Patriarch Miron of Romania

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Christian leader Miron Cristea (Template:IPA; monastic name of Elie Cristea Template:IPA; 20 July 1868 – 6 March 1939)<ref name="nytobituary" /> was a Romanian cleric and politician.

A bishop in Hungarian-ruled Transylvania, Cristea was elected Metropolitan-Primate of the Orthodox Church of the newly unified Greater Romania in 1919. As the Church was raised to a rank of Patriarchate, Miron Cristea was enthroned as the first Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1925.

In 1938, after Carol II banned political parties and established a royal dictatorship, he chose Cristea to be Prime Minister of Romania, a position in which he served for about a year (between 11 February 1938 and his death on 6 March 1939).

Biography

Early life

Born in Toplița to Gheorghe and Domnița Cristea,<ref name="Iancu">Gheorghe Iancu, "Membrii transilvăneni ai Academiei Române (sesiunea 1919)", in Anuarul Institutului de Istorie "George Bariţiu", Editura Academiei Române, 2007, ISSN 1584-4390 p. 73 Template:Webarchive</ref> a peasant family,<ref name="nytobituary">"Patriarch Cristea of Rumania dies", New York Times, 7 March 1939; p. 18</ref> he studied at the Saxon Evangelical Gymnasium of Bistrița (1879–1883), at the Greek-Catholic Lyceum of Năsăud (1883–1887), at the Orthodox Seminary of Sibiu (1887–1890), after which he became a teacher and principal at the Romanian Orthodox school of Orăștie (1890–1891).<ref name="Iancu"/><ref name="dtr">Mircea Păcurariu, "Miron Cristea" Template:Webarchive, entry in Dicționarul Teologilor Români, Editura Univers Enciclopedic, Bucharest, 1996 Template:ISBN</ref>

Cristea then studied philosophy and modern philology at the University of Budapest (1891–1895), where he was awarded a doctorate in 1895 – with a dissertation about the life and works of Mihai Eminescu (given in Hungarian).<ref name="Iancu"/><ref name="dtr"/>

Returning to Transylvania, he was a secretary (between 1895 and 1902), then a counselor (1902–1909) at the Archbishopric of Sibiu. It was then that he was ordained deacon in 1900 and archdeacon in 1901. Cristea became a monk at the Hodoș Bodrog Monastery, Arad County in 1902, taking the monastic name of Miron. He climbed the monastery hierarchy, becoming an archmonk in 1903 and a protosingel in 1908.<ref name="dtr"/>

In 1908, following the death of bishop Nicolae Popea, the election of the bishop of Caransebeș led to a dispute between the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Imperial authorities, when, twice in a row, the elected bishops were not recognized by emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, at the recommendation of the Hungarian government. Cristea was the third choice, being chosen on 21 November 1910, and obtaining the recognition from the authorities;<ref name="Iancu"/><ref>Anton Drăgoiescu (editor), "Politică, biserică și școală la sașii ardeleni în perioada dualismului (1867–1918)", in Istoria Transilvaniei, Editura "George Barițiu", Cluj-Napoca, 1999, p. 248</ref> he became an archbishop in 1919.<ref name="nytobituary"/>

During World War I, as Romania joined the war on the Allies' side, Cristea signed on 1 September 1916, a public letter to the parishioners printed at Oradea by the Orthodox Bishopric of Transylvania. The letter called to arms all believers against "Romania the new enemy which sinfully covets to ruin the borders, coming to conquer Transylvania".<ref>Octavian Paler, "Întrebări la care nu voiam să ajung" Template:Webarchive, in Cotidianul, 4 April 2006</ref>

File:DelegaciónTransilvanaEnRumanía1918.jpg

The Transylvanian delegation (Vasile Goldiș, Cristea, Iuliu Hossu, Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, Caius Brediceanu) that brought to Bucharest the Unification Act of Transylvania with Romania

Towards the end of World War I, on 18 October 1918, the Central National Romanian Central Council was formed, an organization which fought for the union of Transylvania and Romania. On 21 November, Cristea, as archbishop of Caransebeș joined the organization and recognized it as the only ruling body of the Romanian nation in Transylvania. On 1 December, he was (with Vasile Goldiș, Iuliu Hossu, and Alexandru Vaida-Voevod) a member of Austro-Hungarian Romanian delegation that called for the unification of Romania and Transylvania.<ref>Mircea Păcurariu, "Slujitorii altarului și Marea Unire" Template:Webarchive, in Magazin Istoric, no. 1 / 1999</ref>

