Diocese of the Romanian Army

The formal affiliation of Orthodox clergy with the military in what is now Romania began in 1850, when the government of Wallachia took a series of measures to assign priests to militia units.

Ties were strengthened in the 1870s, under Prince Carol I, culminating in the Romanian War of Independence, when priests accompanied troops in the trenches and monks worked in the medical service.

The measure was backed by Pimen Georgescu, the Metropolitan of Moldavia; and by War Minister Ioan Rășcanu.

[2] The bishop was chosen by the War Minister from candidates proposed by the Holy Synod, and then invested by the king.

[6] During the conflict, the church legitimated and lent spiritual support to the Ion Antonescu regime’s message that Romania was fighting a crusade against Bolshevism.

Army Bishop Partenie Ciopron on the steps of the Coronation Cathedral in Alba Iulia , surrounded by officers, wives and children, c. 1938
Arma Cuvântului diocesan magazine for July–September 1943, with the Coronation Cathedral on its cover