Bucharest, Romania - Romania's Orthodox Church protested August 10 allegations by a former anti-communist dissident that some of its top officials had ties to the communist-era secret police, the feared Securitate.
Mircea Dinescu, a poet who is now a board member of the state council for studying the Securitate archives, had claimed the late Metropolitan and Archbishop Antonie Plamadeala, who died in 2005, had been an undercover Securitate officer.
Dinescu added that the council would check the Securitate files of leading clerics to ensure the church does not pick "a Securitate general" as new patriarch in upcoming elections. Patriarch Teoctist died last month, and elections to replace him are scheduled for September 12.
On August 10, the church's spokesman, Costel Stoica, said Dinescu broke the council's rules about publishing information from the Securitate archives. The church filed a complaint with the council, saying Dinescu should be held responsible for his statements.
"Dinescu's statements are not proven ... Plamadeala was imprisoned" during communism, said Stoica. He said the church acknowledges that some of its clerics "did not resist pressures" and collaborated, but the problem should not be generalized.
Dinescu said the complaint was "ridiculous" and the church should be the first to ask for its clerics' files to be published.
"Why doesn't the church want to rid itself of Satan?" he asked.
Plamadeala, who was a former political prisoner, was known for improving ties with other churches.
In 1985 he invited the Rev. Billy Graham to preach in Romania on behalf of a group of 14 religious denominations. Graham accepted and went on an 11-day preaching tour in Communist Romania.
In recent years, several high church officials have acknowledged collaborating with the Securitate.