On 28 May 1919, the King and government of Romania went to the grave of Michael the Brave in Câmpia Turzii and Bishop Cristea lead the religious service of commemoration and held a nationalist speech in which he drew a parallel between King Ferdinand I and Michael the Brave and recommended the King to not stop at Turda, but continuing all the way to the Tisa River.<ref name="leustean">Lucian Leuștean, Orthodoxy and the Cold War, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, Template:ISBN, pp. 39–41</ref>

Metropolitan-Primate and Patriarch

Because of his collaboration with the German occupation troops, the Metropolitan-Primate Conon Arămescu-Donici was forced to resign on 1 December 1919<ref name="leustean"/> and on 31 December 1919, Cristea was chosen by the Great Electoral College as the first Metropolitan-Primate of Greater Romania<ref name="adevarul"/> with 435 votes out of 447.<ref name="leustean"/> The Romanian Orthodox Church was elevated to a patriarchate in 1925. On 1 November 1925, after a Synod was held, Cristea was named Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church.<ref name="adevarul">"Patriarhii care au făcut politica Domnului, uneori și pe cea a României", in Adevărul, 4 August 2007</ref>

As Metropolitan-Primate and later Patriarch, Cristea continued the tradition of his predecessors to support whatever government was in power. The church acted as an agency of the state, for instance, in 1920, Cristea asked the clergymen to aid the state financially by encouraging the faithful to buy government bonds.<ref name="leustean"/> Cristea's discourse incorporated nationalist and statist elements, arguing that Orthodox religion was integral to the Romanian soul, and he argued that the church's values include "patriotism" and "obedience to [civil] authorities" alongside "faith and morality".<ref name="leustean"/>

Cristea introduced reforms such as the Gregorian calendar to the church, including, briefly, the celebration of Pascha (Easter) on the same date as the Roman Catholic Church. This was opposed by various groups of traditionalists and Old Calendarists, especially in Moldavia, where Metropolitan Gurie Grosu of Bessarabia refused to accept the orders given by the Patriarchate.<ref name="patimile"/>

File:Standard of the Regent of Romania (1927-1930).svg

Standard of the Regent of Romania (1927–1930)

In 1927, he was chosen by Ionel Brătianu to be one of the three regents of King Michael I of Romania, alongside Prince Nicholas of Romania and Gheorghe Buzdugan.<ref>"Speech from the Throne", in Time Magazine, 7 January 1929</ref><ref>Keith Hitchins, Rumania : 1866–1947 (Oxford History of Modern Europe). Oxford University Press, 1994 Template:ISBN p. 413</ref>

Cristea's involvement in politics was, however, controversial, being criticised by journalists at Epoca newspaper, who accused him of trying to play the role of Rasputin and being a member of the palace camarilla. This resulted in the issue being confiscated by the police, and Epoca offices being vandalized by hooligans, allegedly incited by the government.<ref>"Edit Bucharest paper with pistols handy", The New York Times, 20 April 1926, p. 27</ref>

A dispute arose with philosopher Nae Ionescu after Ionescu attacked Cristea for hypocrisy in newspaper articles following a lavish dinner with Cristea during the Nativity Fast at which they were served, amongst other things, turkey. In retaliation, Cristea requested that the iconographer Belizarie paint Ionescu's face on a figure of the devil in the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest's Apocalypse-themed mural.<ref>Dan Ciachir, Istoria presei, Ziua, 3 February 2007</ref>

In 1929, because of a serious illness (identified as leucocythemia by his medics), Cristea retired for several months to a country house in Dragoslavele, Muscel County, but despite the bleak predictions about his health state, he was soon able to return to Bucharest.<ref>"Roumania Patriarch Feared Near Death", The Washington Post, 16 September 1929, p. 2</ref>

On 6 July 1930, Carol II returned to Romania to assume power. On 7 July, Miron Cristea and Constantin Sărățeanu resigned from the regency and the following day, the Parliament revoked the 1926 law which gave the throne to Mihai, Carol becoming King again.<ref>Ioan Scurtu, "Principele Nicolae așa cum a fost" Template:Webarchive, in Magazin Istoric, no. 11 / 2000</ref>

Cristea kept his loyalty to King Carol II throughout his rule. In March 1937, as the King attempted to suppress the influence of the fascist movement known as the Iron Guard, Cristea responded to the request sent by the Tătărescu government on limiting the relationship between the clergy and the Iron Guard. Cristea invoked a Holy Synod which banned clergy from joining the Legion and disallowed political demonstrations and symbols in the churches.<ref name="finalreport">Final Report Template:Webarchive of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania, Polirom, Iași, 2004. Template:ISBN p. 25-26</ref>

