Iustin Frățiman
Iustin Frățiman | |
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ethography, history of Ukraine, church history |
Iustin Ștefan Frățiman, also known as Frațman, Froțman, or Frățimanu (Russian: Иустин Степанович Фрацман, romanized: Yustin Stepanovich Fratsman, or Фрациман, Fratsiman; June 1, 1870 – September 23, 1927), was a historian, educator, librarian and political figure from Bessarabia, active in the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Romania. After receiving a classical education, he worked for various seminaries of the Russian Orthodox Church, moving as far north as Olonets. Frățiman had settled in Soroca by the time of World War I, becoming a champion of Romanian nationalism. This resulted in his being exiled to Central Asia until 1917. Allowed back home after the liberal February Revolution, he resumed his activism, openly campaigning for the national rights of Romanians east of Bessarabia. He was afterwards one of the educators tasked with institutional Romanianization by the Moldavian Democratic Republic.
Frățiman welcomed the union of Bessarabia with Romania in 1918, being an outspoken in his adversity toward Bolshevik Russia; in parallel, he supported autonomy for the Chișinău Archbishopric within the Romanian Orthodox Church. Though elected a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy, he was at odds with the new cultural establishment, especially after a controversial stint as head of Bessarabia's Central Library. Frățiman was not considered for a position at Iași University, and spent his final years lecturing at regional teachers' colleges, before dying in poverty. His final political involvement was with the League of Christian Bessarabians, a far-right group.
Biography
In the Russian Empire
The Frățimans originated in Western Moldavia, but were known to have settled in the Bessarabian area around the time of its Russian annexation in 1812.[1] Their descendant A. L. Aizenshtadt suggests that the family was of unclear ethnic origins, noting that their surname is of Moldavian dialectal origin, from frați ("brothers").[2] As early as 1812, a Teodor Frățiman was attested as a parish priest of the Moldavian Orthodox Church in Cuhureștii de Jos (Nizshie Kugureshty).[3] His male descendants were also primarily employed as clergymen or catechists for the Russian Orthodox Church. Some biographical records suggest that Iustin's father was schoolteacher Paul Frățiman, who was fluent in Greek and Church Slavonic;[4] others suggest that Iustin was one of seven children (five sons and two daughters) born to the priest Ștefan Frățiman and his wife Irina (née Tuchkovska).[5] A cousin, Petru Frățiman (born 1859 or 1859), was already politically active in 1879, joining Axentie Frunză's circle of left-wing radical youths.[6]
Iustin was born in Cuhureștii de Jos on June 1, 1870—the village was administered at the time by the Russian Empire, within the
In 1914–1915, Frățiman had returned to Bessarabia and was employed by the Normal School in Soroca.[14] His training allowed him to teach religion, French language, and world history; his brother Petru had similar interests and, in 1904, helped establish the Bessarabian Historical and Archeological Society.[15] Highly educated for a Bessarabian of that era, Frățiman also obtained a diploma from the Imperial Institute of Archeology,[8] being inducted as a full member in 1907.[16] His career was interrupted when he began campaigning for the Romanian Latin alphabet[17] and drew suspicion as a "Romanianphile".[18] According to historian Paul Vataman, Frățiman was also punished for his personal stash of banned books, in various languages.[8] In summer 1916, Russian officials had him detained at the penitentiary of Soroca, and subsequently deported to Central Asia, in Turgay Oblast;[18][19] some authors suggest that he was also held in Siberia.[20]
Frățiman was still absent from Bessarabia during the
Romanian career
Returning to Bessarabia that July, Frățiman joined a corpus of teacher tasked with Romanianizing Bessarabian schools, which included the adoption of Latin spellings; he also taught the history of Romania.[26] In October, he applied for a position at his alma mater, the Theological Seminary, affirming his intention to teach all his classes in Romanian. Frățiman failed the examination, with preference being given to the more experienced George Tofan and Liviu Marian.[27] Still pursuing an interest in the study of local history and ethnology, he helped establish in early 1918 a Historical and Literary Society (named after Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu), and was admitted into the Romanian Academy of Bucharest.[28] From January 1918, Frățiman was a member of the School Board in the Moldavian Democratic Republic, which had been created as a self-governing entity from the old Bessarabia Governorate.[29]
In February, Frățiman participated in the opening ceremony of Chișinău People University, and gave a speech outlining his critique of Bolshevik Russia. It described various instances of Rumcherod soldiers engaging in vandalism throughout Bessarabia.[30] The following month, the republican assembly, Sfatul Țării, gave its endorsement to the Romanian–Bessarabian unification process. In June, he traveled to Iași as a delegate of Chișinău Archbishopric, negotiating the return of Bessarabian parishes under the authority of the Moldavian Metropolis within the enlarged Romanian Orthodox Church. Frățiman and his colleagues attempted to preserve some administrative rights for their regional church, but were instantly rebuked by Metropolitan Pimen, who asked that they submit to the Romanian state in all matters, including religious.[31]
During
As noted by fellow historian Nicolae Iorga, Frățiman's academic work comprised studies "of small proportions", but showed his "deep familiarity with sources dealing on the life of his own people, on either side of the Dniester."[37] In 1921, Hasdeu Society published Frățiman's monograph regarding church and secular administration among the Romanians of Novorossiya—specifically, in areas now known as "Transnistria". It provided an overview of Romanian localities which, Frățiman argued, existed already in the 1760s under Ottoman Ukraine, and were only reinforced by a "New Moldavian" colonization under Grigory Potemkin.[38] Frățiman's final activities included his teaching position at Chișinău People's University, in which capacity he also replaced Teodor Porucic as head of Chișinău Central Library (1921–1923). Historian Nina Negru notes that his mandate was not renewed because Frățiman "did not play the games of politics", causing him great distress.[8] Scholar Maria Vieru-Ișaev provides a different interpretation, namely that Frățiman was a "nonconformist", who proved himself "difficult" in his relations with the state bureaucracy. Although demoted in 1922, he refused to turn in the library's inventory until February 1923.[39]
Frățiman subsequently withdrew to a life of poverty.
