What If You Wanted To Become A Priest Under Communism?

Added: 2026-05-04

[00:00:00]So, as some of you know, the Soviet Union and many other nations that became communist, they sought to destroy religion.

[00:00:10]They demolished churches, they persecuted the clergy, they deported nuns to Siberia.

[00:00:17]Uh they committed a lot of atrocities in their fight to eliminate religion from society.

[00:00:23]Romania, despite being a communist nation, was uh an exception to this.

[00:00:29]Uh the practice of religion was actually allowed by the constitution. And there were 13 cults that were permitted to exist. Uh the Lutherans, the Catholics, um the Unitarians, uh I believe even Muslims, and several others.

[00:00:49]And so, uh it created an interesting thing where legally you were allowed to worship, but unofficially, the population was separated into two groups of people. And I've already made a video about that. Uh I won't go into too much detail, but in case you haven't watched it, uh the plebs, the people that uh were performing the menial tasks, uh were allowed to worship. Uh it wouldn't look as good optics if uh grandma goes to light a candle at church and then she is arrested over it, right?

[00:01:26]And so, uh the elderly, the people that were in the rural areas, uh the individuals in cities that didn't have high-profile jobs, uh they were actually allowed to go to church. And the party reasoning was that uh faith is something that's dying out anyway, that there's no point in persecuting uh people and wasting resources over something that will go away naturally.

[00:01:52]>> [snorts] >> However, if you were upper middle class, um and you were caught going to church, that was a problem. And it wasn't a problem uh that they would throw the book at you because uh as I mentioned before, legally you were allowed, but they would do like the whole Western cancel culture stick, where all of a sudden you can't send your kid to a prestigious university. All of a sudden you're not getting a promotion. All of a sudden you're getting fired. And they wouldn't say that it's because you're religious, they would say something like uh you're not aligning with party ideology.

[00:02:28]Uh you are expressing a certain uh backwards views.

[00:02:34]Uh you are not considered to be progressive enough, basically, right?

[00:02:41]And so, uh I I made an entire video like people who want to know uh more can watch it, but this is an interesting question. What if you wanted to become a priest?

[00:02:51]Because becoming a priest in Orthodoxy means that you actually have to go to a university. Uh and so, you would become kind of like upper middle class, but upper middle class people weren't allowed to be religious, so how did that work?

[00:03:11]Well, here's the thing, right? Like obviously, because the constitution allowed it, you were permitted to become a priest.

[00:03:19]And so, the Romanian government had a very interesting system of persecuting the clergy, while also keeping the appearance that it's not.

[00:03:29]So, one of the things that they did was that in order for someone to become a priest, uh you would first need a recommendation from a sitting clergy member, um and then the government would have to vet it. So, basically, the government actually got to decide who gets to be a priest and who isn't. And more importantly, the number of priests were always kept small.

[00:03:52]And so, uh there were entire churches that needed priests, but the government wouldn't allow them. And so, you had uh actual clergy members like traveling the country going from church to church, uh because you may end up with a village that maybe had like one rural priest appearing there once a month and holding mass, right? So, like he wouldn't be able to actually uh hold the the mass for Easter or important religious events. And again, like this was not on purpose. There weren't enough priests, right?

[00:04:22]And so, um what what other conditions did you need to fulfill? Well, first of all, you need to wonder like who was crazy enough under communism to actually want to become a priest, because once you made that decision, your family would be watched. Uh they would never be allowed to leave the country in in the case that uh the very few managed to to get permission to leave, all of a sudden they wouldn't. Uh they would probably not be promoted either, not just your family, but your descendants as well, because all of a sudden you become part of the suspicious class.

[00:04:58]Um and so, the people that wanted to become a priest were very limited in number. Uh first of all, the children of priests, right? Like most likely the sons of priests, like they would want to continue the family business.

[00:05:12]Uh there were like certain people that may have had like revelation or, you know, like a priest uh touched them in a specific way, spiritually, by the Uh they they would have uh wanted to do that. People that didn't have um many other options in life, like for example, uh someone in a rural village and uh he's really good at flapping his mouth, but he's not really good at uh farming the fields, you know?

[00:05:43]Uh also, like a couple of academics, uh certain people that uh were ideologically convinced that um religion is real.

[00:05:53]>> [snorts] >> And so, uh these individuals, they would get the authorization uh from a priest to be able to study, then they would have to go to the government. And the government looked at their files. They would see uh who they associate with, what family are they coming from. Uh and if they didn't have a good record, um they wouldn't get rejected. It's just that the government would never respond back to them, right? Uh and this was like uh I I think like a way of torturing them, really, because uh it prevented them from moving on with their lives. Like if the government um you know, is going to send you a letter accepted or rejected, and it's just like doesn't send it, then a lot of people would expect, well, maybe any month now, you know?

[00:06:38]And so, anyway, once a person was uh actually accepted to become a priest, uh they would undergo the university and they would be watched consistently by the secret police.

[00:06:59]And kind of control the institution.

[00:07:02]And so, um some collaborated, which is not good, right? But uh they definitely did.

[00:07:12]Uh others refused, and if they refused, they would remain a small priest in a small village, right? Uh someone that can't do much harm. The government wouldn't persecute them, per se, but uh their career would be severely limited.

[00:07:26]Now, um another interesting thing is that, as I mentioned before, the priests would be able to recommend people that can become clergy members as well.

[00:07:37]And so, this is where the government would uh pretty much let them know which type of people to allow, which ones not to. And so, religion was allowed in Romania. It was uh heavily suppressed, but at the same time, it was working uh a little bit hand in glove with the regime.

[00:07:54]Obviously, as I mentioned before, not all priests, um but sufficient enough at the high level, uh in order to bring a little bit of shame on the institution. And after the revolution, uh many of these priests um have files at uh what we call the security, right? Securitate. It was the name of the secret police.

[00:08:15]And uh people were upset when they found out that uh for example, one priest ratted out members of the village. Um And as I mentioned before, a lot of people think that authoritarianism means uh you transgress, you get arrested, prison, gulag.

[00:08:32]No, usually uh gulag and prison is expensive, right? And reserved for uh the most troublesome. Uh for average people, fired, jobs limited, uh you can't get a new house. Uh you need something from the government, things move slowly or not at all.

[00:08:50]Uh again, it was very HR-like. That That's what an authoritarian state looks like. It doesn't look like necessarily gulags and prisons, right? Uh we like to talk about those because it's dramatic.

[00:09:01]It's, you know, it makes a good story.

[00:09:03]Uh but the reality is far more mundane.

[00:09:06]The reality is that all of a sudden you realize that uh people dumber than you uh managed to get promotions at work, while uh you're stuck, you know? Or that um individuals that >> uh, you're stuck, you know, or that, um, individuals that, uh, are much dumber than you managed to get a job and you can't.

[00:10:05]Or that you want to send your kid to a good school and, uh, he is rejected.

[00:10:10]Right? Um, it's it's those types of little incentives that, uh, make people comply.

[00:10:17]Uh, of course, like prisons, uh, mental asylums, uh, were were punishments for people that transgress, but as I mentioned before, >> [snorts] >> you needed to have a serious transgression in order to get there. Uh, for people that, uh, genuinely inconvenience the government with their, uh, difficult thinking, no, like, it's just like they would make a life financially miserable for them, but not, uh, you know, uh, you you make one error and all of a sudden they throw you into the gulag.

[00:10:48]Anyway, uh, let me know what you guys think and if you like these types of videos. And, uh, as usual, I'll see you later.

[00:10:55]Take care.