Alexander Ratiu - Ministry in Romania

Ministry in Romania

Ratiu was ordained a priest of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church in Rome on July 20, 1941 by Bishop Alexander Evreinov, for the Greek Catholic Diocese of Oradea Mare in the region of Transylvania in Romania.

Ratiu worked as a volunteer for the National Peasants' Party, for which, in 1946, he worked to organize the country's general election. In May 1947, he served as a priest in Giurtelecu Şimleului. Between May 1947 and July 1948 he was arrested and imprisoned for his political activity against the Romanian Communist Party.

After his release, Ratiu taught at the Greek-Catholic seminary in Oradea. A few months later, in October 1948, the Romanian government dissolved the Greek-Catholic Church in the country, declaring that the will of the people was to join the Romanian Orthodox Church. They seized all its churches and institutions and gave them to the Orthodox Church. The government then arrested the six bishops of the Church, along with many priests and lay leaders, and attempted to convince them to declare publicly their allegiance to the Orthodox Church. Refusal led to torture and often death. Ratiu refused, however, to renounce his faith.