Alexandru Baltagă (April 14, 1861 – August 7, 1941) was a Bessarabian

Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates ...

priest, a founder of the Bessarabian religious press in the Romanian language, a member of

Sfatul Țării ''Sfatul Țării'' ("Council of the Country"; ) was a council that united political, public, cultural, and professional organizations in the greater part of the territory of the guberniya, Governorate of Bessarabia in the disintegrating Russia ...

(1917–1918), a Soviet political prisoner, and, according to the Orthodox Church, a martyr for the faith.

In Russia

Son of Ștefan Baltagă, a priest, Alexandru followed the primary school in his home village of

Lozova Lozova ( uk, Лозова́, ) or Lozovaya (russian: Лозова́я) is a city in Kharkiv Oblast (province) of eastern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of the Lozova Raion (district). Lozova hosts the administration of Lozova urb ...

, Lăpușna County, Bessarabia, then under Russian rule. On June 15, 1883, he graduated with distinction from the Chișinău Theological Seminary, the capital of Bessarabia, after which he worked for two years in the same city as a teacher at the Teological School for Boys. He was ordained on January 26, 1886, as a deacon, and on February 2, 1886, as priest, being given the parish in the village of Călărași-Sat, Lăpușna County. In 1922, the village had 429 households. It was there that Fr. Baltagă adopted and raised two children, Vsevolod and Margareta."Formular de serviciu al Iconomului Mitrofor Alexandru Baltagă, an 1939", 2-page holograph, arhiva doamnei Mariana Lungu, cf. A. N. Petcu (see Bibliography)Vlad Cubreacov, Unul dintre martiri – Pr. Alexandru Baltagă, in Liminătorul, an III (1994), no 4 (13), p. 17-20, cf. A. N. Petcu (see Bibliography)Anuarul Eparhiei Chișinăului și Hotinului, Chișinău, 1922, p. 166, cf. A. N. Petcu (see Bibliography) In 1890–1905, he was an inspector for the Orhei church district, in 1905–1926 he was

protopope A protopope, or protopresbyter, is a priest of higher rank in the Eastern Orthodox and the Byzantine Catholic Churches, generally corresponding to Western Christianity's archpriest or the Latin Church's dean. History The rights and duties of the ...

of the 5th circle in the Orhei County, in 1928–1935 protopope of the 3rd circle in Lăpușna County. In 1931, he became protopope and president of the "priestly circle" of Lăpuşna. Since 1925 till his death, he was member of the Diocesan Assembly of the Archbishopric of Chişinău, and from 1932, he was the representative of the diocese in the National Church Congress of the Romanian Orthodox Church. In 1904–1922, Baltagă was the president of a revisory committee, and in 1922–1935, president of the Administrative Council of the "Union of Orthodox Clerics of Bessarabia". On July 1, 1935, he was retired, but the Metropolis of Bessarabia and the Romanian Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, through a special decree, offered him the exceptional right of serving until death in the Călăraşi-Sat parish. He had the rank of ''mitrophorous

oeconomus ''Oikonomos'' ( el, οἰκονόμος, from - 'house' and - 'rule, law'), latinized œconomus, oeconomus, or economos, was an Ancient Greek word meaning "household manager." In Byzantine times, the term was used as a title of a manager or tr ...

''.Anuarul Eparhiei Chişinăului-1930, Tipografia eparhială "Cartea Românească", Chişinău, 1930, p. 56, cf. A. N. Petcu (see Bibliography)Biserica Ortodoxă Română (periodică), an XLVII (1931), nr. 1, p. 64-68, cf. A. N. Petcu (see Bibliography) In 1893–1895, 1898, 1902, and 1919–1925, he was president of the School Congresses of Bessarabia. From 1903 till 1918 he was elected each year as president of the Annual Diocesan Congresses of Bessarabia. From 1908 on, he was one of the key aides of

Gurie Grosu Gurie Grosu (; born 1 January 1877 in Nimoreni, Bessarabia Governorate, Russian Empire – died 14 November 1943 in Bucharest, Romania) was a Bessarabian priest and the first holder of the Basarabian Metropolitan Church after 100 years of R ...

in the editing and printing of the Romanian language Bessarabian religious journal ''Luminătorul''. In the first period, this journal served also as the diocesan bulletin of Bessarabia. Baltagă made crucial contributions to the establishment and functioning of the diocesan printing press in 1906–1917. Also in 1906–1917, he was a member of the Council of the ''Birth of Christ Brotherhood'', and in 1911–1918, director of the 6-year school for church singers in Călăraşi-Târg.Calendarul Arhiepiscopiei Bucureștilor, cu date statistice, pe anul mântuirii 1940, Tipografia Sfintei Mănăstiri Cernica, 1940, p. 38, cf. A. N. Petcu (see Bibliography)Iurie Colesnic, Despre râurile mici şi râurile mari sau despre preoţii participanţi la Marea Unire din 1918, in Luminătorul, nr. 2 (67), martie-aprilie 2005, p. 33-34, cf. A. N. Petcu (see Bibliography)