Prime Minister of Romania

In a bid for political unity against the Iron Guard, which was gaining popularity, on 10 February 1938, Carol dismissed the government of Prime Minister Octavian Goga and seized emergency powers. He suspended the constitution, suspended all political activity, and ruled by decree. Cristea was named Prime Minister on 11 February 1938. He headed a government that included seven former prime ministers and members of all major parties except for Codreanu's Iron Guard and Goga's Lăncieri, which had violently clashed.<ref>"Patriarch forms cabinet as anti-semitic regime of Goga falls in Rumania", The New York Times, 11 February 1938, p. 1</ref> Time magazine described him as a "puppet Premier" of Carol II,<ref name="time24apr">"Noble Gesture", in Time, 24 April 1939</ref> whereas historian Joseph Rothschild considered that it was Cristea's vice-prime-minister, Armand Călinescu, who held the power in the Cristea government.<ref>Joseph Rothschild, East Central Europe Between the Two World Wars, 1990 University of Washington Press, Template:ISBN p. 311</ref>

In his inaugural speech, Cristea denounced liberal pluralism, arguing that "the monster with 29 electoral heads was destroyed" (referring to the 29 political parties which were to be banned) and claiming that the king shall bring salvation.<ref>Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, "The Ruler and the Patriarch: The Romanian Eastern Orthodox Church in Transition" Template:Webarchive, East European Constitutional Review, Volume 7 Number 2, Spring 1998</ref>

The new government stopped the antisemitic violence that was unleashed under Goga's rule, but the antisemitic legislation in place was not altered, as Nichifor Crainic's racist, fascist ideology fit comfortably with the social views and political theology of the Romanian Orthodox Church.<ref name="finalreport"/>

At Carol's direction, Cristea's government declared state of siege, which allowed among other things, searches without warrant and the military appropriation of privately held guns. He also imposed harsh press censorship and restored the death penalty. However, Cristea promised prosperity through some constitutional and social reforms, which were to include the "organized emigration of Jewish surplus population", that is, expulsion of all Jews who came to Romania during or after World War I. However, it eased the antisemitic restrictions imposed by the Goga government.<ref>"Carol names body to draft chapter of people's rights", The New York Times, 13 February 1938, p. 1</ref><ref name="WP12feb">AP, "Rumania Seeking to Patch Up Alliance With France, Britain", The Washington Post, 12 February 1938, p. X1</ref>

The external politics of the Cristea government were based on seeking an alliance with the United Kingdom and France, away from the friendship with the Berlin-Rome Axis supported by the Goga government.<ref name="WP12feb"/> Cristea also visited Poland, with which Romania had an alliance and with which it tried to create a neutral block between Nazi Germany and the USSR.<ref>"Polish-Rumanian staff talks: Common defence", The Manchester Guardian, 31 May 1938, p. 6</ref>

Among the policies Cristea introduced during his rule as Prime Minister was a crackdown on the Protestant minority, by disallowing religious service to small congregations with less than 100 heads of families, basically banning the services in around 1500 small chapels belonging to various non-Orthodox Christian denominations.<ref name="time24apr"/> Despite worldwide protests from the Baptists, the ban was only lifted after Cristea's death by his successor, the National Renaissance Front's Armand Călinescu.<ref name="time24apr"/>

On 20 February, a new constitution was announced, which organized Romania as a "corporatist state" similar to the one of Fascist Italy, with a parliament made up of representatives of the guilds of farmers, workers and intellectuals.<ref>"Rumania Made a Fascist State by King's Edict", Chicago Daily Tribune, 21 February 1938, p. 1</ref> Four days later, on 24 February, the constitution was approved, with 99.87% of votes for, through a plebiscite, described by a contemporary article in The Manchester Guardian as a "farse" for its lack of vote secrecy and the lack of information given to rural voters .<ref>"King Carol's Romania: Recent Steps on the Path to a Royal Dictatorship; Measures against the Jews", in Manchester Guardian, 31 March 1938, p. 6</ref>

Upon the approval of the new constitution, Cristea's government resigned on 30 March. He formed a new government later that day. The new government banned all political parties, their activity being only suspended before that.<ref>"Rumanian Cabinet Resigns to Form New Government", The Christian Science Monitor, 30 March 1938, p. 1</ref>

