The “Lord’s Army” Movement in the Romanian Orthodox Church
The Lord’s Army wasfounded in 1923 by a Romanian Orthodox priest from Transyl” vania, Iosif Trifa. Essentially a moral renewal movement, aimed at. countering the strong influence of the evangelical movements, the Lord’s Army developed into a lay-initiative mission movement within Orthodoxy.
In its ,heyday in the mid-thirties and forties, millions of Romanian Orthodox, including priests and religious, took part in its actlvities of evangelization, printing and open air meetings. In 1935 the movement rejected attempts by the hierarchy to curb the lay role in leadership. Fr Trifa was defrocked and the movement continued independent of the Church, though its members continued to be part of the Romanian Orthodox Church.