Romanian Orthodox Church in the first decades of Carol I’s Reign (1866-1885)

The early reign of Carol I (1866-1885) was, in terms of church life, a long series of steps to normalize relations between the internal high clergy members, between these and the Patriarchate of Constantinople and between the political power and the hierarchy. A key moment of this period was the development the Organic Law of the Romanian Orthodox Church, in 1872, which actually meant the legal basis of the church autocephaly, formally recognized by the ecumenical patriarch in 1885. This article captures the substantial effort made by the Orthodox clergy to adopt the above mentioned legislation, the evolution of the relations with the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the disputes on the same subject with civil authorities. All these actions have been crowned by the receiving, on April 25th 1885, of the autocephaly recognition Tomos of Romanian Orthodox Church. It was the result of two previous centuries of struggle and sustained assertion of the right to the church autonomy, in judicial and administrative plan.