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Editorial

Wilhelm Dancă:
Rezistenţa anticomunistă prin valori spirituale
The Roman-Catholic Bishopric, the Roman-Catholic Theological Institute and the „Al. I. Cuza” University of Iaşi organized on the 10-th and 11-th of December 2009 an International Symposium gathering Church representatives from almost all the former communist countries. The participants at this Symposium evoked facts and models from the recent history of East and Central Europe concerning the anti-communist resistance through spiritual values.
In his Editorial, after the presentation of the premises of this symposium, Fr. Wilhelm Dancă has focused his attention on the main concepts of each presentation, classifying the conferences in three categories: those concerning the resistance of clergymen, then, the resistance of laypeople and, finally, the conferences containing systematic, theoretical aspects, for example those about the various nuances of the relation between Church and State, the different meanings of the anti-communist opposition, the local and distinct spiritual instruments of the anti-communist resistance. Due to the specific content of papers and the big number of pages, it were given to the spiritual values as ways of anti-communist resistance two numbers of Dialog teologic, i.e. 24 and 25.

MESAJE

† Angelo Card. Sodano
Credinţa este patrimoniul ce trebuie păstrat şi răspândit
In his message, Card. Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals, enjoys the initiative of this Symposium, reminding the spiritual factor as the main factor of the anti-communist resistance, and the others factors, for example the deep faith of the Christians, sustained by the testimony of Pastors of the Catholic Church. Concerning this aspect, Card. Angelo Sodano was inspired by one of the discourses of Pope John Paul II visiting Romania in 1999.

† Stanislaw Card. Dziwisz
Rolul Papei Ioan Paul al II-lea în schimbările din 1989
In his letter from 30 October 2009, written in Krakow, Card. S. Dziwisz expresses his intention to propose the pontificate of John Paul II as a reference point of the changes that took place at the same time with the fall of communism. He underlines the teaching of this Pope, teaching focused on the Christ, on the moral solidarity as a result of the death and the resurrection of Christ, on the Christian roots of Europe and the spiritual unity of Christian Europe.

† Miloslav Card. Vlk
Cristos răstignit e puterea creştinilor persecutaţi
Miloslav Card. Vlk, Archbishop of Prague, shares some personal experiences of the time of communist regime. He describes the period when he was part of the groups of Christian who decided to live surreptitious in communion with the Church; he reminds that his state license was retired, that is why he could not practice in public his priesthood, becoming a refugee, and how he found his true identity of priest testifying that the secret of his strength was the crucified and abandoned Christ, whom he found in sufferance and pains.

† Lucian Mureşan
Am ales „lauda” crucii lui Isus
„But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Gal 6,14). Through this verse, Msgr. Lucian Mureşan, describes his activity as Major Archbishop of the Greek-Catholic Church United with Rome. On the other hand, he speaks about the crucified Greek-Catholic Church during the communist regime and about the bishop Márton Áron, who helped him to enter the Theological Seminary of Alba-Iulia. At the end of his message, the author manifests his gratitude for the Cyrenians, the brothers from the Roman-Catholic Church, who helped the Catholic Romanians of the oriental rite to bear the Cross of the true faith.

CONFERINŢE

† Ioan Robu
Mărturisirea credinţei în istoria recentă a Arhidiecezei Romano-Catolice de Bucureşti
The communist period was very difficult for the Church, a period full both of dramatics, of heroic and martyr acts, and of a patent adversity against the Catholic Church, manifested through many actions: the unilateral denunciation of the Concordat between Romania and the Holy See, the ban of the Greek-Catholic Church, the closing of seminaries and of others Catholic schools. In this article, Msgr. Ioan Robu intends to bring homage to all the fighters for the defense of faith in the Archdioceses of Bucharest, especially during the hard period from 1948 to 1964. This article starts by explaining the implicit appearance of some forms of anticommunist resistance. Then the author presents his predecessors at the leadership of the archiepiscopate of Bucharest, Alexandru Theodor Cisar, Iosif Schubert and Anton Durcovici. Also, there are recalled priests and laypeople; the author thanks to all these persons who offered a material and spiritual help to the Catholic communities, even from exile. Finally, the author congratulates the organizers of this Symposium, underlining the value of the sacrifice of the martyrs from the communist epoch in our memory.

