The theologian Ioan Hornea in the communist dungeon

He was born on 15 December 1929 to a peasant family in the town of Șeitin, in the province of Arad. After primary school, the young Hornea attended the commercial high school in Arad. On 5 June 1948, he was arrested by the communist security forces during a round-up of theological students and pupils from several schools in Arad. The repression, orchestrated by the Party and carried out by the Arad Security Service, was part of a wider context and was also the result of MIA Decree No. 5 of 15 May 1948, which provided for the preventive arrest of all those listed as legionaries in the records of the former Security Service. The pretext was the destruction of an anti-communist resistance group, initiated by the legionnaire Gligor Cantemir, which involved many intellectuals, priests, students, pupils, workers and peasants in the Arad area.

The young Ioan Hornea was investigated by the Arad Security Service Police and included in the group of students and pupils from Arad who were considered to be legionnaires. In the investigation, Hornea is characterised as follows: “intelligent, determined, sincere, culturally and religiously well prepared, misled by notorious elements; without vices, sickly; after a good education he could recover”. The investigators discovered young Hornea’s qualities and suggested that he had been misled by the leaders of the so-called Legionary group at the Theological Academy. The investigator’s findings are not accidental, as they suggest that Hornea should be re-educated. He was, however, guilty of collecting aid intended for the families of political prisoners. By decree no. 449 of 25 March 1949, Hornea was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for the crime of “conspiracy against the social order”.

He was sent to prisons in Arad and Timișoara and released shortly afterwards. He graduated from high school and enrolled at the Theological Institute in Sibiu. Here the theological school struggled between the interference of the communist authorities and the resistance of some teachers and even students to preserve the theological vocation of the educational process.

In 1950, for example, a student at the Institute proposed to some of his colleagues “a strengthening of discipline and personal formation in the Christian spirit”. This call was echoed by Ioan Hornea, a second-year student. On several occasions he sent a series of notes in the form of manifestos to the homes of people he knew in Arad and Sibiu, on the train from Șeitin to Arad and Sibiu respectively, as well as to post boxes and state institutions. The notes contained quotations from the Bible about the existence of God and exhortations to lead an intense religious life. The Security Service forces managed to trace the source of these leaflets and arrested Ioan Hornea on 17 February 1953. He was investigated by the Arad security police with a view to his trial. He was described as “a religious fanatic, intelligent, insincere during the investigation”. He was not sent to court, but was administratively detained for 48 months in a labour colony by MIA decision no. 517 of 30 April 1953. The charge was “unlawful religious activity”. He passed through the Bucharest Triage Centre, the Popești-Leordeni colony (May 1953) and the Caransebeș penitentiary (November 1953). On 2 July 1954, when he was due to be released, he received MIA decision no. 5130/1954 to be placed under house arrest in the Bărăgan, Viișoara, for a period of 12 months. By MIA Decision No. 5767 of 20 June 1955, the house arrest was extended for 24 months. In Viișoara, he worked as a day labourer at the GAS “1 Mai” Mărculești and was constantly registered with “hostile demonstrations”. On 20 June 1957 his house arrest was lifted and he returned to Șeitin. He tried to finish his theological studies, but was refused by the religious authorities. The young Hornea worked as an accountant at the Agricultural Bank of Șeitin, then as an inspector at ADAS Arad. Even at this time, he is described as a “religious fanatic, intelligent, reserved, studious element”.

Finally, in 1958, he managed to obtain a degree in theology in Sibiu. On 21 March 1959, he was ordained a priest by Bishop Valerian Zaharia of Oradea, but was not allowed to serve. It was not until 1 January 1964 that he was assigned to the parish of Vânători, Arad County. Here he served until 1970, when he was transferred to Fiscut, in 1975 to Arad-Grădiște and on 2 September 1979 to Arad-Sega I. He died in 2016.

(Adrian Nicolae Petcu, “The theologian Ioan Hornea in the communist dungeon” in Ziarul Lumina, 15 September 2017, p. 6)