Tyragetia (Oct 2018)
The events preceding the Union of 1918 reflected in the Luminătorul Magazine
Abstract
On March 27, 1918, the Bessarabian Parliament (Sfatul Ţării) voted for the unification of Bessarabia with Romania. Public institutions and the population of the region did not have a unanimous and approving attitude towards the Bessarabian events of 1917-1918, including the unification of Bessarabia with Romania. The Church, after a hundred years of coexistence with the Tsarist autocracy, was in agony, but, nevertheless, played an important role in the life of society. In the article “The events preceding the Union of 1918 reflected in the Luminătorul Magazine” the author analyzes the attitude of the clergy to the social-political events of 1917-1918 and gives the reflection of these events, which culminated in the proclamation of the unification, in the pages of the Luminătorul Magazine. Although during this period in Chişinău there had been publishing several religious publications in Romanian and Russian: Luminătorul, Kishinevskie eparkhial'nye vedomosti, Golos Bessarabskoy tserkvi, the Luminătorul Magazine best covered the events that preceded the unification. The priesthood supported the aspirations of the parishioners to obtain the right to officiate divine service in Romanian. Not all priests supported the unification of 1918, some regarded the canonical connection with the Russian Church as a priority. According to the author, the religious press, including the Luminătorul Magazine, broadly reflected the political life of Bessarabia: the Church and the Provisional Government, the clergy and political life, the national issue, relations between the Church and the State, the agrarian issue, etc. However, the Church took a wait-and-see strategy, made little comment in the press and seldom expressed its attitude to this or that event. The Church had a reserved attitude towards the unification of Bessarabia with Romania, in other words, being accustomed to approving anything that came from the state, it accepted without enthusiasm the unification of Bessarabia with Romania in 1918. The Church could not act otherwise, because its duty was “to obey any legitimate authority and pray for it, such is the will of God. The Church must and can reconcile, cooperate with any authority. She will not reconcile only when the Power encroaches on faith – then the Church will openly defend itself”.
