KADMOS STUDIA anno II, numero 1
Saggi - Mitteleuropa
Abstract:This paper focuses on the importance of the social and political role of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church in the civil history of Transyl- vania, a paradigmatic multicultural region of the Middle-European area. The condition of secular marginalization of the Romanian population in the Principality was emancipated on the cultural level also by the pastoral commitment of the Greek-Catholic bishops, and by the development of educational experiences such as the Transylvanian School. In the second half of the 20th century, the Communist persecution against the Greek Catholics was a serious and deep wound, but the Underground Church managed with enormous risks and sacrifices in preserving a transcendent perspective and a moral consciousness that somehow limited the devas- tating effects of totalitarianism. Also for these reasons, Transylvania repre- sents a model for understanding ethnic and confessional dynamics in the European secularized society.
Keywords: Romanian Greek Catholic Church, Transylvania, Communist Persecution, Nationalism, Consciousness and Transcendence