Theodor Romscha

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Theodor Romscha

Theodor Romscha ( Ukrainian Теодор Юрій Ромжа ; scientific transliteration Teodor Jurij Romscha ) (born April 14, 1911 in Nagybocskó , Kingdom of Hungary ; † November 1, 1947 in Mukachevo , Ukrainian SSR ) was bishop and apostolic administrator of the Greek Catholic diocese of Mukachev . He is a Christian martyr of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church and was beatified by Pope John Paul II .

Life

Theodor Romscha was born in 1911 in the Transcarpathian village of Nagybocskó in the then Hungarian county of Máramaros . He came from a Greek Catholic , Ruthenian family. He received his school education at the Khust high school, among other places . His theological and philosophical studies took place in Rome from 1930, first at the Pontificium Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum de Urbe and from 1934 after receiving his bachelor's degree in the Pontifical Collegium Russicum , which is under the supervision of the Jesuit Order .

On December 25, 1935, Teodor Romscha was ordained deacon in Rome, and on December 24, 1936 at the age of 25, he was ordained a priest . In 1937 Teodor Romscha returned to his homeland for military service. From 1939 he worked as a Greek Catholic priest pastorally in some villages of Transcarpathia. Romscha worked as a teacher at the Greek Catholic seminary in Uzhhorod and was commissioned there from the end of 1939 with the service of a spiritual .

On September 8, 1944, he was appointed bishop of the Mukachevo eparchy, and on December 24, 1944, the bishop of Hajdúdorog , Miklós Dudás OSBM , gave him episcopal ordination in the cathedral of Uzhhorod ; Co- consecrators were János Scheffler , Bishop of Satu Mare (Szatmár), and István Madarász , (Latin) Bishop of Košice . At that time the entire Carpathian region was occupied by the Soviets and incorporated into the western Soviet territories. Bishop Romscha was accused by agitation and provocation by the communist Soviets of advocating and supporting the annexation of the area to Soviet Ukraine as a Greek Catholic Christian . The Soviets demanded that Bishop Romscha sign the Mukachevo Manifesto of November 26, 1944. This manifesto declared that the Carpathians were incorporated into the Soviet Union. Bishop Romscha refused to sign and, in the Greek Catholic Resistance, called for the end of integration into the Russian Orthodox Church . In December 1944, Greek Catholic churches were already occupied by Orthodox Christians in the predominantly inhabited area of Chust and later incorporated into the Czech-Slovak Orthodox Church under Serbian hierarchy.

The Soviet government tried to break the resistance of the Greek Catholic Christians, especially against the diplomatic strength of Bishop Theodor Romscha. In the so-called “Council for Religious Affairs of the Orthodox Church” the conversion of Bishop Romschas was promoted. This wish was reinforced by accusations of separatism in the anti-Soviet struggle in alleged cooperation with the Hungarians. Bishop Romscha was also forbidden to teach in any form at Greek Catholic schools and seminaries. Bishop Romscha did not follow this request. The attempts at intimidation were intensified by the Soviets by calling on Bishop Romscha to refrain from alleged "anti-Orthodox" propaganda .

In the "Romscha affair", Nikita Khrushchev discussed organizational measures with Stalin to assassinate the Greek Catholic bishop. As Bishop Romscha on 27 October 1947 by the fair from Lawky , Rajon Mukachevo was traveling home, his horse-drawn carriage was hit by a military truck, by thugs the driver was killed. The Greek Catholic priests and seminarians who traveled with them were slightly injured. Bishop Theodor Romscha himself suffered head injuries and a double broken jaw. He was then admitted to the Mukachevo hospital.

Theodor Romscha's body in the Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross in Uzhhorod

In the hospital, the bishop's health stabilized. Another assassination attempt followed, for which Pavel Sudoplatow ordered an ampoule of the poison curare from the toxicological department ( Laboratory No. 12 ) . With the help of a senior doctor, an agent was smuggled into the hospital in Mukachevo as a cleaner. The sisters of the Basilian Order who looked after Bishop Romscha were sent from the hospital and Bishop Theodor Romscha was killed by the poison.

Aftermath

The remains of Bishop Romscha were transferred to the Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross in Uzhhorod and buried there. The Greek Catholic Cathedral was taken over by the Orthodox Church during the Soviet era. At the end of 1991 this cathedral was returned to the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church for use and the remains of Bishop Teodor Romscha were examined in the Hungarian Natural Science Museum . The beatification procedure was initiated at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints .

Bishop Theodor Romscha was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 27, 2001.

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personal data
SURNAME Romscha, Theodor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Romscha, Teodor Jurij
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Ukrainian bishop, Blessed
DATE OF BIRTH April 14, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Velykyi Bychkiv
DATE OF DEATH November 1, 1947
Place of death Mukachevo , Ukrainian SSR