Congresul monahal din Basarabia şi problema naţională (1918)
The Bessarabian monastic congress and the national issue (1918)

Summary/Abstract: The Russian Revolution of February 1917 launched a series of movements for the democratization of the Russian society and of the territories populated by other ethnic groups. These processes comprised the creation of groups of interest – professional and political – pleading for the elaboration of mechanisms different from those of the autocratic period, to be used in the process of their future organization. This was the situation of the clergy (both secular priests and monks); in the years 1917 -1918, they summoned several Congresses of Orthodox Church Clergy, either at the level of the former Empire or at local level. During such Congresses, they discussed matters referring to the reorganization of the Church in the new conditions created after the abolition of Russian autocracy. Such reunions also took place in the former Bessarabia Guberniya, during the years 1917-1918. After the unification of Bessarabia and Romania, on March 27 / April 9, 1918, the monastery of Hârbovăţ hosted an Assembly (Congress) of the representatives of monastic establishments within the limits of the Kishinev and Hotin eparchy. This entity was founded de jure on August 21, 1813, while de facto on October 1, 1812, after certain territories were separated from the Moldavian historical eparchies. During this Congress, the representatives of the monastic clergy – within both male and female monasteries – discussed a series of issues related to the future organization of the Orthodox Church in the region after the unification with the Romanian kingdom. They even talked about the status of the monasteries within the new setting created. The document featured in this text – drafted up in Russian – represents an important source in order to understand the morale in the region and of the monastic clergy concerning the events in Russia and those in Bessarabia as part of the historical motherland.

• Details
• Contents