† Zelimir Puljic
Alois Card. Stepinac – un erou exemplar din rândul mulţilor Păstori eroi
In this article Želimir Puljić, bishop of Dubrovnik, presents the figure of the Croat martyr Alojzije Stepinac. There are pointed out some biographical data of the Croat Cardinal and then is exposed the activity of the martyr in the period of the Nazis and Fascist occupation. The bishop Puljić continues with the presentation of the attitude of Stepinac concerning the communist power, established after the Second World War. The guiding principle of the Croat martyr was „frangar non flectar”. The pastoral work of the cardinal Stepinac and, also, of his priests, according to the cardinal’ words, have been carried on into a „bloodbath”. Besides the letter of the Croat bishops against the crimes of the communist, the author of this article exposes shortly also the process of the Cardinal Stepinac from 1946. The article ends with the words of the Pope John Pope II, uttered in the day of the beatification of Stepinac, on 3 October 1998. „The person of the blessed Alojzije Stepinac”, writes Msgr. Želimir Puljić, „represents for all of us a reference point and we have to look at him in order to take a guide and to sustain ourselves”.

† Petru Gherghel
Familia creştină, bastion al rezistenţei în faţa dictaturii şi a ateismului
Starting with the biblical roots of family, the Book of Genesis and the words of Jesus Christ, and also the teaching of saint Paul about the mystery of matrimony, Msgr. Petru Gherghel desires to remind some truths which represent the basis of the Christian life and which were a guiding point during the resistance against the attacks of ideologies opposite to the divine will. Being a sanctuary of love, the family knew very well to oppose resistance against the „red invasion” and the terrible communist dictatorship. Unfortunately, after 1989, for the Christian family began a new Calvary caused by the attack of many difficulties. Because of many social, spiritual, economical and political problems today is overlooked the care for the family’s unity and for the indissolubility of matrimony; that is why is so necessary to rediscover the true values of the family and to re-establish the family, because the future of the world depends on the true Christian families.

† Anton Coşa
Rezistenţa catolicilor în timpul persecuţiei bolşevicilor în actuala Republică Moldova
The bishop of Kishinev, Msgr. Anton Coşa, speaks about the „forget land… on the others side of Prut”, which, as the others regions from de Eastern Europe, suffered a lot because of communism. The author exposes the situation of Catholic Church from the Moldavian RSS in the interwar period and from the Moldavian RSS, in the years 1940-1941, when Bessarabia was firstly occupied by the soviet troops, and after the year 1944, when Bessarabia was annexed again to the Soviet Union. Besides the general presentation of the Catholicism from the two regions of the actual Moldavian Republic (Transnistria and Bessarabia), the bishop Anton Coşa makes an analysis of the Catholic parishes from the region, for example Kishinev, Tighina, Râbniţa and so on. And, due to the fact that history is made by people, there are not forgot the priests who worked in these periods in Bessarabia, for example Ioan Hondru, Nicolae Şciurek, Bronislav Hodanenok, Vladislav Zavalniuc „whose faith testimony cannot be forget by the Catholic Church in Moldavian Republic”.

Stefano Monolov
Martiriul catolicilor din Bulgaria în timpul socialismului
Msgr. Stefano Monolov presents the martyrdom of Catholic people in Bulgaria during the socialist regime. Firstly, the author exposes shortly the beginning time of communist persecution against the Christians in URSS, and then in others countries of Eastern Europe. The first victims of the communist terror in Bulgaria were Orthodox and Protestants people, the persecution against Catholic Church starting just in 1949. Besides the negative attitude of the Bulgarian communist authorities concerning Vatican, the author presents also the new situation of Catholic people of Bulgaria, especially the imprisonments of bishops and priests. In this study, Msgr. Monolov presents the destiny of Bishop Eugen Bossilkov and of the priests Kamen Vičev, Pavel Džidžov and Iosafat Šiškov, whose assassination was discovered after the fall of the Berlin Wall; they were beatified by Pope John Paul II on 22 May 2002. These Bulgarian martyrs and many others people are witness of the Gospel, a Gospel which is every time a choice of life, not of death.

Tadeusz Rostworowski
De la Wyszyński la Ioan Paul al II-lea, drumul spre libertate. Primatul cardinal Ştefan Wyszyński
The Catholic Church in Poland during the time of communist regime owes a lot to the activity of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski. In the first audience addressed to the Pollens after his appointment as Pope, John Paul the II highlighted the qualities of Wyszynski, underlining his big contribution to the formation of the future Pope. Starting with these considerations, Fr. Tadeusz presents in his article a reflection on the theological dimension of Cardinal Wyszynski’s life, manifested by his faith in defending human and civil rights of the Christians. The visible sign of his patrimony is his Episcopal motto: Soli Deo per Mariam. After exposing the Cardinal Wyszynski’s life, the author describes the meaning of John Paul II’s pontificate, his fight against the communist regime in Poland. Finally, there is underlined the necessity to open the human heart and mind before the light of the Christ.

