ENGLISH

It is impossible to read the first manuscript of the Romanians preserved to this day, a true political manifesto of the Romanians’ national independence from the Late Middle Ages, without being overwhelmed by emotions. In front of our eyes is revealed a manuscript drafted in an unprecedented gesture, an exceptional act, the emanation of a visionary bishop who anticipated the history of Romania at least for the next half millennium. A providential personality, Gherasie had the strength to respect the infatuation and brutal interference of a foreign voivode, full of arrogance, apostrophizing with dignity the despot of Transylvania and, implicitly, the Kingdom of Hungary, requesting to renounce facts and actions contrary to the interests of the Romanian church, which finally became hostile, even fatal, to the Kingdom of Hungary. The significance of the encyclical, the emanation of a legendary Romanian, resides in its recipient: Ioan Zapolia, a royal descendant, who soon becomes the king but also the gravedigger to the Kingdom of Hungary. The Voivode of the Romanians held a supreme political-military position, from the seat of which he disregarded the dignity of the representatives of the Romanian Orthodox Church by treading with the lumpy boots of a soldier, a solemn promise, assumed only 57 years ago by his predecessor, King Ladislaus. He ignores a legal obligation, the weight of which resides in the very place where the Bull of Ladislaus was published: Vienna, the capital of the empire, the document being drawn up festively on a day of great celebration for Christianity, August 29 in 1457, the day that commemorates the beheading of Saint John the Baptist.

A Memento mori which any Romanian dignitary must take into account.

The moral valences of the Romanians contained in the Bull of Ladislaus anticipated the values that would be ascertained after almost 600 years by two of the biggest „emperors” of the world, who ruled about 1.5 billion Christians: Sovereign Pontiffs Pope John Paul II (consecrated posthumously), who in 1999 declared Romania the Garden of the mother of God, and later Pope Francis I, who reconfirmed in 2019, in Sibiu, this truth known for thousands of years. Because the admiration of these lands was praised and confirmed almost 2500 years ago, by the ancient philosopher Demosthenes (b. 384 BC), who noted: „The amount of wheat brought from Pontus is greater than all that comes to Athens from the other commercial ports”. This has not changed over the millennia, Romania remaining to this day the granary of Europe, ranking first in wheat and sunflower exports to EU countries, as confirmed by the data published by the European Commission, transmitted through the platform of S&P Global Platts information in September 2019. Romania officially became the most important exporter of wheat in the EU bloc (compared to 29 countries), with deliveries of 1.4 million tons of wheat between July 1 and September 2 in 2019, while France, the biggest agricultural power in the EU, which expected to export 41% of the total wheat surplus of the European Union in the period 2019/2020, lagged behind Romania (total wheat exports of France standing at 765,260 tons in the reference period, about 50 % compared to Romania’s wheat exports. With a population almost four times larger, that is!) Paraphrasing one of the great state presidents that the young Republic of Croatia has had in the last 30 years, Stipe Mesici, in the mid-90s of the last century, the first dignitary of such rank to visit the town of Clocotici – the author’s native village – and the future head of the Consulate of the Republic of Croatia in Romania, we could add: „If Romania did not exist, it would have to be invented, because it is economically and geopolitically inextricably linked to the existence of Europe”. Undoubtedly, Romania is the Garden of the mother of God! The manuscripts in our archive also prove it: Signature: 1395/1755, p. 66, 67. In 1699, the Romanian Banat is „invaded” by almost half a million Serbs, who arrived here in search of a better life; they are followed by the Hungarians, who fled from the Kingdom of Hungary in impressive numbers (Signature: 1519/03.04. 1668). The Germans, the Poles, the Russians, and other nationalities who today are part of Romania’s 18 ethnic groups also came here. It is in our power to tend the Garden of the mother of God, uprooting the weeds that have grown on the fertile soil of the land and smothering a blessed place.

