Archimandrite Grigorie Băbuș in the clutches of the Communist Securitate
At the beginning of 1958, the communist authorities, through the Securitate and the Department of Religious Affairs, launched a campaign of defamation and intimidation against the Romanian Orthodox Church in order to force it to implement the plan to drastically limit the monastic phenomenon. The communist regime considered monasticism to be a real threat to the construction of socialism in Romania, on the grounds that it involved “intense legionary activity under a religious mask”. Among those targeted were particularly trusted clerics around Patriarch Justinian Marina, such as Bartholomew Ananias and Gregory Băbuș. The latter was targeted by the Securitate because […]