Ioan Bălan

Who was Ioan Bălan?

Ioan Bălan was a Romanian bishop of the Greek-Catholic Church. Born in Teiuş, Alba County, he studied theology in Budapest and was ordained a priest in 1903. He continued his studies in Vienna, moved to Blaj and then in 1909 to Bucharest, where a Greek-Catholic confessor was needed. In 1919 he returned to Blaj, becoming canon and in 1921 rector of the theological academy. In 1936, after Alexandru Nicolescu became Metropolitan of Făgăraş and Alba Iulia, he was consecrated Bishop of Lugoj. In 1948, the new Communist regime outlawed his church and he was arrested in October after refusing to convert to Romanian Orthodoxy. He was taken first to Dragoslavele Monastery, then to Căldăruşani Monastery in early 1949 and to Sighet prison in mid-1950. In 1955, he was forced to live at Curtea de Argeș Monastery. The following year he was taken to Samurcăşeşti Monastery, a nunnery in Ciorogârla. He remained there in isolation until he became gravely ill and was taken to a Bucharest hospital, where he died. He was buried at the Bellu Catholic cemetery. Bălan was never tried or sentenced.