Unorthodox Behavior As Worshippers Brawl

An Orthodox archbishop handed over an ancient cathedral to Eastern Rite Catholics Friday just hours after hundreds of followers of the two faiths brawled, disrupting a Lenten service and toppling the communion table.

The combatants traded punches and yelled slurs at each other during the heated dispute early Friday over ownership of the 16th century Transylvanian cathedral.

No serious injuries were reported.

The two groups have a history of discord: Many Orthodox see themselves as the national church and question Eastern Rite Catholics’ patriotism. Many Eastern Rite Catholics, on the other hand, assail the Orthodox priests for their alleged collaboration with the old communist regime.

The two faiths disagree over the ownership of some 200 churches - most of which are in Transylvania.

But Friday’s incident was the most serious showdown between the rival groups since religion was liberalized after the 1989 collapse of Communism in Romania.

The Supreme Court in Bucharest last month ruled that the cathedral, some 200 miles northwest of the capital, belonged to Eastern Rite Catholics.

But when Eastern Rite Catholics came to reclaim the church Friday, Orthodox followers created a human barricade inside the Baroque and Gothic cathedral in downtown Cluj.

The Eastern Rite Catholics, banned by the communists in 1948 and re-legalized nine years ago, walked around the barricade and began a Lenten service.

Orthodox followers hissed and booed, then both sides pushed and shoved the other. Fists flew and the altar, which served as the communion table, was overturned. A handful of people suffered black eyes.