Anne

Romanian priest unrepentant after crucifixion of nun

TANACU, Romania (AFP) - 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.

"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 an AFP 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, and was seeking a "good
lawyer."

Prosecutors said Saturday 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.

Cornici was found dead on Wednesday, gagged and chained to a cross,
after fellow nuns called an ambulance, according to police.

Mihaela Straub, spokeswoman for the police in the province of Vaslui,
said Daniel and four other nuns had claimed Cornici was possessed and
should be exorcised.

Before being crucified she had been kept shut up for several days, her
hands and feet tied and without food or drink, he said.

Cornici had entered the monastery just three months before, after
visiting a friend who was a nun there, police said.

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

Claps of thunder from an approaching storm were sometimes the only
sounds to break the silence.

"This storm is proof that the will of God has been done," Daniel said.

"You see it?" said the priest, gesturing at the body, lying in an
annex and still showing the marks of the gag.

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.

"Over there, in your world, the people must know that the devil
exists. Personally I can find his work in the gestures and speech of
possessed people, because man is often weak and lets himself be easily
manipulated by the forces of evil," said the bearded young priest.

"I don't understand why journalists are making such a fuss about this.
Exorcism is a common practise in the heart of the Romanian Orthodox
church and my methods are not at all unknown to other priests," 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
parishoner, 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."

Mediafax news agency reported Saturday that the 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."

Cornici was raised in an orphanage until the age of 19, when she
traveled to Germany to work as a nanny for a family of German doctors.
After in-depth psychological and psychiatric tests, the German embassy
had declared her apt to take care of children, said Bratianu.

Since the fall of the communist regime in December 1989, the Orthodox
Church, which represents 85 percent 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 spokesman for the Orthodox
patriarchate in Bucharest REFUSED TO CONDEMN IT.

"I don't know what this young woman did," Bogdan Teleanu said.