Emanoil Păsculescu-Orlea, the servant from Mihai Vodă
Emanoil Păsculescu-Orlea was one of the priests who suffered during the communist persecution. Originally from Olt region, the priest made history at the Mihai Voda Church in Bucharest, where he managed to create a strong community, spiritually built on the letter of the true faith. The Communists condemned him for his beliefs, but the Church still counts him among those who had the courage to defend it.
Emanoil Păsculescu-Orlea was born on 9 June 1901 in the commune of Orlea, Romanați County (now Olt County), in the family of Constantin and Anna. He attended primary school in his hometown, and from 1914 he attended the St. Nicholas Theological Seminary in Râmnicu-Vâlcea, where he was a classmate and friend of the future Patriarch Justinian. He continued his theological studies in Bucharest, but was not ordained immediately after graduating.
He was preoccupied with the spread of traditional values.
During this time he held various positions, including working at the Romanian Embassy in Turkey. He was an important journalist, editor of the newspaper “Universul” and contributor to “Universul copiilor”, “Universul literar”, “Curentul”, “Cuvântul”, “Cultura poporului”, “Dimineața copiilor”, “Drum drept”, “Izvorașul”, “Ramuri”, “Glasul Bisericii” and “Biserica Ortodoxă Română”. Gifted with literary talent and concerned with the history of the Romanians and the Christian education of the younger generation, he published numerous historical and theological studies, as well as volumes of poetry, drama and moral stories, which brought him to the attention of the public. Concerned to spread culture among the people, he was deeply involved in the cultural work of the popular athenaeums, especially the popular athenaeum at the Poenărescu School in Bucharest. Together with other members of his family, he also founded a museum in his native village of Orlea.
In 1936 he founded a children’s magazine, “Lumina copiilor”, which he edited until 1938, when the weekly ceased publication. Before his ordination, he married Ghizela Vinca (nicknamed “Tutulica” by the family), born on 10 February 1906 in Hunedoara County.
Priest at the altar of Mihai Vodă Church
In 1930, Emanoil Păsculescu-Orlea was appointed parish priest of Mihai Vodă Church in Bucharest, which had just been donated to the army to serve as the headquarters of the Knights of the Order of Michael the Brave, which also housed the National Archives. As parish priest, he was responsible not only for the pastoral care of the parishioners and the coordination of ceremonies related to the Order of Michael the Brave, but also for the complete restoration of the church. For ten years, like a true businessman, he conscientiously supervised the work to restore the church to as much of its original appearance as possible. Between 1941 and 1942, he rebuilt the church towers, which had been damaged by the violent earthquake of 1940, and built a parish house with the material support of the Ministry of National Defence.
Spiritual father to the Knights of the Order of Michael the Brave and teacher to King Michael I, Father Orlea was one of the most trusted men in the palace. He was a friend of Constantin Nicolescu, King Michael’s aide-de-camp, and of many dignitaries of the time – Istrate Micescu, Constantin Argetoianu.
He catechised the faithful in Crimea and Kuban
After the outbreak of the Second World War, on 1 April 1940, he joined the active ranks of the Romanian army. From 12 July 1943 to 18 January 1944, as a chaplain with the rank of active captain, he took part in the fighting on the Eastern Front with the soldiers of the 95th Infantry Regiment, as far as the Crimea and Kuban. In these regions he was responsible, together with other military priests, both for encouraging and providing religious services for Romanian soldiers, and for baptising, marrying and burying the local population, who had previously lived without any religious support. For his work during this period, he was awarded the Order of the Romanian Crown with Swords, 5th Class, in the rank of Knight. Shortly after the end of the war, on 16 June 1945, he was appointed Chaplain of the Army Corps, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
“A mortal enemy of our regime”
All these distinctions would come back to haunt him with the establishment of the communist regime. Among other things, he was accused of writing anti-Soviet articles, preaching sermons that encouraged those who opposed Bolshevism, and taking part in the Eastern Front. He was the chaplain of an order which not only was no longer valued by the communist regime, but had even become a reason for persecuting its members. In the eyes of the authorities, the church of Mihai Vodă, where he served, was a nest of reactionism, a place where “elements loyal to the former regime” gathered under the priest’s tutelage.
