§ 35. The Church in the Kingdom of Romania

After the union of Moldavia and Wallachia into a single state (1859), work began at once on organizing the church in the young state, and by the ordinance of 3 December 1864 this organization was fixed in law. This, however, had only a provisional character, and on 14 December 1872 there was issued the Law on the Appointment of Bishops and on the Constitution of the Holy Synod.[1] This law is divided into three chapters. The first speaks of the election of both metropolitans: the metropolitan-primate (with his see at Bucharest) and the metropolitan of Moldavia (with his see at Iași), and then of the election of the eparchial bishops; the second chapter speaks of the holy synod—its composition, when it convenes, its competence, and its significance as the highest church authority in the state; the third chapter speaks of the eparchies, their boundaries and their number, of the duties of the eparchial bishops, of the eparchial consistories, of the chorepiscopoi, of the theological institutes, of the monasteries, and of the appointment of the district protopresbyters and the monastic superiors.

In supplement to this law there was issued, on 20 May 1893, the Law on the Secular Clergy and the Clerical Seminaries. This law is divided into four chapters: the first speaks of the parishes, urban and rural, of the ministers and servers of the church, and of the parish wardenships; the second chapter speaks of the appointment and duties of the parish clergy; the third of the clerical seminaries, first of those with the lower course and then of those with the higher course of studies; in the fourth chapter there is discussion of the maintenance of the clergy. There is further, as an appendix to the law, a number of provisions, among which one (art. 39) states that if the minister of religious affairs is of another confession, another minister who is of the Orthodox faith shall replace him in matters concerning the Orthodox church.[2]