Gheorghe Ciuhandu (April 23, 1875 – April 29, 1947) was an

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

-born

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n priest of the

Romanian Orthodox Church 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 denomination, Christian churches, and one of ...

, theologian, historian and advocate for ethnic Romanians' rights in

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

Biography

Born into a priestly family in Biharrósa,

Bihar County Bihar was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary and a county of the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom and Principality of Transylvania (since the 16th century, when it was under the rule of the Princes of Transylvania). Most of ...

(now Roșia,

Bihor County Bihor County () is a county ( județ) in western Romania. With a total area of , Bihor is Romania's 6th largest county geographically and the main county in the historical region of Crișana. Its capital city is Oradea. Toponymy The origin of ...

), he enrolled in the Theological Institute of Arad, where in 1893 he took part in protests against the Hungarian government's dismissal from the faculty of Bishop Vasile Mangra. Graduating in 1898, he enrolled in the doctoral program at

Czernowitz University Chernivtsi National University (full name Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, uk, Чернівецький національний університет імені Юрія Федьковича) is a public university in the City o ...

upon the recommendation of Bishop Iosif Goldiș. In 1905, he obtained his doctorate with distinction and returned to Arad, intending to begin a university career. In 1906, when fourteen members of the

Romanian National Party The Romanian National Party ( ro, Partidul Național Român, PNR), initially known as the Romanian National Party in Transylvania and Banat (), was a political party which was initially designed to offer ethnic representation to Romanians in the ...

were elected to the

Hungarian Parliament The National Assembly ( hu, Országgyűlés, lit=Country Assembly) is the parliament of Hungary. The unicameral body consists of 199 (386 between 1990 and 2014) members elected to 4-year terms. Election of members is done using a semi-proporti ...

, his expressed support for their policies led him to clash with the Institute's director. The same year, he was named school inspector for the Arad Diocese, later taking charge of cultural affairs. He was ordained deacon in 1908 and priest in 1910, being accorded the rank of

archpriest The ecclesiastical title of archpriest or archpresbyter belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches and may be somewhat analogous ...

the same year."Ciuhandu, Gheorghe"
entry in

Mircea Păcurariu Mircea Păcurariu (30 July 1932 – 13 January 2021) was a Romanian theologian, historian and priest in the Romanian Orthodox Church. Biography Born in Ruși, Hunedoara County, he was the son of the village priest. He enrolled in the History ...

, ''Dicționarul Teologilor Români'', Editura Univers Enciclopedic, Bucharest, 1996 He took part in the December 1918 assembly that marked the

union of Transylvania with Romania The union of Transylvania with Romania was declared on by the assembly of the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in Alba Iulia. The Great Union Day (also called ''Unification Day''), celebrated on 1 December, is a national holiday in Romani ...

, where a solemn prayer he had written for the occasion was read aloud. The following March, in

Sibiu Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...

, he took part in the founding congress of the Transylvanian Orthodox Clergy Association, where he was the first to officially propose raising the church to the level of a

Patriarchate Patriarchate ( grc, πατριαρχεῖον, ''patriarcheîon'') is an ecclesiological term in Christianity, designating the office and jurisdiction of an ecclesiastical patriarch. According to Christian tradition three patriarchates were esta ...

. In 1922, he was elected the association's president. In 1939, under the

National Renaissance Front The National Renaissance Front ( ro, Frontul Renașterii Naționale, FRN; also translated as ''Front of National Regeneration'', ''Front of National Rebirth'', ''Front of National Resurrection'', or ''Front of National Renaissance'') was a Romani ...

regime, he was elected to the

Romanian Senate ) is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 136 seats (before the 2016 Romanian legislative election the total number of elected representatives was 176), to which members are elected by direct popular vote using party-list ...

. In 1946, he became an honorary member of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...

. He died the following year in

Vața de Jos Vața de Jos ( hu, Alváca) is a commune in Hunedoara County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of thirteen villages: Basarabasa (''Baszarabásza''), Birtin (''Birtin''), Brotuna (''Brotuna''), Căzănești (''Kazanesd''), Ciungani (''Csungán ...

Hunedoara County Hunedoara County () is a county ('' județ'') of Romania, in Transylvania, with its capital city at Deva. The county is part of the Danube–Criș–Mureș–Tisa Euroregion. Name In Hungarian, it is known as , in German as , and in Slovak as ...

. Gheorghe Ciuhandu, ed. Constantin Jinga and Remus Feraru
''Românii din Câmpia Aradului''
, p.11-12. Editura Marineasa, Timișoara, 2005, His grandson

Gheorghe Ciuhandu Gheorghe Coriolan Ciuhandu (; born 15 June 1947) is a Romanian politician. A building engineer by profession, he graduated from the Traian Vuia Polytechnic Institute in 1970, earning a doctorate in 1986 and joining the faculty in 1993. He was ...

served as

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Timișoara ), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor) , image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg , map_caption = Location in Timiș County , pushpin_map = Romania#Europe , pushpin_ ...

from 1996 to 2012."Condusă de Ciuhandu, Timișoara a avut buget record, dar și 'mafie imobiliară țigănească'"
''România Liberă'', May 8, 2012; accessed April 1, 2014

Selected bibliography

*''Școala noastră poporală și darea culturală'' (1918) *''Împreunarea Bisericilor Ortodoxe Române din România Mare și raportul Bisericii cu Statul'' (1919) *''Dezbinarea religioasă a românilor ardeleni. Falsificarea credinței și a istoriei'' (1927) *''Patronatul ecleziastic ungar în raport cu drepturile statului român. Studiu istoric-statistic și politic-bisericesc'' (1928) *''Câteva momente din trecutul episcopiei Aradului (1767-1830)'' (1929) *''Cărțile de afurisanie sau de blestem din Ardeal'' (1930) *''Bogomilismul și românii'' (1933) *''Românii din Câmpia Aradului de acum două veacuri. Cu un excurs istoric până la 1752 și însemnări istorice-politice ulterioare'' (1940) *''Memorii (1907-1925). Din viața mea. Făcute și pățite, spuse ca să învețe și alții'' (1999; begun 1927)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ciuhandu, Gheorghe 1875 births 1947 deaths People from Bihor County Romanian Austro-Hungarians Chernivtsi University alumni Romanian Orthodox priests Romanian theologians 20th-century Romanian historians Romanian activists Members of the Senate of Romania Honorary members of the Romanian Academy 20th-century Eastern Orthodox priests