Autonomous Rumanians

Father Andrei Moldovan, a priest of the Rumanian Orthodox Church,* said goodbye to his Akron congregation one day in 1950; he was leaving, he told them, for a vacation in Hot Springs, Ark. Actually, Father Moldovan hustled off to Communist Rumania, got himself consecrated bishop of the Rumanian communion in the U.S., then returned to the U.S. to claim his title. Last week, to the satisfaction of most of his 55,000 fellow churchmen, a Cleveland federal court told Moldovan he had no right to the title.

The by-laws of the church, ruled Judge Emerich B. Freed, "clearly [give] Americans of Rumanian ancestry the right to elect their own bishop." It was a victory for Cleveland's Dr. Viorel Trifa, who was elected bishop by a majority of the church's parishes last year, and for the Very Rev. John Trutza, president of the Episcopate's council. Said Father Trutza: "Our fight was one of Rumanian-American citizens to establish by law their complete freedom from the threat of foreign Communist influence."

*Full title: Rumanian Orthodox Episcopate of America.

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