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“May God protect us from the crown” is a documentary made by the television channel Arte about what happened in Romania during the pandemic. Foreign journalists wanted to see how the new coronavirus is fought in a religious country. Carla Tănasie, a journalist from Digi24, is present in this film -which will also be broadcast on Digi24-, the documentary based on the reports she made during the “Patient in Romania” campaign. Art journalists found in the half-hour documentary that many Romanians believe that God protects us from anything. “It is important to believe, to pray, but unfortunately it does not protect us from the coronavirus”, that was the idea of this documentary, says Carla Tănasie.
We invite you to see below an excerpt from this report, which you can see in its entirety on Digi24 on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
Hundreds of people huddled together. Religious pilgrimages are something that many believers in Orthodox Romania cannot miss.
– Our faith is much more important than the laws of the land. We don’t trust them, we just trust our faith.
Almost half of Romanians, according to polls, do not take the virus seriously. This is what Carla Tănasie wants to change. The journalist constantly reports on how Romanian hospitals, which are chronically underfunded, are fighting the coronavirus.
– Doctors worry that we end up having to decide who lives and who does not. And Mary stubbornly clings to the old religious rituals.
A change of mind is not easy to achieve in one of the most religious countries in Europe.
“There is no disease where God is.” There is only health, beauty and love.
7 in the morning, in Romanești. Maria Uțica and other believers from her village gathered to go on a pilgrimage. There are 14 pilgrims. They rented a bus with a driver. The trip costs 12 euros per person. There is a lot of money for Romanians who live in the province. Maria has been organizing pilgrimages for many years. The 65-year-old believer is retired. Her husband died a long time ago.
– Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross and today we honor the cross. We are faithful and convinced practitioners. This is our tradition. We celebrate all parties.
Romania is considered one of the most religious countries in Europe. 95 percent of Romanians declare themselves faithful. Orthodox rituals are frequently present in everyday life, but due to the virus they have been drastically restricted.
– We had a hiatus of a few months in which we were not allowed to travel anywhere. The churches were closed. Now, many no longer have money to pay for our pilgrimages.
“Every time we came healthier from where we went”
After three hours of walking we arrived at the Caraiman monastery. Maria’s group of pilgrims wants to attend the service here. More recently, only entry with a mask is allowed. The service has already started. The monastery is one of the most beloved pilgrimage sites. Almost every week, Mary plans her trips to such sacred places, often far from her village.
– We like it and we want to do it. We want to know the work of God. What is more beautiful than finding God and serving him? Know that every time we come out healthier from where we went.
The Ascension of the Holy Cross is not only celebrated in the Caraiman monastery. And 400 kilometers to the northeast, the people gathered at the so-called Via Crucis. Here the day is traditionally celebrated to mark the passions of Jesus Christ. Hundreds of pilgrims walk the one kilometer road that leads to Hadâmbu monastery. Vasile also participates in this trip.
Vasile Jigolea is retired and has participated in this pilgrimage for 20 years. His cousin Elena often accompanies him.
– No, God keeps us with great love, with great faith. Count our steps. We must have the Cross and the holy basil with us. These are our customs, our tradition. And so God continues to help us. We pray all the time. We pray our Father and other prayers to the monastery. Please be better. There is not much work here.
The northeast of Romania is particularly affected by poverty and migration. People here feel abandoned by politics.
“Our faith is much more important than the laws of the land”
– Our faith is much more important than the laws of the land. We don’t trust them, we just trust our faith.
– We believe in our religion and the monks help us. They built this road for us, they help us in this poor region.
Very poor and troubled people live here. There are 14 crosses on the Via Crucis. At each crucifix the pilgrims stop to pray and receive alms. Vasile also receives an alms with gratitude.
The risk of these pilgrimages spreading the coronavirus is unknown. The second wave of the COVID epidemic reached Romania as early as September. Half of the ATI beds are already occupied at the Pitești County Hospital. Carla Tănasie is a television journalist and wants to awaken her compatriots to reality. Almost half of Romanians, according to a Novel Research study, do not take the epidemic seriously. It is also the reason why Carla and her cameraman are filming in the country’s Intensive Care Units, to make Romanians aware of how implacable the virus is.
– Now we have to dress so well that there are no loose pieces of skin. Everything must be covered. We will also receive a visor and a cap. Doctors are always scared when we walk in here.
The team works for the private television network Digi24.
“We cannot have a day without the dead”
– We consider it necessary to film such reports. Outsiders, who are not sick, have no choice but to see the situation in the hospitals. Doctors fear that we will end up having to choose who lives and who does not. Now we are in the Intensive Care Unit, in the red zone.
As of mid-September, Romania is among the countries with the highest death rate in the EU due to COVID-19. This Intensive Care Unit has had many patients and few medical personnel since the beginning of the pandemic. This is not the first time the journalist has been here. The journalist first interviews the director of the hospital, Gabriel Copciag.
– What is the situation now in Argeș county?
“The situation is very, very serious,” I say. We have been here the whole time. The Intensive Care Unit was never empty. We had to supplement everything. However, we did not manage to have a day without deaths.
For the director, the reporter is welcome in these times.
– This is the aim of the report, to make the population take some protective measures and behave differently in the face of the disease. We are not believed in this country without such reports. Without those images, the doctors’ warnings had no effect. The population still does not understand what is happening here, although several good months have passed. You cannot communicate too much with COVID patients here.
– How does it feel?
– I do not know how. He was very sick, he was sick. I lost consciousness.
– Did you get extra oxygen?
– I just want to go home.
“It’s horrible to see people just struggling to breathe.” The strange thing about this disease, doctors say, we have seen it, is that they can breathe, they say they feel fine, but the devices show that the oxygen saturation in the blood decreases one by one.
“Faith does not exclude disease, we must defend ourselves and believe in God, follow the advice of experts”
– I dissolved the pills in water, you can’t swallow the pill alone.
No EU country contributes as little budget money for its healthcare system as Romania. Hospitals are obsolete, especially in the province. For decades, specialists have been working in the West. Those who remain are fighting to the limit.
– It is also difficult for medical personnel. While in this section ATI cannot drink water, cannot eat, cannot go to the bathroom.
Many of the patients come from nearby towns and do not know how they became infected with the coronavirus.
“How is it possible that you see so much suffering around you?”
– Very hard. God sent us a serious illness, but I feel good.
– Why do you say that the disease comes from God?
“Well, from whom?” God has power.
– Faith does not exclude disease, we must defend ourselves and believe in God, to follow the advice of the experts. Because it is a new disease, of which not even the doctors know everything.
“The moment we leave this Intensive Care Unit, the images of people with their desperate eyes remain in our retinas.”
After an hour, the television crew must leave the Intensive Care Unit.
– We need to disinfect the equipment.
– Yes Yes Yes.
– The moment we leave this Intensive Care Unit, images of people with their desperate gaze remain in our retinas. Some of them cannot speak. Fortunately, we had no intubated patients today. They are the ones who most often end up dying.
Journalists go to their editorial office in Bucharest.
During this time, the pilgrimage takes place on the Via Crucis to the Hadâmbu monastery. They have reached the last cross.
Publisher: Liviu Cojan