Notes
- ^ Prohin, p. 456
- ^ Aizenshtadt, p. 21
- ^ Prohin, p. 456
- ^ Prohin, p. 456
- ^ Aizenshtadt, pp. 20–21
- ^ Aizenshtadt, pp. 20–21
- ^ Sorokin, p. 172
- ^ a b c d e (in Romanian) Nina Negru, "Biblioteca Centrală din Chișinău în căutarea identității", in Magazin Bibliologic, Issue 1/2003, p. 87
- ^ Prohin, pp. 454, 455–456
- ^ Sorokin, p. 172
- ^ Ștefan Ciobanu, Cultura românească în Basarabia sub stăpânirea rusă, pp. 323–324. Chișinău: Editura Asociației Uniunea Culturală Bisericească, 1923
- ^ Sorokin, pp. 147–148, 152, 172
- ^ Sorokin, pp. 152, 172. See also Aizenshtadt, pp. 19, 21
- ^ Aizenshtadt, p. 20
- ^ Prohin, pp. 454, 456
- ^ Sorokin, p. 172
- ^ Prohin, p. 454
- ^ ISBN 978-9975-4387-3-5
- ^ Aizenshtadt, p. 20
- ^ Prohin, p. 454
- ^ Prohin, p. 454
- OCLC 10132102
- ^ Rotaru, pp. 110–111, 287–288
- ^ Rotaru, pp. 287, 359
- ^ Onisifor Ghibu, "Documentele continuității. În vîltoarea revoluției rusești (XXII)", in Vatra, Vol. XXIII, Issue 5, May 1993, p. 10
- ^ Poștarencu, pp. 67–68
- ^ Poștarencu, p. 69
- ^ Prohin, pp. 454, 456. See also Cornea, p. 215
- ^ Poștarencu, p. 70
- ^ Eugenia Danu, "Aspecte din activitatea Societății de iluminare culturală Făclia", in Revista de Istorie a Moldovei, Issue 1/2013, p. 18
- ^ Vasile Secrieru, "Aspecte privind integrarea Bisericii din Basarabia în Biserica Română după Unirea din 1918", in Anuarul Catedrei Discipline Socioumanistice, 2007–2008, p. 40
- ISBN 978-9975-51-070-7
- ^ Prohin, p. 456
- ^ Cornea, p. 213
- ^ Prohin, pp. 454, 455
- ISBN 978-9975-0-0338-4
- ^ Iorga, pp. 81–82
- ^ Rotaru, pp. 189–191
- ^ Maria Vieru-Ișaev, "Ion Zaborovschi. Un bucureștean în slujba cărții românești din Basarabia (I)", in Biblioteca Bucureștilor, Issue 5/2006, pp. 32–33
- ^ Mihail Iliev, "'Astra'. Regionala Basarabiei (1924–1935) (II)", in Transilvania, Issue 10/2013, p. 84
- ^ Prohin, pp. 455, 457. See also Iorga, p. 81
- ^ Prohin, p. 455
- ^ Prohin, passim
- ^ Prohin, p. 457
References
- A. L. Aizenshtadt, "Мои предки на службе Православной церкви", in Гомельщина: вехи истории. Материалы регионального научно-исторического семинара, pp. 19–24. Gomel: BelGUT, 2019. ISBN 978-985-554-803-5
- Luminița Cornea, "'Urmele' Basarabiei in viața și activitatea lui Romulus Cioflec", in Angvstia. Istorie, Vol. 11, 2007, pp. 211–224.
- Nicolae Iorga, "Cronică", in Revista Istorică, Vol. XIV, Issues 1–3, January–March 1928, pp. 74–96.
- Dinu Poștarencu, "Aportul lui George Tofan la naționalizarea învățământului din Basarabia", in Analele Bucovinei, Vol. XXIII, Issue 1, 2016, pp. 65–78.
- Andrei Prohin, "O conferință consacrată lui Iustin Frățiman", in Limba Română, Issue 6/2020, pp. 454–458.
- Florin Rotaru, Românitatea transnistreană. Antologie. Bucharest: Editura Semne, 1996.
- Vladimir Sorokin, "Митрополит Ленинградский и Новгородский Григорий (Чуков) и его церковно-просветительская деятельность", in Bogoslovskie Trudy, Vol. 29, 1989, pp. 127–181.