Cântarea psaltică în contextul înființării Patriarhiei Române: uniformizare, pastorație și educație

Abstract

The major historical events that took place in the first part of the 20th
century, such as the Great Union of 1918 and the elevation of the Romanian Orthodox
Church to the rank of Patriarchate, have considerably influenced the development
of Romanian ecclesiastical and social life on all levels. The personalities of our
Church have paid particular attention to its mission among the Romanian Orthodox
believers in all Romanian provinces, now united in a unitary state. Church music
could not remain outside these missionary and pastoral concerns of the Church, as
it is unanimously considered a considerable means of bringing the faithful closer to
the liturgical and spiritual life of Orthodox parish communities. The General Assembly
of the Church Singers of Romania sought to unite all Romanians through the singing
of the stranger, standardized within the Church, and implicitly, to strengthen the
national consciousness. The main voice of this Romanian ecclesiastical and cultural
movement was Professor Ion Popescu‑Pasărea, who tirelessly emphasized the value
and national character of our church singing, as well as its role as a bonding force
among the Orthodox faithful. The enthusiasm of those years was unique, the proposals
coming from the singers pursuing this goal of unity, but the social‑historical context,
often unfavorable to the development of common church music life, did not allow the
realization of this ideal. However, efforts towards uniformization and unification of
the church were echoed in the immediate aftermath of World War II, when Patriarch
Justinian Marina succeeded in implementing the strategy of uniformization of church
music and the practice of common singing.