The titration of slogans about Romania’s acceptance into European structures and access to the so-called elitist clubs represents the greatest ineptitude, used predilection by cohorts of Romanians employed by the dozen in the local press, enslaved through advertising contracts to foreigners corrupt to the core who invaded the country economically. It must be said out loud that Romania does not need Europe, but exactly the opposite; the place, role and contribution of Romanians in the European context has been proven for millennia, „black on white”. These truths must be supported at the educational level, the purpose for which this work on the written history of the Romanian people could have an essential role – if it is read and promoted through the didactic system in the country. It is an additional reason why reading between the lines is required, and sometimes even more important than the free reading of the text. The advantage of capitalizing on a work with the original documents at hand is, in our opinion, a major one. On the one hand, the originals – facing the danger of physical contamination of the researcher (often minimized effect) – offered a special work incentive, reminding us that we have before us a narrative that contains real events, that happened in times long gone and forgotten. On the other hand, they stimulate the development of complex analyses, in the style of a profiler bent over the object of research, without losing sight of any detail. Working in a medieval library equipped with thousands of originals, written over centuries, even millennia, the author of this work had a special productive inspiration, complemented by native luck – the advantage of his own family history. Born in places full of millennial traditions, emblematic of the written culture of the Romanians, with sources available just in time, in the middle of a multitude of artifacts, the author was motivated by their scientific exploitation. The most important thing was the direct analysis of the artifacts in the quiet of summer evenings in the country, sometimes complemented by the classical music of the piano in the drawing room, which allowed sublime interventions on this book, without the disturbing city environment. The way in which the text of a manuscript was written, the analysis of the quivering lines inside the lexemes, the presence of specific features in the signature, the artistic tenderness and talent in the elaboration of the initials, the study of ex libris, the presence or absence of the watermark or countermark, the presence of indications of hidden writings, how to secure, package and store manuscripts, imprint reminiscences, etc. – all this created favorable working conditions for exceptional examinations and evaluations.

The manuscripts were valued and ordered electronically (otherwise chaos would have set in imminently), then placed on the author’s huge work desk, having permanent visual contact with the works on stand by. They constantly created a feeling of joy, a sui-generis that practically captivated the researcher and the „hooked-up” author.

We are also convinced that existence of other methods of assessment exist, but we will use here, with a view to a comparative analysis, a lost photograph in the BIRTA Archive, placed together with the parchment of a death sentence for a feudal bandit in a place with a multitude of artifacts impossible to evaluate in one human life. The photograph, unknown and unpublished until today, immortalized one of the greatest criminals of humanity – Adolf Hitler (see photo). The character we are talking about here, dressed to the nines, is seated in front of a desk on which there is no shortage of writing utensils – pencils, pens, inkwells, and markers. But on the Führer’s massive oak desk, equipped with a thick top of approx. 120 mm, no sheet of paper is found, an indication that proves beyond a doubt that he was not very good at writing, as can be seen from the years of his youth, when Adolf Hitler, poor and excluded from society, tried, without a dram of talent, to establish himself as a painter. Analyzing the room and its occupant, we get the image of a character with an icy stare that makes you shudder, and you don’t want to be near, even when you don’t know his bloody politico-military rise. The unread newspaper, thrown unopened in the corner of the table, a flower vase with messy buds, indicative for his whole life, are characteristic of the evil profile of this sinister character. A fallen leaf in a glass bowl, far from what can be called a flower vase, remains hanging, a sign that the plants haved not been cared for and watered for days or weeks. The bad taste of this human monster – the lack of aesthetic sense – also emerges from the placement of the same plants on an adjacent council table, inserted in another bowl, also made of white ceramic.

The organization of a photo session for advertising purposes, intended to imitate a cultured and respected personality, failed for multiple reasons, on which it is not necessary to insist. Under these auspices, it is not by chance that one of his best collaborators, Joseph Goebbels (Minister of Propaganda), was credited with the macabre phrase: „When I hear about culture, I want to pull out my gun!”.

The Romanians would have said: „Those who are alike gather together!” It is an additional reason why the six evil men – Ioan Zapolia, Adolf Hitler, Ioan Robu, Emanuel Babici, Nicolae Noica and the insignificant Ioan-Aurel Pop, who have become so big in a country invaded by academic plagiarists, are put together. Because, even if they could be forgiven, they must not be forgotten. In this context, we must not be deceived by the robe of the Securist-bishop Ioan Robu, nor by the false piety of Ioan-Aurel Pop, both mimicking a false piety, but be careful not to improve their barren image, preoccupied with polishing through photoshop cameras.

Axis of evil photos – Zapolia-Hitler-Robu-Pop-Noica-Babici contain multiple information, hidden from view in our computer age. They can provide us with new, exceptional elements, especially when the monsters, through their deeds, gather together over the ages. For a correct and viable evaluation, introspection is needed, the contemplation of images from different angles.

Research with a curious, invasive, even incisive eye can yield more information than an entire library.

He who has eyes to see, let him see. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

Because the axiom: „Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23, 34) does not find its application in their case.