The Stork’s Nest: Schism and Revival in Modern Romania, 1921-1924



Clark, RC ORCID: 0000-0003-3292-282X
(2018) The Stork’s Nest: Schism and Revival in Modern Romania, 1921-1924. Pleroma, 19 (1). pp. 81-114.

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Abstract

Feeling threatened by the sudden popularity of neo‑Protestantism in Romania and equipped with new church‑building strategies by their studies abroad, in the early twentieth century leaders of the Romanian Orthodox Church promoted regular Bible study, Christian social activism, and increased piety as a way of renewing Orthodox spirituality. After the First World War, two of their students, Teodor Popescu and Dumitru Cornilescu, led a revival at St Ştefan’s Church in Bucharest, colloquially referred to as The Stork’s Nest. This article examines the schism that emerged between the revivalist preachers and their former teachers and mentors. Both sides developed opposing viewpoints on the authority of the Bible, the usefulness of Cornilescu’s Biblical translation, the role of the saints and the Virgin Mary, prayers for the dead, and the role of the Church in salvation. Popescu’s opponents turned him out of the Orthodox Church after it was discovered that he had changed the liturgy, and a new community of believers was born, known as “Tudorists”, or “Christians According to the Scriptures”.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Religious revival, The Stork's Nest, Romanian Orthodoxy, neo-Protestantism, Evangelicals
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 13 Feb 2018 10:56
Last Modified: 19 Jan 2023 06:39
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3017834