The Guardian of Liberty - Nemzetőr, 1981 (4. évfolyam, 3-6. szám)

1981-09-01 / 5. szám

12 "Secret" Bishops Appeal for Freedom An appeal for the restoration of reli­gious freedom in Romania has been is­sued by three secretly consecrated bi­shops of that country’s Roman Catholic Eastern-Rite (Uniate) Church. The document, addressed to the Ma­drid Conference on Security and Co­operation in Europe (CSCE), refers to the ordeals experienced by the Uniate Church since 1948 when its 1,700,000 members were ordered by the com­munist authorities to be forcibly in­corporated into the Romanian Ortho­dox Church. The “converts” were then harassed, persecuted and in some instances mur­dered. Public expressions of faith caused the persons concerned to be discriminated against at work (or at school in the case of children) or to be imprisoned or put in psychiatric hospitals. The three bishops also refer to the communist authorities’ flooding of Ro­mania with atheist propaganda. They thus describe the results of this: “Tra­ditions are dying, corruption is pene­trating to the depths of men’s hearts young people are disoriented and des­pondent, adults are tired and scepti­cal, and the old are despairing.” The bishops appeal for the Uniate Church to be again recognised by the State. They also call for the return of confiscated churches, monasteries and theological seminaries, freedom to hold services, and access to the information media. News of this appeal to the CSCE was released by Father Alexandru Mircea, leader of the Romanian Catho­lic mission in Spain. Bishop loan Duma, a Uniate secret­ly consecrated bishop by Pope Pius XII, died in July. The Romanian com-munist authorities regarded him only as a priest in the village of Tirgu-Iui. Other victims of State-organised persecution in Romania include the Baptists. The authorities are refusing to give a satisfactory explanation of the circumstances of the death of Sa­bin Teodosiu, a 29-year-old electricity maintenance mechanic and Baptist lay preacher. While checking transformers, he was electrocuted and fell from the ladder on which he was working. According to a samizdat document recently pass­ed out of Romania, there was an un­explained delay in taking him to hos­pital and he had been ordered t^ do the maintenance job without the ne­cessary protective equipment. Teodosiu lived at Sibiu with his wife and infant son. Harassed because of his faith since his schooldays, he had been involved in four mysterious car crashes. On the day of his death, June 2, a colleague had warned him to be careful. MIRROR AID TO THE CHURCH IN NEED | i In AUSTRALIA: ACN, Box 11 PO, EAST- | 1 WOOD N.S.W. 2122 § In GREAT BRITAIN: ACN, UK, I 3-5 North Street, CHICHESTER West g Sussex PO 19 1 LB § In IRELAND: ACN, The Norbertine Fa- M I thers, Kilnacrott, BALLYJAMESDUFF, Co. | g Cavan g ind: ACN, Northern Ireland Sub-Centre, g I PO Box No 76, BELFAST BT13 2DX N In the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: g g ACN, PO Box 1000, EL TORO, CA 92630 g iiilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllflllH Another Priest Murdered Another Catholic priest has been mur­dered in Lithuania for no known reason. Father Leonas Mazeika, 63-year-old pas­tor of the small parish of Pamusis, was fatally wounded by unidentified intruders in his rectory on August 8, according to a recent samizdat report. He died while being taken to hospital. Father Mazeika was one of 118 priests of Panevezys diocese who in March, 1979, signed a letter to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic in support of a statement made by the Catholic Com­mittee for the Defence of Believers’ Rights calling for the revocation of the "Regulations on Religious Associations”. These regulations restrict believers’ rights, in contravention of the Helsinki Final Act (signed by President Brezh­nev), the Soviet Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On the night of October 10, 1980, Father Leonas Sapoka, pastor of Luoka parish, Telsiai diocese, was similarly murdered for n o apparent reason. At least three other Lithuanian priests have been severely assaulted in the past 12 months, also for no known cause. As none of the perpetrators of these murders and assaults have been appre­hended, it is widely believed in Lithu­ania that the criminals acted on instruc­tions from the KGB, the Soviet secret police.______________________ NEW LABOUR SCHEME SIMILAR TO APARTHEID (Continued from page 11) sion, has admitted that his country has about a million unemployed. A bilateral agreement on „the movement of citicens of Vietnam and the Soviet Union between the two countries" was negotiated recently. A regular air service between Hanoi and Prague started in June, and there is to be a similar service between Hanoi and Sofia, the Bulgarian capital. THE GUARDIAN OF LIBERTY (NEMZETŐR) Artfcfa It, Umhmnml Omdonfo* at Hwon BghH Edited by the Editorial Board Verleger, Herausgeber und Eigentümer TIBOR KECSKÊSI TOLLAS Journalist, Schriftsteller, München Ferchenbachstraße 88, Ô-8000 München 50 GERMAN FEDERAL REPUBLIC Verantwortlicher Redak'eur (Editor): MIKLÓS VARY Ferchenbachstraße 88, D-8000 München 50 Druck (print): DANUBI A DRUCKEREI GMBH Ferchenbachstraße 88, D-8000 München 50 AFRICA REPRESENTATIVES & SALE CAMEROON: L. T. JOHNSON, Divisional Inspectorate of Education, BAMENDA-MEZAM, Div., North West Province. EAST AFRICA: (2.— Sh, by air) (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania): General -Representa'ive : Swahili Literature Distributors, P.O. Box 1146, Nakuru/KENYA NIGERIA (2.— Sh): Yemi OYENEYE, P. M. B. 101, Agege, Lagos. SIERA LEONE: (10 Le. c.; annual: 60) 1. Alusine B. Kargbo, c/o 2 Alusine St., Newsite Kissy, Freetown; SOMALIA: (2,— Sh., by air) MAURITIUS NALANDA Co. Ltd., 30, Bourbon Str., Port-Louis. GREAT BRITAIN “NEMZETŐR“, B. C. M., London S.W. 7. U. S. A. Béla H. BÁCSKAI, P.O. Box 102, Audubon/Pa. 19407. AUSTRALIA Ferenc KROYHERR, 19, Ellerslie St., Kingsbury/Vic. 3083. PRICES: Surface mail: 1 copy AFRICA 1.80 Sh (100 CFA), Britain 35 P, Australia, USA, Canada: 90 cents, Germany: DM 2.— Annual subscription: AFRICA Sh 10 (500 CFA), Britain 2,—£, Germany/Europe: DM 10.- (or equivalent) Australia USA, Canada: $ 5.— For air mail add 50 •/« For students 50 Vo discount Our BANK ACCOUNT: No. 2605756 Commerzbank AG. Munich, German Federal Republic. SEPTEMBER—OCTOBER 1981 PASTOR GETS HARD LABOUR Pastor Dmitri Minyakov, a member since 1965 of the Soviet Reform Baptists’ Council of Churches, has been sentenced in Tallinn, Estonia, to five years’ imprisonment in a „strict régime“ labour camp. The court also ordered the confiscation of his personal property and the placing of one of his five children, a 15-year-old boy, in a special boarding school where he will receive an atheist education. In passing sentence, the judge criticised Pastor Minyakov for bringing up his children as religious believers. The charges against him related to his religious activities and to his defence of persecuted Christians. Information about the trial, held on August 19 and 20, was only recently leaked from the USSR.

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