STATE AND ORTHODOX CHURCH IN THE ROMANIAN HISTORY
STATE AND ORTHODOX CHURCH IN THE ROMANIAN HISTORY

Summary/Abstract: The Orthodox Church has always kept very close relations with the political authorities of the time. Therefore the ruling princes, imitating the Byzantine emperorsř authority, have imposed their will when appointing the bishops. Sometimes these bishops were related to the rulers. The Metropolitans were advisers to rulers, supporting their policy. The Metropolitans and Bishops were members of the delegations that the princes sent on diplomatic missions to the neighbouring countries. Very often these bishops followed the princes in exile when they lost their reigns.The princes and boyars controlled the religious life. In the nineteenth century they could get some of the church patrimony, and finally Alexandru Ioan Cuza secularized the monastic properties. Little by little, the Church came under state control. During the communist authoritarian regime - one of the hardest historical periods - the State controlled the Church. During the last few years, the capitalist State has gained, through various actions, some control over the Orthodox Church. The study presents some of the relationships between the Romanian State and the Orthodox Church in the course of time.

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