By DPA
Bucharest : Two archbishops in Romania’s Orthodox Church have been exposed as spies for the former communist intelligence service Securitate, the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives (CNSAS) said Tuesday.
The archbishops were named as Pimen von Suceava in northeast Romania and Andrei Andreicut in Alba Iulia.
Pimen co-operated with both Securitate and the Romanian foreign news service (DIE) under different pseudonyms, CNSAS said. In Andreicut’s case, the authorities rejected his appeal of an earlier verdict on his co-operation with Securitate.
CNSAS is currently investigating six other senior Orthodox Church clergy members.
The Romanian Orthodox Church has repeatedly complained about CNSAS’ investigations into Securitate files on its priests, saying it would prefer to come to terms with its communist past itself.
So far, few senior clergymen have admitted voluntarily co-operating with Securitate, including the Metropolitan of Timisoara, Nicolae Corneanu.