THE FORMATION OF A ROMA PENTECOSTAL COMMUNITY DURING SOCIALISM, FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE LEADER WHO FOUNDED IT
THE FORMATION OF A ROMA PENTECOSTAL COMMUNITY DURING SOCIALISM, FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE LEADER WHO FOUNDED IT

Summary/Abstract: This study examines the emergence of a Roma Pentecostal community in eastern Romania during the final decade of the socialist dictatorship through the narratives and conversion story of the community’s founder. It explores the measures taken by the communist authorities against the religious community and demonstrates how, despite the authorities’ repressive actions, the congregation managed to survive and grow, eventually becoming one of the largest Pentecostal communities in the region. The article shows how the community leader’s successful integration of the newly formed religious community into the network of non-Roma Pentecostal communities operating legally or illegally during socialism allowed his group to obtain ideas and material support to mitigate the impact of the regime’s measures taken against them, while its members were also able to experience new forms of ethnic acceptance.

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