Army of the Lord

The Army of the Lord (Romanian: Oastea Domnului), also known as The Lord's Army, is an evangelical "renewal movement within the Romanian Orthodox Church".[1][2] The founder of the Army of the Lord, Father Iosif Trifa, as well as consequent leaders, Ioan Marini and Traian Dorz, felt that "people needed to come to the gospel and that the Orthodox Church in Romania needed to return to her true mission: to serve God and to represent God in the midst of our nation."[3] Tom Keppeler writes that "What Wesley was to the Anglican Church, Trifa was to the Romanian Orthodox Church. As Wesley's preaching and ministry drew crowds from the working classes, so Trifa's as well was a ministry that grew among the villagers and workers of the fields."[4] In the 1930s and 1940s, "millions of Romanian Orthodox, including priests and religious, took part in its activities of evangelization, printing and open air meetings."[5] Members of the Army of the Lord greet one another with the phrase "Praise the Lord!", followed by the reply would be "Forever, amen!"[5]

References

  1. ↑ Presidential Recommendation to Continue Waivers Applicable to Romania, Hungary, and the People's Republic of China, and to Extend the Trade Act Waiver Authority: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Trade of the Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Ninety-eighth Congress, First Session, July 14, 1983. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1983. The “Army of the Lord” renewal movement within the Romanian Orthodox Church has been severely persecuted for opposing or transgressing government policies, and its ministers have in some cases been beaten, jailed, or exiled.
  2. ↑ Ramet, Sabrina P. (1992). Protestantism and Politics in Eastern Europe and Russia: The Communist and Postcommunist Eras. Duke University Press. p. 193. ISBN 9780822312413. The Lord's Army represented a very successful evangelical awakening within the Romanian Orthodox Church in the 1920s and was founded by Iosif Trifa, a dynamic Orthodox priest from Transylvania. This movement, strongly supported by Metropolitan Nicolae Balan of Sibiu, spread widely throughout the western part of Romania. Members were challenged to become soldiers of Christ and to struggle against the evil in themselves and the world.
  3. ↑ "Two Factions in Romania's Army of the Lord". Covering the Former Soviet Union and East Central Europe (Institute for East-West Christian Studies) 2 (3). Summer 1994. ISSN 1069-5664. Trifa, as well as his successors Ioan Marini and Traian Dorz, saw very clearly that people needed to come to the gospel and that the Orthodox Church in Romania needed to return to her true mission: to serve God and to represent God in the midst of our nation.
  4. ↑ Tom Keppeler (1993). "Oastea Domnului: the Army of the Lord in Romania". Religion, State, and Society 21 (2). Trifa, as well as his successors Ioan Marini and Traian Dorz, saw very clearly that people needed to come to the gospel and that the Orthodox Church in Romania needed to return to her true mission: to serve God and to represent God in the midst of our nation.
  5. 1 2 The "Lord's Army" Movement in the Romanian Orthodox Church. Christian Committee for the Defence of Religious Rights in Romania. 23 August 1978.

See also

External links

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