Priest celebrates funeral after crucifying nun

A ROMANIAN Orthodox priest, facing charges for ordering the crucifixion of a young nun because she was “possessed by the devil”, was unrepentant as he celebrated a funeral ceremony for his alleged victim on Saturday.

“God has performed a miracle for her, finally Irina is delivered from evil,” Father Daniel, 29, the superior of the Holy Trinity monastery in north-eastern Romania, told a reporter before celebrating a short liturgy “for the soul of the deceased“, in the presence of 13 nuns who showed no visible emotion.

He insisted that from the religious point of view the crucifixion of Maricica Irina Cornici, 23, was “entirely justified”, but admitted he faced excommunication as well as prosecution.

Prosecutors said they had charged the priest and four nuns with imprisonment leading to death, while religious authorities said he would be barred from celebrating liturgy until the investigation was completed. The monastery will be shut if they are found guilty, Father Daniel’s superiors said.

As her coffin entered the church of the monastery on Saturday, no church bells were sounded while nuns cast distrustful glances at the strangers, including two reporters present at the ceremony.

Fr Daniel has lived for the past four years in the isolated monastery located in the hills of one of the poorest regions of Romania, without running water or electricity.

“I don’t understand why journalists are making such a fuss about this. Exorcism is a common practice in the heart of the Romanian Orthodox church,” he said.

Sociologist Alred Bulai said that corporal punishment was still commonly used in certain Romanian monasteries.

“It’s happening particularly in the isolated monasteries, where the superiors have difficulty understanding the current realities and adapting themselves to modern life,” Bulai said.

It was not clear why Father Daniel believed the nun was possessed. One parishioner, Dora, said the nun “had to be punished, she had an argument with the Father during a Sunday mass and insulted him in front of the congregation”.

Cornici had recently been treated for “schizophrenia” at the local hospital, but the chief of the local child welfare office, Ionel Bratianu, said the nun was “in good health and did not suffer from any psychiatric trouble.”

Since the fall of the communist regime in December 1989, the Orthodox Church, which represents 85% of Romania’s 22 million inhabitants, is rated in many opinion polls as the most trusted institution in the country.

Vitalie Danciu, the superior of a nearby monastery at Golia, called the crucifixion “inexcusable”, but a spokesperson for the Orthodox patriarchate in Bucharest refused to condemn it.

“I don’t know what this young woman did,” Bogdan Teleanu said.