Episcopul Iuliu Hossu de la Unirea de la Alba Iulia în închisorile regimului comunist din România / The destiny of Bishop Iuliu Hossu: From the Great Union in Alba Iulia to the Romanian Communist Penitentiaries

Iuliu Hossu was one of the most important personalities in interwar Romania and a distinctive !gure of the Greek-Catholic Church. In 1918 – the year of Romanian national emancipation – he participates in the Great Assembly of Alba – Iulia, contributing therefore decisively to the Union. Being in the forefront of his co-nationals who participated in this great act, he managed to enforce Romania’s legitimate interests, namely Transylvania’s uni!cation with the fatherland. He read the Great Assembly resolution of 1 December 1918 in Alba – Iulia in front of an enthusiastic crowd. Moreover, he was appointed to present the act to King Ferdinand I, along with Orthodox Bishop of Caransebes, Dr. Miron Cristea. Bishop Iuliu Hossu made the following statement about the Great Union: “December 1st represented the much expected ful!llment of Justice, uttered by God through his people, happy and forever united with Romania. It was a moment of light which brought the victory of Truth; a moment of supreme joy expressed by a nation whose su"ering lasted for millennia without losing the faith in its righteousness”. Regarding the presentation of Unions Act in Bucharest, Hossu mentioned: “We were four: Goldis, Alexandru Vaida, Miron Cristea the bishop of Caransebes and me. We boarded a special train consisting of a class wagon pulled by a locomotive driven by fathoms of wood. #e next day in Bucharest we were expected by the new government. #e words they addressed us had a historical relevance: You were expected to arrive for 1000 years. Let's not split up again. #ere was not only the joy of one generation but also the happiness of an entire nation over centuries, a nation who remained steadfast in the belief of the union. #ere were not only two clergymen accompanied by two laymen, but also Transylvania’s immense prestige of su"ering, of hope and of prophecy; on the road to making history they brought the sound of clanking chains broken by the people’s enthusiasm and frenzy of triumph. #e crowd was with those in poor and shabby coat reverends. #e procession moved forward $anked by unseen shadows of Romanian-Transylvanian heroes, suddenly fallen into immortality. Oh God, how great and holy lives in me your joy! I was in the Jerusalem of national aspirations, in the fortress of all glorious Romanian rulers! How intense were enthusiasms which today can not !nd the proper expression: exclamation of pray – pray for Transylvania; I saw kneeling people in tears; others strewed $owers brought from who knows where, in that Bucharest of 1918 !lled only by heart petals; some threw their hats away; all of them burst into unceasing shouts of joy”. After the communist regime took power in Romania, Iuliu Hossu and the Greek-Catholic Church su"ered unprecedented hardships. 30 years after the Great Union, Romania's communist government issued the Decree 358/December 1st, 1948, by which the Church was abolished. Consequently, bishop Hossu was arrested by the Securitate and detained at the Ministry of the Interior. #e arrest was carried out in his brother’s home, the engineer Ioan Hossu. Subsequently, on 8th November the same year, he lost his Episcopal authority, as the last Greek-Catholic bishop o&cially in charge. Iuliu Hossu was an important Bishop of Romanian Unite Church who was imprisoned by the communist regime. He was arrested on October 29, 1948 and jailed for the next 5 years in Sighet penitentiary (In OctoberNovember 1950, 45 – 50 bishops and Greek-Catholic and Roman-Catholic priests were transported to Sighet. #e penitentiary was considered a "special work unit", known under the name of "Danube colony", but in reality was a place of extermination for the country's elites and at the same time a safe place, not possible to escape from, the frontier of the Soviet Union being less than two kilometers away. #e prisoners were kept in unwholesome conditions, miserably fed, and stopped from lying down during the day on the beds in the unheated cells. #ey were not allowed to look out of the windows. Finally, shutters were placed on the windows, so that only the sky was visible. Humility and ridicule were part of the extermination programme.). After his releasing Iuliu Hossu was followed by Romanian Security (Securitate) and condemned to mandatory domicile until his death, on May 28, 1970.