Author: Rev. prof. Dumitru Stăniloae (Member of the Romanian Academy)
Keywords: Romania, Christianity, history, Liturgy, unity
Abstract:
A lot has been written about the unity of the Romanian people, but what has been mostly discussed, starting with the Forty-Eighters’ ideology and until present days, was the political and cultural perspective and not the liturgical one. This point of view is emphasized by Reverent Father Stăniloae in this article as well as in many other of his writings. Despite the fact that it has been often neglected, the liturgical dimension remains essential, and disregarding it leads to the appearance of nationalist exaggerations, of communist or pseudo-Christian kind, which finally, in the present times, seem to have become powerless. Thus, we can see that in our entire national history, the ecclesiastical and social-cultural unity was preserved through the acceptance of sacrifice, which is made possible and fruitful by the grace of God within the Church. According to the author’s words, “Christianity was an important unifying factor for our people. The past times’ tribulations placed political borders between us and chased us among other nations, but still, we preserved our national unity, not only through our language, but also through our religious life, which, in its turn, contributed to the preservation of the same language among all the Romanians”. Besides the general aspects, Father Dumitru highlights the issue of national identity in Transylvania (where he was born), where Romanians suffered the most because of the oppression of the neighbouring states (Hungary, and later on Austro-Hungarian Empire), which tried to enslave the Romanian inhabitants and to make them forget (or denounce) their national identity, while at the same time they were forced to exchange their Orthodox faith with the Papist one.
Pages: 12-24