Political career

On the background of the dissolution of the Russian Empire, the Diocesan Congress in Chișinău (November 21–27, 1917 / December 4–10, 1917), elected him as a representative of the Bessarabian priesthood in

. He also co-represented the Social Democratic Party-the Mensheviks. As an MP, on March 27, 1918 (OS April 9, 1918), he voted in favor of the

Union of Bessarabia with Romania The union of Bessarabia with Romania was proclaimed on by Sfatul Țării, the legislative body of the Moldavian Democratic Republic. This state had the same borders of the region of Bessarabia, which was annexed by the Russian Empire following ...

Awards

Baltagă was held in high esteem, loved, and regarded as a spiritual father by his ''enoriași''. It is being reported that he repeated many times "I would not allow my flock to be swallowed by the red wolves" (an allusion to the Bolshevik danger). When the ''Kazan Mother of God Icon'' was being shown around Bessarabia, his church was among those that displayed it. With the onslaught of the

Soviet occupation of Bessarabia The Soviet invasion and occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina took place from June 28 to July 3, 1940, as a result of an ultimatum by the Soviet Union to Kingdom of Romania, Romania on June 26, 1940, that threatened the use of force. Be ...

, Baltagă remained to serve in his church, despite the fact that it was well known that the former Sfatul Țării members were prime targets of the

Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in ...

Soviet persecution

On August 31, 1940, while he was saying mass in St. Alexander's Church in Călăraşi,

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

officers broke in and attempted to arrest him. Baltagă refused, saying he would follow them only after the mass. The political police had to retreat empty-handed. The following night, they snatched him from his bed, and without allowing him to dress, took him to Chișinău, where he was subjected to interrogation in the cellars of the NKVD building. His interrogator was NKVD lieutenant Cherepanov, a superior interrogator of the NKVD of the MSSR, who accused Alexandru Baltagă that " ..in 1918, having an enemy attitude toward the Soviet Russia, he actively participated in Sfatul Țării, and voted for the estrangement of Bessarabia from Soviet Russia and for its Union with Romania ..In the following year, as an active cleric, he fought against the revolutionary movement .. There exist reports that during his interrogation, Baltagă was subjected to physical and psychological pressure. It is reported that to investigators' questions "Show us your God!", he replied, "When you show me your mind, then I ouldshow you my God!" (literal translation). After the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces ( ro, Forțele Terestre Române) is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Lan ...

crossed back into Bessarabia in early July 1941, the Soviets moved him to the interior of the USSR. He died what some Orthodox texts refer to as a martyr's death in

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering an ...

on August 7, 1941.Mărturia doamnei Mariana Lungu, cf. A. N. Petcu (see Bibliography)Alfa și Omega, an I, nr. 1, ianuarie 1995, 1-15 octombrie 1995; nr. 1 (23), 1-15 ianuarie 1996, cf. A. N. Petcu (see Bibliography) Baltagă received numerous clerical and lay distinctions, including the Golden Cross of the Russian

Holy Synod In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod. For instance, the Holy Synod is a ruling body of the Georgian Orthodox C ...

(April 18, 1903), St. Anna Order of third (May 6, 1907) and second class (May 6, 1912), St. Vladimir Order of the 4th degree, in gold (May 6, 1915),

Star of Romania The Order of the Star of Romania (Romanian: ''Ordinul Steaua României'') is Romania's highest civil Order and second highest State decoration after the defunct Order of Michael the Brave. It is awarded by the President of Romania. It has five ra ...

Order in the rank of officer (May 31, 1923), Order of the Crown of Romania, commander rank (June 13, 1928), the , knight rank (June 8, 1935). In reference to his authority among the clergy, and his work for the church,

Gala Galaction Gala Galaction (; the pen name of Grigore or Grigorie Pisculescu, (the quarter "Pantelimon" is presumed to preserve his memory) ; April 16, 1879—March 8, 1961) was a Romanian Orthodox clergyman and theologian, writer, journalist, left-wing a ...

considered him "patriarch of the Bessarabian priests".Alexandru Usatiuc-Bulgăre, Preoți martiri ai Mitropoliei Basarabiei, in Literatura și Arta, nr. 11 (2391), 13 martie 1997, Chișinău, p. 7, cf. A. N. Petcu (see Bibliography) In October 1995, the ''Adunarea Eparhială'' of the Metropolis of Bessarabia proposed investigative research on Alexandru Baltagă's life, with a view toward canonisation.

References

Bibliography