European Journal of Science and Theology, April 2014, Vol.10, No.2, 89-96 _______________________________________________________________________ THE POINT OF VIEW OF THE STATE AND ROMANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH REGARDING CREMATION IN THE COMMUNIST PERIOD Răzvan Brudiu * ‘1 Decembrie 1918’ University of Alba Iulia, 5 Gabriel Bethlen Str., 510009, Alba Iulia, Romania (Received 24 November 2013) Abstract In this article, we tried to summarize how the ritual of cremation was perceived in the totalitarian period. We see today that the problem of cremation is extremely topical and stirs fierce controversy. A recent and eloquent example in this respect is the case of the famous director Nicolaescu, who has expressed his wish to be cremated long before passing to eternity. The Orthodox Church forbade any religious service raising protests among family and friends and fuelling an extended media debate. With or without religious ceremony, the practice of cremation is, however, much older. Thus, in 1928 and 1933, by two synodic decisions, the Orthodox Church clearly spoke out against performing the religious service (requiem) for those who were to be cremated. However, according to the theologian Vladimir Prelipcean, it seems that after these decisions, there were many clergymen attending the funeral service before the cremation ritual. The religious services were made somehow hidden, at the home of the deceased or at the mortuary chapel. In these circumstances, we might say that the Church has informally allowed this practice and the communist regime chose to remain neutral regarding this practice. Keywords: synodic decisions, burial, requiem, crematorium, communist leaders 1. Romanian Orthodox Church during communism Communism arose in the early nineteenth century being considered as a system with modern vision, with a political and social project to serve the masses. Taking into account the cultural and religious anti-modernism of the same period, we can see two main and concomitant trends which soon become rivals. Anti-modernists challenged Western modernity on behalf of past‟s paradigm; the Communists did in the name of future‟s promise. Communism seems incomprehensible, if we overlook the social problem marked by the serious inequalities of European capitalism in full genesis, or by the dispute within the socialist movement related to the use of force in order to achieve political goal [1]. * E-mail: razvanbrudiu@yahoo.com