REMEMBRANCE IN TIME - Index of

194
Remembrance in Time
victorious glory, the Moldavian Orthodox Diocese, freed from the claws of the fascist
monster, greets you, Iosif Vissarionovici, as genial and eternal glory-shaded leader, and
asks God to send you and the glorious red army you lead, and all those working for the
good and glory of our Nation, many years in peace. On the occasion of this celebration,
for helping the affected family of the red army’s heroes, we ask you to receive two
thousand rubles – a modest present, expressing our joy” 3 . This appraisal is accompanied
by a consistent material contribution, the Church’s contribution for supporting the State.
The Soviet State understood that religion might be a profitable economic sector of the
country. Therefore, on the occasion of celebrating the first year since the victory over
fascism, the contribution of the bishop raises to 400 thousand rubles 4 , an enormous sum
for the after-War years. Of course, these huge sums of money were gathered from the few
hundreds of existing parishes, which activated in a country ruined by war and by the new
leadership. The abusive collection of money and various bishopric-imposed taxes raised
an adequate reaction from the believers and from the clergy. This way, on the 17.09.1946,
the attorney P. Romenschii registered under the number 3578 a collective complaint of
the believers against the abuses perpetrated by the bishop Ieronim 5 . What kind of abuse
there is about, we find from the letter addressed to Stalin by a few priests and teachers
from R.S.S.M. in the summer of 1946 6 . In this letter, they say that during the Romanian
reign, the clergy was content and, at present, the church from R.S.S.M. is led by Ieronim,
who is not cannonical. This bishop dares to shout at the priests and to insult them in the
most shameless manner, calling them “thugs, liars, stupid”, chasing them through “get out
of here!”. The priests show that Ieronim is corrupt, as “whoever of the clergy gives
Ieronim one thousand rubles is received and gentler treated”, and the “the ordination of
the young teachers on the priest degree costs from 5 to 10 thousand rubles”. There was
also specified that the bishop “does not alow the priests to transfer from one parish to
another or to leave the diocese”. Even if the patriarch Alexei I was informed about all
these abuses, no measure was taken. The 15 priests having signed the complaint brought
the explicit proposal: Ieronim should be transferred in Russia, and in Moldova another
bishop should be chosen, gentler and worthier. As reaction to this complaint, the Council
of Ministers from R.S.S.M., represented by I. Ivanov, addresses P. Romenschii in order to
receive explanations as regards the clergy’s discontent attitude towards Ieronim. One
asked to settle who were and what represented those who had complained, which were
the reasons leading to the apparition of this discontent and whether it was true that most
clergy from R.S.S.M. was discontent of Ieronim. 7 . Following the researches, it was noted
that some priests did not even recognize the bishop Ieronim as local hierarch and
officiated by themselves 8 . Cases were unveiled wherein some priests were deposed only
because of having used during the service another language than Slavish 9 .
As regards the language for officiating the divine service in R.S.S.M., in the first after-
War years, we may note a confusing situation. Being component part of the Russian
Patriarchy, the clergy of the Diocese of Chişinău was obliged to officiate the divine
3
National Archive of the Republic of Moldavia, as follows ANRM, F. 3046, i. 1, d. 5, f. 118.
4
ANRM, F. 3046, i. 1, d. 10, f. 97.
5
ANRM, F. 3046, i. 1, d. 12, f. 175.
6
ANRM, F. 3046, i. 1, d. 12, f. 109.
7
The address was registered with no. 3184, on the 23.08.1946, Ibidem, f. 148.
8
ANRM, F. 3046, i. 1, d. 5, ff. 22 and 24.
9
ANRM, F. 3046, i. 1, d. 10, f. 61.