Juraj Batelja
Fericitul Alojzije Stepinac, martir al unităţii Bisericii
In this article, Msgr. Juraj Batelja speaks about the life of the former Bishop of Zagreb, the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac (1898-1960), as martyr of Christ during the time of communist dictatorship. His strong and courageous position, his stimulus for the perseverance of the laypeople and of the priests in the loyalty for the Catholic Church, attracted the contempt of the communists; that is why he was imprisoned and died in prison as a martyr of Jesus Christ. His last words were: Fiat voluntas tua. Underlining these aspects and the persecution suffered by the Church in Croatia, the author desires to highlight the Catholic Church’s destiny of his Mother Land, which is similar to the one of both the Roman-Catholic and the Greek Catholic Church in Romania.

Stanislav Balik
Biserica Catolică din Cehia în timpul comunismului
The author explains in his article the situation of the Catholic Church in Czech Republic during the time of communist regime. The historical data of this article places the communist regime in Czech Republic among the most atheist and most persecuting regimes. Exemplifying with statistics, Prof. Stanislav Balik argues the extermination of the Church in Czech Republic with the persecutions against the priests, bishops and monks. The big number of martyrs shows the fighting character of the Church. Besides these aspects, the author underlines a negative aspect: the collaborationism. Up to the decree of the Pope John Paul the II-nd „Quidam episcopi” (1983), which banned the priests to be part of the political organizations, many priests were placed on the list of these organizations in order to receive various advantages. After 1983, even if many priest followed the direction of the Pope, some of them remained members of these organizations till 1989. Finally, the author relates about the fall of the communist regime in Czech Republic. This fall began in Vatican, with the canonization of the Czech princess Anežka of Bohemia, which took place five days before the Velvet revolution; in fact, an old legend says that when this princess shall be canonized, there would be started the favorable times in Czech land.

Iosif Svidnitskyi
Mărturia Bisericii Catolice din Ucraina în timpul prigoanei comuniste
The communist period represented a time of persecution also for the Catholic Church which was living in the territory of the present Ukraine. The main reason of this persecution was the misunderstanding of the politic of Vatican by the communist authorities and its clumsy interpretation made by Stalin. In the first part of this article, the author speaks about some premises of the persecution against the Church in Ukraine, and then there is described the development of this kind of persecution. In the last part of the article, there are mentioned some martyrs and it is underlined the importance of their death for the Church’s life. Their sacrifice, says the author, will be not forgot, because the Church survived after the bloody persecutions enacted by the communist regime and, thanks to the blood of the martyrs, it was strengthened to face with reaffirmed vigor the challenges of the XXI century.

Gabor Harmai
Catolicii maghiari şi fidelitatea faţă de valorile spirituale în timpul regimului comunist  
At the beginning of his article, Prof. Gabor Harmai speaks about the general situation of Hungary during the communist period and then exposed the „last data” of the violence against the Church: the last process with the condemnation of the Church people which took place in 1961. The three guiding principles of the Christians concerning the communist persecutions were: Παρρησία, the courage to come closer, Πεποίθησις, the perfect confidence, Πίστις, the faith in God. The central figure of this article is the Cardinal Mindszenty; there is also presented the anticommunist resistance of other Hungarian Catholic people, for example the auxiliary bishop of Estergom, Zoltan Meszlény, Mons. Bulányi, Mons. Jósef Rédei. There were not forgot the attempts of the communist authorities to create a Hungarian national Church.

Josef Makarczyk
Ioan Paul al II-lea şi Biserica Catolică din Bielorusia
The Church during the pontificate of the Pope John Paul II lived such a power that the world of the politic never revealed. The pilgrim Pope, fortified by the strength of his faith, contributed to the fall of communist systems. In this article, the author tries to underline the merits of John Paul II concerning the restoration of the Church in Belarus. After the presentation of some statistics concerning the number of parishes, laypeople and priests, the article focused on the Pope’s acts whose aim was the religious rebirth of Belarus. The today Church in Belarus is on the way of the self confidence and of the forming of its own tradition, based on the precursors’ legacy.