REMEMBRANCE IN TIME - Index of

150
Remembrance in Time
condition imposed by the authorities was not to transform baptism into a feast partaken
by numerous people. Nevertheless, taking advantage of the political detent during 1955-
1956 48 , many baptisms were officiated at the river 49 and with great pomp.
On the other hand, the religious commissioners not only limited themselves to
transmitting orders to the Baptist pastors; but had also involved themselves, ever since the
'50s, in limiting and impeding the manifestations whereto we referred before.
After the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, the communist regime gradually introduced a
series of provisions aiming at a stricter control of the baptisms, to the purpose of limiting
them. A first measure was to forbid Evangelical churches officiating baptisms to the river,
compelling them thereby to build baptismal fonts. As not all churches had something like
that, they had to build them if they were authorized to, or to go to another church. So as to
minimize the number of baptisms, in 1960, the Department of the Cults decided, relying
on a provision from the Law of the Cults of 1948, that the religious cult-change “must be
stated to the civil registrar of the town halls and as, ever since 1949, the towns halls had
no longer been elaborating such acts, we were forbidden to baptize candidates from other
cults, as the conditions of the cult law cannot be fulfilled, as regards the cult shift.” 50 The
restrictions were even further pushed so that, - pastor Bunaciu remembers-, “in order to
officiate a baptism within the divine service, you had to inform the territorial
commissioner, submitting the candidate list for the baptism and proving with the member
registrar that their parents are Baptist believers.” 51 Therefore, the pastor was obliged to
submit the candidate list for the baptism to the cult commissioner and, after the
examination, those figuring as party members, as well as the intellectuals were erased
from the list, the commissioner or the representative of the Security only consented for
the persons not of the interest 52 for the State.
In the context of these limitations and impositions, the Baptist pastors, together with the
personnel of the other evangelical religions (Pentecostal, Evangelical Christian,
Adventist) searched for solutions and methods that should allow them to officiate these
religious acts and to fulfil their fate, as well as the “believers’ religious aspirations.” 53
In order to understand how a newly testamentary baptism took place in 1948, when a
religious-freedom liberty still existed, we deem it appropriate to present the baptism of
48
Denisa Bodeanu, NeoprotestanŃii din Transilvania, p. 38.
49
“The summer of the year 1956 was a religious-freedom summer, ever since1946 we had not had
such a detent; everywhere outdoor baptism, evangelizations were held etc.”, Ioan Bunaciu,
Bisericile Creştine Baptiste din România, p. 54.
50
Ibidem, p.55.
51
Ibidem.
52
“If they targeted someone who represented an interest for them, a person that they would have
liked to co-opt, to do something with him, or simply to baffle you, they might have deleted
persons on your candidate list for the baptism” Interview with Avram Faur in Denisa Bodeanu,
NeoprotestanŃii din Transilvania în timpul regimului comunist, p. 39. We mention that, beside
the operative aspect mentioned by Avram Faur, for the Security, youths represented a citizen
category that had to be directed to other values than the religious ones. Beside youth and
children, intellectuals were permanently targeted by the Security. Therefore, youths and
intellectuals stood for sensible categories that were many times forbidden the right to pass to
Protestantism.
53
Interview with Ioan Mânzat in Denisa Bodeanu, NeoprotestanŃii din Transilvania, p. 40.