The prisons of Father Ioan Negruțiu
The year 1948 was marked in Romania by numerous political, cultural, social and ecclesiastical changes. The communist regime subjected the Church to a series of transformations aimed at freeing it from its “bourgeois-medieval past” and adapting it to the new “socio-political” conditions. We do not wish to discuss the regime’s intentions towards the Church, but these could not be achieved without destroying some personalities and servants of this fundamental institution for the Romanian people.
The communist regime saw real obstacles in the young theologians trained under the care of prominent Church hierarchs. One such case is that of Father Ioan Negruțiu from Beiuș, one of the most important disciples of the courageous Bishop Nicolae Popovici from Oradea. It must be said that although he came from a simple family, with many material hardships, but with great faith in God, having been orphaned as a child, the young Negruțiu nevertheless showed a love of books, a chosen education and dedication to the service of the ancestral altar. He began his studies at the theological seminary of Edinț, in Bessarabia, then at that of Galați, from which he graduated in 1934, to continue at the Faculty of Theology in Bucharest, from which he graduated in 1938.
Later, wanting to preach the Word of God from the pulpit, he entered the Pedagogical Seminary in Bucharest a few years later. He was noticed by the diocesan bishop of Oradea, who ordained him priest in 1943 and appointed him teacher at the Orthodox Theological Boarding School in Beiuș, then, from 1945, teacher of religion at the Normal School for Girls in the same city. As a servant of the altar and the pulpit, Father Negruțiu guided the young students along the path of faith in God and in the future of the Romanian nation.
Obviously, this perspective could not be accepted by an atheistic and Moscow-like regime, for which Father Negruțiu was arrested on 31 May 1948. This event took place in the context of the wave of arrests ordered by the Party among the Legionaries. In the criminal records, the priest was initially considered to have “no criminal record”, but later it was noted: “Legionary according to MIA file”. In fact, by uncovering so-called “Legionary conspiracies” among clergymen and theological students, the regime was trying to compromise Orthodox hierarchs and theological educational institutions. After a brief investigation, Father Negruțiu was released. However, on 7 June he was arrested again and sent to the Oradea Securitate Department for investigation.
By decree no. 643/1949, he was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for the crime of “conspiracy against the social order”. He was imprisoned in Oradea (1949-1950), Gherla (1955) and Jilava (1954) and did forced labour in the Valea Neagră colony (1950). Considered “dangerous”, on 8 May 1957 he was sentenced to 24 months of forced labour in the Bărăgan in Rubla. In the context of the new wave of arrests, he was arrested again on 28 July 1958 and interrogated in the basement of the Ministry of the Interior in Bucharest. He was again sentenced by decree no. 146/1959 of the Bucharest Military Tribunal to 25 years’ hard labour for “conspiracy against the social order”. He was held in Jilava and Aiud prisons and was released on 1 August 1964.
(Adrian Nicolae Petcu – Ziarul Lumina)