In March 1938, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the leader of the Iron Guard, attacked in a letter the politicians who supported Carol II, including Prime Minister Cristea and members of his government. Codreanu was arrested for slander against Nicolae Iorga and killed "while attempting to escape".<ref name="nytobituary"/>

By the end of 1938, Carol II introduced even more Fascist-inspired elements. In December 1938, the National Renaissance Front was formed as the only legally permitted party.<ref>Adrian Majuru, Romanians and Hungarians. Legislation, everyday life and stereotypes in interwar Transilvania Template:Webarchive, at the Babeș-Bolyai University site</ref> On 1 January 1939; Cristea's government visited the Royal Palace wearing uniforms. When they met Carol, Cristea and the ministers greeted him with the Fascist salute.<ref>"Rumanian Cabinet Gives Fascist Salute to Carol", The New York Times, 2 January 1939, p. 1</ref>

Deteriorating health and death

His health deteriorated in January 1939, suffering from two heart attacks,<ref>"Rumanian Premier Very Ill" in The New York Times 1 February 1939, pg. 7</ref> which prompted his doctors to recommend him to stay in a warmer place for a few months, in order to avoid the harsher Romanian winter.<ref name="nytobituary"/> In response, on 1 February 1939, Călinescu took over most of Cristea's powers, while Cristea remained nominally the Prime Minister at the King's insistence.<ref>"Shifts in Rumanian Cabinet Extend Authoritarian Rule", The Christian Science Monitor, p. 7</ref>

On 24 February 1939, Cristea arrived in Cannes, France, but contracted pneumonia while waiting for his niece in the Nice railway station. He stayed in Cannes for treatment, but died two weeks later, on 6 March, of bronchopneumonia complicated by heart disease.<ref name="nytobituary"/>

His body was sent by train to Bucharest, the funeral train stopping in all stations in Romania to permit believers to pay their last respects and say prayers before the body. On 7 March, a state of national mourning was ordered and all festivities were canceled.<ref>"Rumania will honor body of patriarch" in The New York Times 8 March 1939, pg. 8</ref> A week later, on 14 March, funeral services were held in Bucharest,<ref>"Obituary", The New York Times, 15 March 1939; p. 29</ref> Cristea being buried in the Patriarchal Cathedral.<ref name="adevarul"/>

Political positions and policies

Cristea's political positions were nationalistic, seeing for Romania external threats from both the east, in the form of communism and the Soviet Union and from the capitalist and modernist west.<ref name="spicer">Paul A. Shapiro, Faith, Murder, Resurrection: The Iron Guard and the Romanian Orthodox Church, in Kevin P. Spicer, Antisemitism, Christian Ambivalence, and the Holocaust, 2007, Indiana University Press pp. 147–150</ref>

Toward other Christian denominations

As he became the head of the Orthodox Church in Greater Romania, a multiethnic and multireligious state, Cristea feared that the ethnic minorities, as well as Romanians belonging to non-Orthodox creeds such as the Greek-Catholicism and the Jews would challenge the privileged status which the Orthodox Church had in pre-World War I Romania.<ref name="spicer"/>

Nevertheless, Cristea attempted an ecumenical close-up with the Anglican Church, by visiting Cosmo Gordon Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1936.<ref>"Death of Premier of Romania", in Manchester Guardian, 7 March 1939, page 6</ref><ref>"Rumanian Patriarch to be Primate's Guest", The Manchester Guardian 5 June 1936, p. 10</ref>

Cristea strongly opposed the idea of a Concordat with the Vatican and the Romanian Orthodox Church issued a statement against it saying that "the treaty subordinates the interests of the country and the sovereignty of the state to a foreign power".<ref>Catherine Durandin Orthodoxie et Roumanité: Le débat de l'entre deux guerres, in Rumanian studies 1980–1986, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1986 Template:ISBN p. 116</ref> The Romanian Senate ratified it anyway on 26 May 1929, and Cristea, as a member of the regency, was forced to sign it.<ref name="nytobituary"/> This has led again to discussions about the incompatibility between his two posts and there were discussions on whether Cristea would have resigned rather than sign the Concordat.<ref>"Concordat approved by Rumanian Senate", in The New York Times, 27 May 1929, pg. 7</ref>

