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I think that basically the Orthodox do believe this but they make attempts, all the same, to reduce the impact of foreign religious groups in their countries.

It was the same with Catholics until Vatican II. I think it was Pope Pius XII who would not allow the Anglicans to have an Anglican church in Rome. 'Heresy has no rights.'

Shlomo Hieromonk Ambrose,

I have to disagree with you. If these people live in the country then they are not foreign.

As to Pius XII and the Anglicans, that is a blight on him. But in the grand picture a small one compared to his saving of thousands.

Fush BaShlomo,
Yuhannon

Good points, Yuhannon. We Orthodox need to catch up with the Catholic Church on this.

This is impossible because Pius XII had no authority to rule over what places of worship could or could not be built in Rome, except for the few places which are a part of Vatican City State. There were certainly different kinds of Protestant churches in Rome (Waldensians and Methodists among others).

Fr. Serge

Pius IX maybe?

Pius XII was born in 1876 and became pope in 1938.
The first Anglican Church in Rome, San Paolo dentro le Mura, was erected in 1873 (under Pius IX), when Pius XII was not yet borne !!! ( Wiki_it [it.wikipedia.org] Church_Site [stpaulsrome.it] )
The other Anglican Church in Rome, Chiesa di Ognissanti, was built in 1882, when Pius XII was 6 years old Wiki [it.wikipedia.org]

I suggest, before to publish on the net the false statements about the Catholic Church, to take two minute times to check them on the web. The Truth will reward you.

And, by the way, even if Catholics were wrong, this do not justify the Orthodox to be wrong: the fault of the brother does not justify my fault.

I did wrote that " I think it was Pope Pius XII" because I could not remember exactly which Pope it was. Sorry for misleading, unintentionally of course,

The situation in Transylvania is very complex and I'm seeing very simple and party line solutions to a situation that requires much more than that.

It has been posted that there are churches where a majority of the congregation does not want their church to return to the Greek Catholic Church. I personally have seen this, and in some cases the vast majority feel this way. The reasons may be very pastoral, like the priest, bishop, or simply no desire to leave Orthodoxy. In this case, the Greek Catholic Church is claiming property, not people (and wants the latter to have nothing to say about their own fate if that is contrary to their church passing back to Greek Catholicism).

The Greek Catholics were claiming everything that had been Greek Catholic, even if had originally clearly had been built before the Union (and thus clearly constructed as an Orthodox Church). There is a double standard here in that if the Orthodox built it and the Catholics took it under Catholic Austria-Hungary, that was OK, but not the opposite under Communism.

The persecution of the Greek Catholic Church under Communism was wrong and contrary to the Gospel of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The same is true of the persecution of the Orthodox Church in pre-WW I Austria Hungary and in post-WW I Poland (see Greek Catholic Archbishop Andrew Sheptytsky's comments on the this). Thus, I pray that the time for Christian reconciliation has come with the Falling of Empires, Fascism and Communism.

Christ Is Among Us! Indeed He Is And Ever Shall Be!

Three Cents

The simplest solution is the right one--the Greek Catholics should walk away from the disputed properties. In their poverty, they will bear witness. If the Orthodox exploit this situation, it is to their shame.

Three Cents makes a lot of sense.

Does anyone know if the attempted solution for these problems in the Ukraine was attempted in Romania?

"January 1990 saw the creation of the so-called Quadrennial Commission, which comprised representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Roman Catholic Church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Eastern Rite Catholics from Western Ukraine. The Commission began to discuss concrete cases of human rights violations during the campaign launched by the Uniates. In March 1990, the Commission developed basic principles for the distribution of the property between the Greek Catholics and the Orthodox. It was agreed that, where there are two churches, one should be given to the Greek Catholics and another one remain Orthodox; where there is only one church, it should belong to the majority group, which must in this case help the minority find or build a suitable place of worship. However, on 13 March 1990, the Greek Catholics unilaterally left the Commission."

Source :: http://orthodoxeurope.org/page/7/1/2.aspx

The article does not mention the reason for the Greek Catholics' withdrawal from the Commission which seems to have been partly a sense of disillusionment and abandonment by the Roman Catholic delegates and partly because the Ultra-Nationalist political Party RUKH was assuring them that RUKH would come into power and allocate all the churches to the Greek Catholics.

But the proposal as outlined above seemed eminently fair and pragmatic in assigning ownership of the churches.

Divine Liturgy presided by HE Mons. Alexandru Mesian (Bishop of Lugoj) in the slowak parish of Scaius where in 1934 the Icon of Virgin Mary had tears:

http://www.bru.ro/lugoj/foto-75-de-ani-de-la-lacrimarea-icoanei-de-la-scaius/

Meeting of the romanian greek-catholic priests of western Europe with HE Mons. Virgil Bercea (Bishop of Oradea and secretary of the Synod of Bishops):

http://www.bru.ro/general/comunicat...ilor-romani-greco-catolici-din-diaspora/

Retreat for the families organized in Zalau:

http://www.bru.ro/oradea/reculegere-spirituala-pentru-familii/

Some questions:

1. Why is the Bishop wearing a Zuchetto?
2. Why is the Bishop not wearing a Panagia?
3. Where are the bells on the cadilla?

All the romanian greek-catholic bishops wera the zucchetto according to the tradition of our Church.