Q&A: Religion in Romania

The next installment in my Q&A series: Religion in Romania


Q: What is the major religion in Romania? 

Orthodox Cathedral in Sighisoara

A: Romania has a strong Christian heritage. The vast majority (87%) of Romanians identify themselves with the Romanian Orthodox Church. An additional 7.5% as Protestants, and nearly 5% as Roman Catholic. Only 1% of the total population identifies themselves as non-Christian.

There is, however, a vast difference between identifying oneself with a certain religion and being a devout follower of that religion. Anyone visiting or living in Romania can testify to the fact that it is very apparent that 99% of the population of Romania are not living devout Christian lives, transformed by the Holy Spirit, even if they claim to belong to a Christian Church.

Q: What is the Orthodox Church?
A: The Orthodox Church is the oldest Christian Church and the second largest Christian body in the world. Surprisingly, many North Americans have never heard of it, mainly because the it has been most influencial in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Africa.

Here are two very helpful links which help explain the Orthodox Church:

• What Exactly Is This Orthodox Church?
• First Visit to an Orthodox Church:12 Things I Wish I'd Known

Inside an Orthodox Church. There are few if any seats. Worshipers stand during the 3-hour services.

Q: Is the Romanian Orthodox Church the same as the Greek Orthodox Church? 
A: Yes and no. They are all the same when it comes to their beliefs and major traditions, but administration and local traditions vary from one to another. The Eastern Orthodox Churches are governed by national jurisdiction. (The Russian Orthodox in Russia, the Bulgarian Orthodox in Bulgaria, the Romanian Orthodox in Romania, etc.)

An Orthodox monastery in northeastern Romania known for its exterior paintings

Q: Are there non-Orthodox Christians In Romania?  
A: Yes. Each of the major ethnic groups have their own traditional religion. The Orthodox Church is the traditional religion for Romanians, although some traditionally belong to the Greek Catholic Church. The traditional religion of the German Saxons who have lived in Transylvania since the 12th century are Lutheran. (They were Roman Catholic before the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.) The Hungarians living in Transylvania are traditionally either Roman Catholic or Reformed. 

The Roman Catholic Church in Sighisoara

Inside the Catholic Church in Cluj

The Lutheran Church in Sighisoara

Only within the last hundred years or so have other groups (including Protestant Evangelicals) entered Romania, and much more so since the fall of communism. The largest of these groups outside the traditional religions include Baptist, Pentecostal, Brethren, Seventh-Day Adventist, Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. There's also a group known as the "Nazarene Church," especially near the Hungarian border. Its beliefs and practices are very different from our in the "Church of the Nazarene." (And yes, it can get confusing!)

The Jewish synagogue in Sighisoara. It has not been active for decades. Many Jews from Romania were killed during the Holocaust.

Q: How are Protestant groups received by the Orthodox Church? 
A: The Orthodox tend to view these groups with suspicion. There is religious freedom in Romania, but associating with one of these groups carries a social “stigma” in some social circles. Understandably, lumping Mormans and Baptists together demonstrates the wide array of beliefs and practices of such Protestant groups. I’d probably be suspicious, too, if all I'd known my whole life was the Orthodox Church. The Church of the Nazarene is active in the area of compassionate ministries. This has opened doors that would not be possible if we were just establishing a new Protestant denomination.

Q: Are there many Muslims in Romania? 
A: There are very few Muslims in Romania – less than 0.1% of the total population. They are mostly in the southeastern section of Romania, near the Black Sea.