Liviu Galaction Munteanu – the confessing teacher
Liviu Galaction Munteanu was born on 16 May 1898 into a family of teachers, originally from Cristian, Brasov County. He studied theology at the Andrei Șaguna High School in Brasov and at the Theological-Pedagogical Institute in Sibiu, then at the Faculty of Theology in Cernăuți, where he obtained his doctorate. He was noticed by Bishop Nicolae Ivan, who ordained him a priest and appointed him professor at the Theological Academy of Cluj, where he became the director of the New Testament course, confessor and even rector.
He remained in Cluj during the Horst occupation and, together with Bishop Nicolae Colan, formed a nucleus of Romanian and Orthodox resistance. Despite the opposition of the communist authorities after 1948, Bishop Nicolae Colan kept Professor Galaction at the head of the new theological institute until its dissolution in 1952. His attempts to train theological students to respond to the hardships imposed by the state authorities attracted the attention of the Security Service authorities, who kept him under constant surveillance, arrested him in 1952 and pressured him to cease his work. He was reassigned to a parish in Bistrița, this time concentrating on catechising children.
On 6 June 1958, Galaction Munteanu was appointed administrative vicar at the request of the new bishop, Teofil Herineanu, who had a project to revive catechesis in the diocese of Cluj. Father Galaction drew up a programme for the catechesis of children and adults, which was approved by the Eparchial Permanence and distributed to the priests of the diocese.
The enthusiasm of some priests alerted the security police, who blocked the whole action and Father Galaction was arrested. The result was tragic: After a cruel investigation by the Security Service, Father Galaction was tried and sentenced on 6 May 1959 to eight years in prison for “conspiracy against the social order”. On 8 March 1961, Father Liviu Galaction Munteanu died in Aiud prison as a result of the inhuman treatment to which he was subjected.
(Adrian Nicolae Petcu – Lumina Newspaper)