REMEMBRANCE IN TIME - Index of

Romeo CEMÎRTAN: Primates of the Orthodox Church from R.S.S.M. and Soviet Religious … 199
members of the Council for the issues of the Russian B.O. within the Council of
Ministers U.R.S.S. 26 In his turn, the patriarch Alexei I submitted to the archbishop
Nectarie that in July 1956, the Moldavian monasteries should be inspected by the
metropolitan bishop Serafim Luchianov, who had been in France and by the bishop
Teodor, who had been in Argentina 27 . The target of the inspection was not accidental,
both the archimandrite Macarie, and some signatories of the letter addressed to Jucov
proceeding from the ecclesiastical environment, which was the most reticent towards the
church activity promoted by the Russian Church in R.S.S.M.
The campaign of verifications and inspections caused by the letter of the archimandrite
Macarie culminated with the non-official visit of Moscow’s patriarch, Alexei I 28 , to
Chişinău, during the 1 st -2 nd of September 1956. Having non-official character, this visit
of the patriarch to Chişinău was most probably focused on the internal situation of the
Orthodox Church in the republic. The patriarch also met the attorney P. Romenschii. The
results and decisions made during this visit remain unknown, however they were decisive
in the evolution of the relation between Church and State in R.S.S.M.
As regards the corruption and neglect of the spiritual needs of the believers from the
Archdiocese of Chişinău, the situation did not change even in the following years. Being
reprimanded by many anonymous complaints and letters, the patriarch Alexie I was
compelled in 1959 to send to Nectarie a discouraging message: “To the Patriarchy of
Moscow and to me, personally, in Odessa, complaints continue to come from the believers in
the parishes and monasteries from the dioceses of Chişinău and Moldavia. They refer to the
fact that the parishes remain without priests and the believers’ spiritual needs remain
unsatisfied, which is contrary to the law. I propose to Your Sanctity to submit a written
report for taking attitude. Patriarch Alexei I” 29 . However, this situation was not only
characteristic to the diocese of Chişinău, the amplitude of the moral-spiritual decline among
the Russian bishops became dramatic. As reaction to the deplorable situation in the church
sphere, the Soviet authorities, under the pretext of the fight against corruption and moral
decay in the Church’s bosom, initiated, in the spring of 1959, an anti-religious campaign
throughout U.S.S.R. For the Diocese of Chişinău, the repressions against the Church were
the most drastic and ample. In the beginning of this anti-religious campaign, the archbishop
Nectarie, being assaulted by dozens of complaints and appeals from the clergy and the
believers, protests and submits to the attorney P. Romenschii 15 cases of flagrant
interference in the Church’s affairs from the local authorities. Among these actions, there
are: shutting churches, forbidding the money gathering for repairing churches, forbidding the
service officiating in the people’s houses, forbidding the bells, forbidding to officiate in
service days, intimidating the priests through false hooliganism accusations, confiscating the
priests’ official documents etc. 30 . However, because of the relation pre-set for several years
between the Orthodox Church and the Soviet State, the archbishop Nectarie was apt to
collaborate with the laic authorities as regards raising the atheist culture and conscience
among the autochthonous population.
26 Ibidem, f. 44.
27 Ibidem, f. 30.
28 ANRM, F. 3046, i. 1 d. 65, ff. 79-81.
29 ANRM, F. 3046, i. 1 d. 93, f. 20.
30 ANRM, F. 3046, i. 1, d. 93, ff. 55-57.