Despre ordine ritualică și religioasă în Bucovina la sfârșitul secolului al XIX-lea și începutul secolului al XX-lea

The study presents some of the components of the ritual order in Bukovina as part of the imperial order established in the province by the Habsburgs through the Orthodox Church of Bukovina. The author details several constituent elements of the ritual and religious order as presented in the “Apology of the Greek-Oriental Orthodox Church of Bukovina” by Metropolitan Silvestru Morariu-Andrievici, from 1885. These were affected by political and religious developments as a result of the identity assertions of the ethnicities in Bukovina, primarily Romanians, Ukrainians, Germans, and Jews. In this context, Metropolitan Silvestru Morariu-Andrievici emerged as a religious and political leader concerned with maintaining the religious order and the political status quo in the province, gathering prominent representatives of Bukovinaʼs elites around him. He used various means to preserve the unified character of the diocese and sought to persuade the imperial representatives in the province to convene the church congress. To this end, Metropolitan Silvestru utilized symbolic moments from the life of the diocese and Bukovina to defend the historical rights of Bukovinaʼs Romanians.