Baptistic Theologies, 2009

he situation in the parish, the activity of the British and Foreign Bible Society and the presence of two evangelical movements in the territory of Romania. In the early twentieth century Bicazu Ardelean was a parish with 10,000 people on the Transylvanian side of the Eastern Carpathians in the county of Ciuc. Its common name was simply ‘Bicaz’ and it incorporated at that time the people and territories split today into Bicazu Ardelean, Bicaz Chei and Damuc. 6 Before 1918 it was a frontier locality separating Romania from the Austro Hungarian Empire, itself being part of the Empire. 7 If any of the events I am analysing had happened earlier people’s openness to ideas from Bucharest would have been much less. Moreover if any of the events had happened later the situation would not have been the same. Thus in 1940, following the dictate from Vienna, the village became part of Hungary again, being united with Romania only at the end of the Second World War (1944). Furthermore in 1950 the new administrative system made this locality part of the administration of the Moldavian o regions, not Transylvanian as it was before the war. The relationship with the authorities played an important role for the first mission here. Bicazu Ardelean was at the time of the analysed events a large, dynamic parish. This played an important role. Another aspect should be emphasised for further clarification: the main religion of the people from the area was Greek Catholic. This was a unique religion among the Romanians from Transylvania. It keeps the Byzantine rites as in the Orthodox Church but accepts, like the Catholic Church, the Pope in Rome as primate, the use of unleavened bread in Communion, the Purgation, and the Holy Spirit Consiliul Popular al Comunei Bicazu Ardelean, Monografia Comunei Bicazu Ardelean (unpublished typewritten script, 1964), pp. 5-6. 7 Ibid. 8 Ibid. 42 Baptistic Theologies proceeding from both the Father and the Son (Filioque). 9 At the time, the people from Bicazu Ardelean were divided amongst four Greek Catholic churches and one smaller Orthodox church. 10 The activity of the British and Foreign Bible Society in the Romanian territory influenced the people here also. The search of the people for something different from that which the traditional churches offered came as a result of Bible study. The first Baptist missionary was invited to preach by a group of people who were studying the Bible. While preaching he found the audience were following in their own Bibles the message read. 11 Part of his success was a consequence of his faithfulness to the biblical message - which the people could easily see. From these events an important conclusion arises: people had Bibles whose message they could understand. But what Bible translations were used? A believer from the church remembers that the translations of Nitulescu and Cornilescu circulated among the people. Even today in an Orth