The Palace of the Parliament is a prime example of the excessive luxury that characterized Romania’s Communist leader Nicolae Ceauşescu at a time when most Romanian citizens were living in poverty and squalor. Built as Ceauşescu’s personal residence and center of the country’s government, the Palace features 1,100 rooms, rises 12 stories tall with 8 more underground levels, and has a floor space of 3.7 million square feet. It is considered to be the world’s heaviest building, largest civilian building, and most expensive administrative building. Its construction from 1983-89 required the demolition of Bucharest’s historic district, including 19 Orthodox Christian churches, 6 Jewish synagogues, 3 Protestant churches, and 30,000 residences. It is said that 20,000 workers were made to slave 24-hour days, 7 days per week, in order to keep the pace set by Romania’s leader.

PALACE OF PARLIAMENT

Our Romania Mission teams are introduced to recent Romanian history by touring the Palace of Parliament when they first arrive in the country.  After an hour of touring the massive structure, walking through grand ballrooms, receiving halls, and government offices, the JE students were told that they had visited only 3% of the entire building! Despite the beauty of the building, touring the Palace is a stark reminder of the way that Romanians were displaced and mistreated in order to complete the project. The Palace of the Parliament serves as a blatant reminder of the dangers of “building your house on sand” the way that Ceauşescu did throughout his brutal and oppressive regime.

SHOWING CHRIST’S LOVE TO SCHOOL CHILDREN

Not far from this historic setting, a few hours away on the border of the beautiful Transylvania region, our JE student group exemplified a far greater way to live as they spent time with Romanian elementary school students and shared the love of Christ through personal interaction. Through a Bible lesson and creative crafts, the JE students modeled the ministry of Jesus by teaching and loving every child. The use of arts and crafts may seem typical in the U.S., but in Romania, these types of educational tools are still seen as luxuries, and most rural school children never get the opportunity to have “craft time”.  The time spent with these children is a reminder that, although Romania is most recently known for the strength of one man who ruled with fear, it is Romania’s future that shows its true strength; the power of Christ’s Love bringing true freedom.

The words of Isaiah 41:10 became the theme for the children that week, and it is a reminder to us all. God the Father has said to us, “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (NIV)