The Romanian Orthodox Church and its Financial Dealings in Post-Communism

This article introduces the main sources of revenue and wealth of the dominant Romanian Orthodox Church as subventions from the state, the restitution of assets confiscated by the communist authorities, donations collected from various groups and individuals, money obtained for services and religious artifacts offered to believers, and other revenue-generating activities. It then discusses two instances in which the Orthodox Church has come under attack for the way it collects and uses money, the contributions it receives from the reserve fund of the government and the church’s efforts to finance the building in downtown Bucharest of a monumental national cathedral. Finally, the article tests the degree of secularization in Romania, based on the observations of José Casanova and Vyacheslav Karpov, to measure if and how much the country has secularized, especially in light of the economic and financial aspects of church activity presented here

Communism · Economics · Economy · Political science · Politics · Revenue · Romanian · Secularization · Law · Philosophy · Public Administration · Religion and Society Interactions · Finance

• Government Religion Policy and Religious Freedom in Post-Communist Eastern Europe and Central Asia 1990 to 2023

  Jonathan Fox, Marko Veković et al.•The Review of Faith & International…•2025

  Add to list