Secret monasticism
Item set
Title
Secret monasticism
Description
Monastic orders experienced various forms of repression in Eastern Europe during the 20th century: all monasteries on the territory of Soviet Union were forcibly closed after 1928 and the majority of monastic orders were dissolved by law in most satellite states. In Romania this took place in 1948–1949 and in Hungary in 1950. Upon the dissolution of these communities, many of their members were arrested or detained in designated monasteries and then forced to make their way in the secular world. Whilst a part of them chose to give up their vows, many former monks and nuns continued their monastic life in clandestine communities, some of which were literally underground, or tried to keep up their monastic practices secretly while seemingly integrated into secular life. In Hungary, they also actively participated in organising underground religious life and attracting young people to religion.
As the authorities regarded monastic communities as a possible threat to the regime, they made considerable efforts to closely monitor the activities of former monks and nuns. The secret police kept track of former members of religious orders, identified their clandestine communities and mapped their networks in order to be able to make interventions when it was deemed necessary.
As the authorities regarded monastic communities as a possible threat to the regime, they made considerable efforts to closely monitor the activities of former monks and nuns. The secret police kept track of former members of religious orders, identified their clandestine communities and mapped their networks in order to be able to make interventions when it was deemed necessary.
Creator
Agnes Hesz
Publisher
This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme No . 677355
Bibliographic Citation
Agnes Hesz, "Secret monasticism"
http://hiddengalleries.eu/digitalarchive/s/en/item-set/353
http://hiddengalleries.eu/digitalarchive/s/en/item-set/353
Date Created
2019
Items
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Confiscated postcard written by Romanian Old Calendarist nun
These images show a postcard sent by an Old Calendarist nun to her family in which she describes how she was arrested and sent to an Orthodox Monastery. The postcard was confiscated and attached to a file that contains many such postcards. They all date from approximately same period of time between 1936 and 1937. The first image represents the face of the postcard and includes important details about the fate of the nun. She describes to her family how she was arrested, where she was taken and what the conditions at the Monastery were like. Arrested by the Gendarmes on her way to the post of -
True Orthodox secret monasticism Ukraine
These photographs were taken during a raid on an underground monastery by the Soviet secret police, the NKGB in 1945. The images provide visual representations of a vernacular subterranean architecture developed by True Orthodox Christian communities in Soviet-era Ukraine. The monastery was located in the underground vault dug out under a private house (see the first image) in the small town of Chuguev, near Kharkov, northeast Ukraine. The twenty two photographs enclosed in the secret police file give a detailed description of the underground construction. Images 2 and 3 depicts two entries to -
Crime scene photographs True Orthodox Church Ukraine
In 1945, the police raided an underground monastery of True Orthodox Christians (TOC). It was located in a vault under a private house in the town of Chuguev, near Kharkov, Ukraine. As a result, nine believers (most of them nuns and monks) were arrested with hieromonk Seraphim (Shevtsov) amongst them. All religious artefacts belonging to the community were confiscated and most of them were later destroyed. The photographs presented in this entry were taken during the raid and were later attached to a NKGB criminal file as incriminating evidence. The images portray confiscated church property -
Evidence of illegal activity of underground Catholic religious order Hungary
This picture depicts a Continental typewriter confiscated during a house search of a Hungarian Cistercian monk, Dr. Ferenc Piusz Halász (1909-1994) in 1961. The typewriter was photographed along with illegally held US dollars. Three photo images were taken by the secret agents in order to show how the US dollars were hidden in an envelope inside the typewriter. On the reverse of the photograph we find the following text: "Elismerem, hogy a fotokópia hátoldalán látható dollár az én tulajdonomat képezte, illetve azonos azzal a négyszázkilencvenhét dollárral, melyet a fotokópia hátoldalán látha