The first measures against Father Păsculescu-Orlea were taken in January 1948, when he was removed from the military clergy and from his post as parish priest of Mihai Voda Church. He was thrown out of the parish house with the soldiers. However, he was appreciated by Patriarch Justinian, who reinstated him in the parish from which he had been unjustly removed after the abolition of the military clergy in August 1948, when the holy place was returned to the Patriarchate by the Ministry of Defence. However, he remained in the sights of the Communist authorities, who closely monitored his activities. Among the notes made in 1950, it was mentioned that the priest was “a mortal enemy of our regime” and that he was “carrying out an intense propaganda against our regime, in sermons and lectures of an inflammatory nature, trying to incite the citizens who come to church (elements of the old state apparatus) against our regime and government”. He was also accused of praying for the Knights of the Order of Michael the Brave, “no matter on what battlefield they fell”, and of mentioning in his sermons “the fallen heroes of the cross”, i.e. the soldiers who died on the Eastern Front.
“Better to die like the martyrs”
In the sermon of 17 September 1950, the worthy priest said with particular courage: “The words of the Gospel must be understood especially today, when the Church is being defiled by the ungodly. We owe it to ourselves to eliminate the greatest enemy of the faith. Our country has become the prey of pagans, the wicked are defiling the Church and persecuting the best believers. The persecutions of today are more terrible than those of the first centuries of Christianity. The dungeons are groaning and they are throwing honest people, lovers of country and Church, into them. Worthy men have died and been executed, real men who gave due honour to the Church in their time. These men are martyrs and should be remembered among the saints… We must not be afraid of them. We must be courageous. We have only a fleeting life, and death leads us to an eternal, happy life if we deserve it. The martyrs of the past knew this and died joyfully for Christ and His world. Rather than remain under their yoke, in evil bondage, it is better to die like the Martyrs”.
Imprisoned in Jilava and Sighet
As a result of the message of his sermons and the fact that, at the beginning of 1952, he had written a pamphlet together with several priests of the Antim Church against the system and the communist leaders, Emanoil Păsculescu-Orlea was arrested on 31 January 1952. He was charged with ‘counter-revolutionary activity’ and ‘public incitement and distribution of pornographic pamphlets against the Soviet leaders’.
He was initially imprisoned in Jilava until the end of February 1952. Without being tried, he was placed in administrative internment for 24 months by MIA Decision No. 110 of 19 February 1952. On 1 March 1952, the commander of the Sighet prison, Vasile Ciolpan, confirmed the detention of the prisoner in cell no. 48. The Greek Catholic Bishop of Lugojului, Ioan Ploscaru, also attested to the presence of the priest, the only Orthodox clergyman imprisoned in Sighet.
At Sighet, Father Păsculescu-Orlea endured extermination by hunger, cold and lack of medical care. Despite his age and poor health, he learnt to be a tailor. On 27 December 1953, his sentence was increased by 12 months by MIA decision No. 684/1953. He was transferred to the MIA in Bucharest, where he was re-educated. He was released on 20 August 1955 by MIA decision no. 508/1955, with release card no. 395/1955.
“Impressive in stature and dignity”
After his release, he managed to return to the Church of St. Michael the Archangel. He suffered greatly from financial hardship and heart disease. In order to survive, he made translations from French, corrected and completed various manuscripts written by others, wrote various articles which he sold to people who published them under their own names, and managed to earn about 400 lei a month in 1964.
During this period he also wrote plays (still in manuscript) and studies on the history of folklore, being interested in the history of the horehound, the gag and the national costume in various regions. The historian Virgiliu Teodorescu, who met him in 1964, described him as follows “Imposing in stature and the dignity he radiated, Emil Păsculescu-Orlea had a penetrating gaze that made you feel as if you were being x-rayed, for he had the ability to read in you what was being thought and not expressed”.
He was buried in the courtyard of the church where he served
He died of a heart attack on 19 September 1967. Exceptionally, in recognition of his long and fruitful service to the Church of St Michael the Archangel and its parishioners, he was buried in the churchyard, near the southern wall of the pronaos. After 1968, when the last knights of the Order of Michael the Brave were allowed to attend solemn ceremonies such as the patron saint’s feast and the church’s feast day, they began to gather around the tomb of the former chaplain priest of the Order. When the destruction of the historical ensemble of Mihai Voda and the relocation of the church and bell tower began, on the site of which the People’s House was to be built, the bones of Father Emanoil Păsculescu-Orlea were exhumed by workers. They were taken by his wife, Ghizela Păsculescu, and buried in her native town in Hunedoara County.
(Anamaria Rădulescu – Ziarul Lumina, electronic issue of 3 November 2010)