Unknown episodes in the history of the monastery “Saint John the Baptist” in Alba Iulia: World War II period
Episoade necunoscute din trecutul mănăstirii „Sf. Ioan Botezătorul”din Alba Iulia: anii celei de-a doua conflagraţii mondiale
Keywords: the monastery “Saint John the Baptist” from Alba Iulia; Transylvania; the Second World War; the Military Bishop Dr. Ioan Stroia; archpriest Alexandru Baba
The study represents the valorization of some new documents referring to the monastery “Saint John the Baptist” in Alba Iulia during the years 1940-1945. Being the only orthodox monastic settlement in the Vicarage of Alba Iulia (a part of the Diocese of Cluj, in Transylvania) at the beginning of World War II, this monastery astonishes through the extremely difficult itinerary it had to follow during the war years. It was an itinerary marked by jurisdictional litigations, caused by the representatives of the Military Diocese settled in Alba Iulia, by almost insurmountable indigence, which made it difficult for the settlement to develop, but also for monks to establish there. In these conditions, perpetuating monastic life in this place and preserving the destination of the foundation of the Military Bishop, Dr. Ioan Stroia, represents in itself a success, the first merits being due to archpriest Alexandru Baba (the monastery fell into his direct jurisdiction within the radius of parish Alba Iulia I Centre). The latter took a special interest in the settlement, defending uncompromisingly the property right of the Vicarage of Alba Iulia/the Diocese of Cluj versus the jurisdiction claims of the Military Diocese – at the risk of declining the relations with the Military Bishop, dr. Partenie Ciopron. He interceded several times with the Minister of Cults in order to budget certain positions and to put the monastery in possession of land, intended to settle a candle factory here (in 1942), and appealed to various administrative authorities so as to protect it from the devastations of the Soviet soldiers (in the autumn of the year 1944). In the end, in a rather difficult undertaking caused by the lack of summarising lists, we drew up a chronological display of the personnel changeover, managing to retrace the integral list of the people living in the monastery during this period.
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