Editing Inochentism (section)

===Romanian state repression===
During mid 1930, the surviving branches were investigated by the authorities, who took with them field reporters from ''[[Dimineața]]'' daily. The resulting reports were compiled and analyzed by Romanian scholar and [[Racialism (racial categorization)|racialist]] [[Henric Sanielevici]], who focused on their allegations about the Inochentists' sexual promiscuity.<ref>Sanielevici, p. 90, 100–115.</ref> At the time, the congregations had resorted to holding mass in Bessarabia's caves, forests and [[catacombs]]; from 1928, the church was presided upon by the 35-year-old Neculai Barbă Roșie ("Red Beard"), formerly a [[Jandarmeria Română|Gendarme]] in [[Cetatea Albă County]], and two "[[eunuch]]s" (Ion Antiminiuc, Ivan Strugarin).<ref name="hs101-105"/>

Successive Romanian governments continued to issue anti-sectarian directives targeting the church. One such act, passed in 1937 by the [[Gheorghe Tătărescu]] cabinet, prohibited the activities of Inochentists, whom it grouped together with the [[Old Calendar Romanian Orthodox Church|Old Calendar Orthodox]], the [[Pentecostal Union of Romania|Pentecostals]], the [[Apostolic Christian Church (Nazarene)|Nazarenes]], the [[Apostolic Faith Church of God]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses Association of Romania|Jehovah's Witnesses]] and [[Bible society|Bible societies]].<ref>{{in lang|ro}} [http://documente.bcucluj.ro/web/bibdigit/periodice/vestitorul/1937/BCUCLUJ_FP_279921_1937_013_017_018.pdf "Interzicerea sectelor și asociațiilor religioase"], in ''Vestitorul'', Nr. 17–18/1937, p. 165 (digitized by the [[Babeș-Bolyai University]] [http://documente.bcucluj.ro/ Transsylvanica Online Library]).</ref> Official Christian propaganda warned Romanians to shun the dissident preachers, who lacked "the godly gift of preaching God's law", be they Inochentists, "[[Evangelical Church of Romania|Tudorites]]" or [[Romanian Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists|Adventists]].<ref>Pr. P. M., "Pilda talanților", in ''Grănicerul. Publicație Lunară pentru Educația Ostașului Grănicer'', March 1935, p. 37.</ref> Interest in the activities of Inochenție's followers was kept alive by Romanian writer [[Sabin Velican]], in his 1939 novel ''Pământ nou'' ("New Land"); it fictionalizes the movement's alleged sexual practices.<ref>[[George Călinescu]], ''Istoria literaturii române de la origini până în prezent'', [[Editura Minerva]], Bucharest, 1986, p. 928, 1027.</ref>

Bessarabia's Inochentists fared badly during World War II. In 1941, the region changed hands between a [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia|Soviet administration]] and [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]]-allied Romania. The region's recovery through Romania's participation in [[Operation Barbarossa]] was welcomed by Romanian intellectuals. In a special issue of the official literary magazine, ''[[Revista Fundațiilor Regale]]'', Orthodox theologian [[Gala Galaction]] paid tribute to "the Balta movement" as a Romanian mystical phenomenon, placing in doubt allegations made about the Inochentists' heretical stances.<ref>[[Gala Galaction]], "Mănăstiri basarabene", in ''[[Revista Fundațiilor Regale]]'', Nr. 8–9/1941, p. 369.</ref>

However, in summer 1942, Romanian dictator [[Ion Antonescu]] gave the order that virtually all [[conscientious objector]]s belonging to the Inochentist church to be deported to the concentration camps in [[Transnistria (World War II)|Transnistria]], together with the [[Bessarabian Jews]] and [[Roma minority in Romania|nomadic Roma]].<ref>Deletant, p. 187; Ioanid, pp. 198–199, 293; [[Michael Mann (sociologist)|Michael Mann]], ''The Dark Side of Democracy. Explaining Ethnic Cleansing'', [[Cambridge University Press]], Cambridge etc., 2006, pp. 305, 316. {{ISBN|978-0-521-53854-1}}</ref> During the Antonescu years, Romanian Orthodox Church authorities also received help for setting up a special mission to Transnistria, which was designed to target local Inochentist and [[Baptists|Baptist]] communities.<ref>Paul A. Shapiro, "Faith, Murder, Resurrection. The Iron Guard and the Romanian Orthodox Church", in Kevin P. Spicer, ''Antisemitism, Christian Ambivalence, and the Holocaust'', [[Indiana University Press]], Bloomington, 2007, p. 159. {{ISBN|0-253-34873-0}}</ref> Some Baptists and Jehovah's Witnesses, taken together with the Inochentists, were deported from other areas to internment sites in Transnistria.<ref>Ioanid, pp. 198–199, 293.</ref> At his 1946 trial, Antonescu acknowledged some of these measures: "Many Romanians, unfortunately, joined these sects in order to escape the war [...]. What was the spiritual basis of these sects? To avoid taking up arms and fighting. So when we called them up, they refused to lay their hands on a weapon. There was a general revolt, and so I brought in a law introducing the [[Capital punishment in Romania|death penalty]]. I did not apply it. And I succeeded in getting rid of these sects. The more recalcitrant ones I seized and deported."<ref>Deletant, p. 73.</ref>