times in regard to the assets of the church, the renovations and changes the places of worship and their outbuildings passed through, buildings that used to belong to them or are still in their possession. There is very few information about the relationship between the Orthodox Church and the communist state in these archives, because the priests avoided noting down their own opinions about the political regime not to be accused of hostile attitude towards the “communist order”. Yet, some precious information can be gathered from the parish documents which help us learn how a series of decisions of the communist state influenced the religious life of the Orthodox communities. Because some of the archives disappeared in the rush of the demolishment during the last years of communism some information was lost which could have been useful today. I focused in my study on the archives of a few Orthodox parishes threatened by the urban changes that seriously changed the image of Bucharest. Most of the historical data are provided just from the period of these urban changes that focused on the demolishment of a few churches or outbuildings that belonged to them. Because the number of these churches is rather large and because I have already made some research on some of them, I focused on a few archives still in the possession of the churches that used to be threatened with demolishment, but which the political changes occurred two decades and a half ago saved. I succeeded in examining the archives of the parishes of Delea Noua – Calisit, “Hagiu” – Hala Traian, Calarasi Park and Mihai Bravu. The data found in these archives are scarce, but they help us form an image of the way in which the decisions of the communist state changed the life of the Orthodox priests and faithful.

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