After Cristea introduced reforms such as switching to the Gregorian calendar, the Old Calendar Romanian Orthodox Church, led by Glicherie Tănase seceded many parishes from the Orthodox Church and by 1936 they had built more than 40 churches. However, after 1935, the Romanian government began to suppress any opposition to the Orthodox Church and the churches were razed and some of the activists the imprisoned, while a number of clerics, including hieromonk Pambo and five monks from the Old Calendarist Cucova Monastery, were beaten to death.<ref name="patimile">"Patimile Bisericii Ortodoxe de Stil Vechi", Evenimentul Zilei, 4 January 2004</ref><ref>Ken Parry et al., The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity, 2001, Wiley-Blackwell, Template:ISBN p. 355</ref> Protests against the authorities' actions were met with repression by police and the leader of Old Calendarists, Tănase, was accused of being an instigator and sentenced to death.<ref name="patimile"/>

In 1937, William Temple, the Archbishop of York, sent a letter to Cristea in which he questioned religious freedom in Romania, referring especially to the treatment of the Baptists. Cristea denied such claims and responded in a long document in which he said Temple was misled by the "perverse propaganda" and the "false mystification" of the Magyars, as well as the "ferocious and barbaric proselytism of the Pope". He further added, referring to neo-Protestants, that Romania should not allow to be "undermined by foreigners dressed in innocent pseudo-religious garb".<ref name="ramet">Sabrina P. Ramet, Protestantism and politics in eastern Europe and Russia: the communist and postcommunist eras, Duke University Press, 1992, Template:ISBN pp. 177–178</ref>

Toward the Jews

Early during his tenure as Patriarch, Cristea supported tolerance towards the Jewish people. For instance, in 1928, he made an appeal towards the Romanian students to observe the Golden Rule and he expressed regrets for attacks and profanations of synagogues.<ref name="nytobituary"/>

In the 1930s, as the Fascist Iron Guard rose in popularity, initially, Cristea's position towards them was of acceptance, especially since their program included loyalty to Orthodoxism. Many Orthodox priests were attracted by the movement and it was common that their banners were blessed in churches.<ref name="spicer"/>

In 1937, Cristea realized that the Iron Guard was decreasing the loyalty of both the Orthodox Christians and the lower-ranked clergy to the church hierarchy and began to oppose the Guard, while adopting their antisemitic and xenophobic rhetoric:<ref name="spicer"/> he supported the revocation of the Romanian citizenship for Jewish people and their deportation, the Jews being in his opinion the major obstacle in "assuring preponderant rights to ethnic Romanians".<ref name="Oldson">Template:Cite journal</ref>

On 18 August 1937, he issued a statement which called the Romanian nation "to fight the Jewish parasites"<ref>Johan Martinus Snoek, The Grey Book. A Collection of Protests against antisemitism and the Persecution of Jews issued by Non-Roman Catholic Churches and Church Leaders during Hitler's Rule, Van Gorcum & Comp, Assen, 1969 (Guttenberg text)</ref> who spread "epidemics of corruption" throughout Romania and that the Romanians have "a national and patriotic duty" to protect themselves against the Jews:<ref name="Oldson"/>

In 1938, during a meeting with Wilhelm Fabricius, the German ambassador, Cristea praised the antisemitic policy conducted by Nazi Germany and supporting such a policy in Romania,<ref>William Brustein, Roots of Hate: Anti-Semitism in Europe Before the Holocaust, Cambridge University Press, 2003. Template:ISBN p. 70</ref> and the British Ambassador wrote in his report to London that "Nothing would induce him [i.e., Cristea] to talk about anything but the Jewish problem."<ref name="Oldson"/>

Legacy

Miron on a 2018 stamp of Romania

His birthplace home in Toplița is currently a museum dedicated to his life. Each year, on Cristea's birthday, the Romanian Orthodox Patriarchate organizes the "Miron Cristea Days", dedicated to the first patriarch of the Church and which feature various cultural activities.<ref>"Manifestări dedicate patriarhului Miron Cristea" Template:Webarchive, in Ziarul Lumina, 19 July 2007</ref>

In July 2010, the National Bank of Romania minted a commemorative coin bearing Cristea's image as a part of a collectors' series of five coins showing the Patriarchs of All Romania. In response, Radu Ioanid, international archives director at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, called for the coin be withdrawn.<ref>"Romania bank to review 'anti-Semitic' Cristea coin", BBC Online, 6 August 2010</ref> On 20 August, the National Bank of Romania announced that it would not withdraw the Cristea coin.<ref>Romania: We Will Not Withdraw Coin Depicting anti-Semitic Leader, haaretz.com, 20 August 2010</ref>

Patriarch Miron was awarded Order of Karađorđe's Star by Serbia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

External links

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