Christian teachings arrived in South Romania in the first century AD, with believers that crossed the Danube fleeing Nero’s persecutions. Andrew also visited the South and preached from a cave in Dobrogea where a monastery lies nowadays. He would later be known as Romanians’ protector saint. That marked the beginning of what nowadays is both a taboo and one of the country’s major undercover businesses. As of 2002 (the last census before the 2011 one), 86.8% of Romanians declared themselves as Christian Orthodox, 4.5% as Roman-Catholic, 3.7% Reformed, 1.5% Pentecostal, 0.9% Greek Catholic and 0.6% Baptist, 0.3% Muslim, 0.1% Atheist, Agnostic or non-religious, 0.03% Judaic. That makes almost every Romanian you meet as a religious person (most probably a Christian) or one going with the flow while considering that is the most appropriate class he / she belongs to. Like elsewhere in Europe, the church played a great role during the Middle Ages, when it went hand in hand with the upper class, while rulers, landlords and rich merchants took turns at raising churches and founding monasteries. During the Communist period the church had its share of desolation, which culminated with the late 1980s when people were discouraged from attending the service, as that could be taken for subversive action against the regime. Many churches were demolished or abandoned, while smaller religious communities (such as Baptists or Pentecostals) were labeled as ‘pocăiți’ (En. repented ones) and mocked at. Contrary to mainstream gossip, the building of new churches was not forbidden during the Communist regime, it was instead not encouraged: 12,342 churches were in service in 1987, Romania hosting then - and now - the biggest number of churches in reference to the number of inhabitants in Europe.

A boom occurred after the 1989 coup, with around 200 new churches being raised yearly afterwards. In 2010 there were recorded 18,300 churches throughout the country. After the first plans drawn in the interwar period, the idea of building a Cathedral dedicated to the Salvation of the Romanian People reemerged in the early 1990s and the Orthodox Church started working on this 100 million EUR project in 2010 (the frescoes and final touches will cost twice as much according to representatives of the church). The cathedral will measure 120 m. by 70 m. and will have a height of 120 m., taking 38,000 square meters; it will be built to the back of the Palace of the Parliament and it will be higher (the palace is 86 m. tall plus the mound it is built on). The Romanian Government contributed to the project funding, just like Middle Age or 18th century Phanariote rulers. While people in Romania will often argue government money is badly managed, few, if ever, will dare say anything against the church and nearly all will go pay their respects to priests every now and then.

Walking down the road, riding a bus, driving a car or even riding a bicycle, you will often see Romanians make three crosses when passing by a church. The religious do and don’t list is nearly endless, with rituals one has a hard time to keep track of sometimes. A saint’s relics will draw big crowds of people from across the country and they will often form a kilometer-long line while waiting for hours or even a whole night to get the blessing of touching the casket holding the relics. Weddings, baptisms, funerals, Christmas and Easter, as well as other major celebrations see an astounding mixture of religious and pagan-derived traditions and faut pas one has to obey to. As heterogeneous as Romanians might be, they are united through always needing shapes to surround themselves with, or rather hide themselves behind. Because one can do anything but say / do anything against God’s will and act, isn’t it?

Yet contents are not always up on par with the shape around, as pedestal raised, national poet Mihai Eminescu argued. While some really believe and attend the service on a regular basis, feeling natural to do so, for others this is a mere habit for society-related reasons (the comme il faut kind), many go for the fun of its feasts (see the Christmas and Easter dinners and drinking parties that follow), while the rest declare themselves Orthodox because they were born in a family that embraced the same religion, or because it feels natural to do so. Well, this happens in many other countries, so where’s the catch? The catch occurs when a whole society becomes awkwardly strangled by written and especially unwritten rules while pretending to evolve, but actually sticking to medieval thinking and blind-folding routine. With an institution - the Romanian Orthodox Church - that does not obey to the laws of the country it lies in, as it keeps its own accountings and does not allow government agency controls. A personal example should suffice: when my grandfather died, the priest in his village asked for RON 250 (about EUR 58 at the time) to hold the funeral service at the graveyard, respectively for RON 50 (about EUR 12 at the time) for the church bells to be rung. While this is anything but cheap in a village where the average income is somewhere between EUR 150 and 200 per month, nobody of those present, my mother included, ever complained, asked for an explanation or... for a bill. The Romanian Orthodox Church does not have answers to complaints, it does not care to explain anything and it provides no bills anyway.

As for tolerance for those different, that is not a major asset of the Orthodox Romanian that has no second thoughts when mocking or altogether sending to hell people that dare be different, whether it is about their confession or lifestyle preference. A few examples might help have a better image here: Jews are wicked, making money while others suffer, Muslims are filthy, Baptists are stupid and they all are quickly sent to meet their mothers’ deceased relatives for being just that: different. In the end of the day, do not dare challenge the untouchables, my friend, for your will turn into an outcast. As Jesus said: ‘he that is not with me is against me’ (Matthew 12:30, Luke 11:23).