The second half of October 2007 commenced with a very unique and special event, of great importance, held in the stunning surroundings of Southern Carpathians, in between Transylvania and Walachia historical regions, in Moieciu locality, in Romania. The actual period was between the 18th and 20th of October and the objective was to organize the first Ecumenical Conference in Romania. The number of participants in totally was more than 70 and they represented different religious cults, such as the Orthodox, the Romano – Catholic, the Reformed and the Baptist, politicians, university teachers, philosophers, NGO’s representatives and even artists.

The conference’s theme was proposed by the main organizer, namely European Christian Political Movement (ECPM), in collaboration with the Filocalia Orthodox Center (FOC), the Ecumenical Praying Group of Romanian Parliament, Areopagus Center, CRESC (Romanian acronym for the European Rural Center of Studies and Collaboration), with the support of Moieciu Town hall and Worldvision organization.

The discussions were based on the “Rasnov Initiative” and also on involving the Christians in solving the societal problems on different administrative levels. The aim of the entire activity of the conference was to offer a solution to the nowadays political crisis, all from the Christian perspectives.

The unification of all Christians in one Holy Spirit was completed right from the reception, when Peter Dugulescu, priest of Baptist Church, held a monologue in which “the prayer of nations” was heard after the ecumenical opening were pastors and priests from the Romanian Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, Reformed church and Baptist Church prayed together for the meeting and some share also a message from the Holy Scriptures.

This opening was followed by a public debate where several important persons to point out the important role of the Christians on the political scene. They were Mrs. Teodora Bertzi (State Secretary within the Ministry of Labor, Family and Equal Opportunities), Mr. Peter Andea (deputy and president of the Ecumenical Praying Group in Romanian Parliament), Mr. Ioan Buda, (deputy), together with Sever Ster (senator) and Peter Dugulescu, (founder of the Ecumenical Prayergroup in the Romanian parliament and former deputy). The general conclusion was that: “It is our duty to spread God’s word and to introduce Christian principles in politics”. General topics of discussions were about the difference between Romania as a Christian country, the Christian principles and the formation of Character. “Mentality change is needed in which education in family and in the society plays an important role to teach these principles. Besides we should be role models in the society. The formation of character based on Christian values also is of main importance for a politician”


Mr. Paul Copu, representative of the organization: “Character First was keen on mentioning the importance of Divine Creation in relation with the ephemeral nature of the human being; the creationism was analyzed by Mr. Leo van Doesburg, in collaboration with Mr. Viorel Pop from the “Family Alliance association”. Furthermore, Mr. Alex Neagoe, Baptist pastor and president of Areopagus Center, explained the role of the Christian on the political scene.

Our special guest, Mr. Robert Nijhoff from the science institute of the ChristianUnion, explained about the main differences between power and influence, as political concepts in his lecture called: “From the power of polonium to the sword of justice. Serving society. A Christian perspective on politics.” Besides this, he discussed about social justice from a Christian perspective illustrated by Abraham Kuyper, Groen van Prinsterer and Herman Dooyeweerd.

Egidiu Condac, Catholic priest and president of Caritas Romania shared with the participants the principles of the Romano-Catholic Church, concerning the relationship between State and Church; likewise, professor Tamas Juhasz represented the Reformed Church’s point of view regarding this matter and so did Mr. Virgil Archihai, on behalf of the Neo – Protestant Church, also the president of the Brethern church.

Nevertheless, all these theories must be put into practice; for this reason, two groups were defined, one led by Leo van Doesburg, Christine Dupuis, Marius Radu (Areopagus), in which the characteristics of the Christian lobby were discussed, due to the fact that this is, maybe, the most important method to make Christian principles be known to the European political scene; the second group was led by pastor and former deputy Peter Dugulescu, deputy Peter Andea, professor Vasile Boari and professor Daniel Barbu; this group analyzed the politician through an ethical and personal integrity perspective. Mr. Ion Zubascu, Mr. Liviu Petrina and Mr. Ioan Panican closed the day with a discussion about politics and civil society.

Within the second day of conference, Mr. Indrei Ratiu offered to the participants a detailed description of his famous father’s life, Ion Ratiu (who he called “the Romanian Groen van Prinsteren”), as a model of Christian politician;

After all the debates, discussions and workshops, it was time to get more in detail about “the Rasnov Initiative.” Leo van Doesburg presented the vision behind this Initiative by using the example of Nehemia that everyone is called to build his part of the wall of the destroyed walls of Jerusalem i.e. that everyone should discover and use his talents on his place in the society. This was followed by the history of “Rasnov Initiative”, presented to the auditory by Cristi Soimaru and Marius Radu.

Based on all the smaller group discussions that followed, the “Rasnov Initiative”, providing the principles that greatly contributed to the development of the entire conference, is desired to be a first step in Christian mobilization. A mobilization towards the fight for God, a battle also sustained by the Vice Prime-Minister of the Netherlands, Mr. Andre Rouvoet, through his message for the conference participants: “Warm greetings from the Netherlands! I want to encourage you in all of your Christian actions. Christian values are sacred and can influence the faith of all European states. I wish you two days in Christian union and faith!”

The actions for involving the Christians in the politic life will not end here. This conference was only the first step in a long and important battle. It is a battle belonging to us all, a fight started by actions like this one, continued by putting the Biblical words into practice in order to extend the Kingdom of God and His Will also within the Romanian political scene!

The conference was also covered by the Romanian media. Click here to read more!