ORTHODOX PRIESTS OF DOBROGEA DURING THE WORLD WAR I

IT IS 100 YEARS SINCE ROMANIA JOINED THE WORLD WAR I BESIDE THE ENTENTE. IF IN FIRST PHASE OF THE FIGHTS, THE ROMANIAN ARMY GOT A SERIES OF VICTORIES, IN THE AUTUMN OF 1916, THE ROMANIAN SOLDIERS WERE WITHDRAWING FROM ALL FRONTS. IN DECEMBER, BUCHAREST WA S ACCUPIED BY THE GERMAN SOLDIERS AND BY A FEW BULGARIAN, AUSTRIAN -HUNGARIAN AND TURKISH UNITS. DOBROGEA, WHERE THW ROMANIANS WERE CRUSHER BY THE GERMAN AND BULGARIAN TROOPS, ENTERED UNDER THE BULGARIAN CONTRAL. THE CITIES AND VILLAGES OF DOBROGEA WERE LOO TED AND THE MAJORITIY THE ASSETS PASSED IN THE SOUTH OF THE DANUBE. AFRAID OF WAR, MANY INHABITANTS OF DOBROGEA TOOK REFUGE TO MOLDOVA AND MUNTENIA. SOME OF THEM WERE A SERIES OF PRIESTS WHO, UNFORTUNATELY, LEFT THEIR FAITHFUL AND CHURCHES. THOSE WHO REMAI NED IN THEIR PARISHES HAD TO SUFFER THE HARDSHIPS OF THE WAR OR THE TORMENTS OF THE PRISONS AND CAMPS OF BULGARIA, WHERE THEY WERE DEPORTED. THE BULGARIANS IMPOSED THE PRIESTS TO CELEBRATE UN THE BULGARIAN LANGUAGE, AND THOSE WHO REFUSED WERE DISMISSED AND IMPRISONED. MANY OF THE CHURCHES OF DOBROGEA WERE DEVASTATED AND DESECRATED, AND THE PRECIOUS THINGS STOLEN. WHEN THEY CAME BACK TO THEIR PARISHES, THE ROMANIAN PRIESTS FOUND THEIR OWN HOUSES RUINED AND ALL THEIR EARNINGS DISAPPEARED. THESE EVENTS PROVED THAT IN DOBROGEA A NEW CHURCH ADMINISTRATION WAS NEEDED. THIS IS WHY THE DIOCESE OF TOMIS WAS SET UP.

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