Iustin Ștefan Frățiman, also known as Frațman, Froțman, Frotziman or Frățimanu (, or Фрациман, Fratsiman; June 1, 1870 – September 23, 1927), was a historian, educator, librarian and political figure from Bessarabia, active in the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Romania. After receiving a classical education, he worked for various seminaries of the Russian Orthodox Church, moving as far north as Olonets. Frățiman had settled in Soroca by the time of World War I, becoming a champion of Romanian nationalism. This resulted in his being exiled to Central Asia until 1917. Allowed back home after the liberal February Revolution, he resumed his activism, openly campaigning for the national rights of Romanians east of Bessarabia. He was afterwards one of the educators tasked with institutional Romanianization by the Moldavian Democratic Republic.
Frățiman welcomed the union of Bessarabia with Romania in 1918, being an outspoken in his adversity toward Bolshevik Russia; in parallel, he supported autonomy for the Chișinău Archbishopric within the Romanian Orthodox Church. Though elected a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy, he was at odds with the new cultural establishment, especially after a controversial stint as head of Bessarabia's Central Library. Frățiman was not considered for a position at Iași University, and spent his final years lecturing at regional teachers' colleges, before dying in poverty. His final political involvement was with the League of Christian Bessarabians, a far-right group, and the more left-wing Socialist Peasants' Party.
Biography In the Russian Empire The Frățimans originated in Western Moldavia, but were known to have settled in the Bessarabian area around the time of its Russian annexation in 1812.Prohin, p. 456 Their descendant A. L. Aizenshtadt suggests that the family was of unclear ethnic origins, noting that their surname is of Moldavian dialectal origin, from frați ("brothers").Aizenshtadt, p. 21 The Romanian scholar Gheorghe Ghibănescu, who met Iustin at Cuhureștii de Jos (Nizshie Kugureshty) in August 1912, describes him as a "Moldavian" from a family of middle-class peasants (mazil din neam în neam), and an asset for the Romanian identitarian struggle in the Bessarabian Governorate.Gheorghe Ghibănescu, "1912. Impresii și note din Basarabia", in Magazin Istoric, April 2009, p. 62 As early as 1812, a Teodor Frățiman was attested as a parish priest of the Moldavian Orthodox Church in Cuhureștii.Prohin, p. 456 His male descendants were also primarily employed as clergymen or catechists for the Russian Orthodox Church. Some biographical records suggest that Iustin's father was schoolteacher Paul Frățiman, who was fluent in Greek and Church Slavonic;Prohin, p. 456 others note that Iustin was one of seven children (five sons and two daughters) born to the priest Ștefan Frățiman and his wife Irina (née Tuchkovska).Aizenshtadt, pp. 20–21. See also Colesnic, p. 291 His brother, Teodor, was a deacon.Colesnic, p. 293 A cousin, Petru Frățiman (born 1858 or 1859), was already politically active in 1879, joining Axinte Frunză's circle of left-wing radical youths.Aizenshtadt, pp. 20–21
Iustin was born a Russian subject on June 1, 1870, with various sources indicating Cuhureștii de Jos as his place of origin.Colesnic, pp. 291, 293; Sorokin, p. 172 The latter detail was disputed in 1996 by a village schoolteacher, Domnica Botea-Condrea, who reported evidence that, though he lived for most of his life in Cuhureștii, he was in fact born elsewhere.Colesnic, p. 293 He is known to have attended the religious school in Edineț.Colesnic, p. 291 He later enlisted at the Orthodox Seminary in Kishinev (Chișinău), where his colleagues included Ion Halippa, Ioan Rufulea, and Nicolae Popovschi. As reported by the latter, Frățiman debated the other two in a philosophical quarrel, founding a school of through that Halippa knew as "Frațmanism" (though Popovschi could not remember its ideological nature beyond its stated opposition to the official textbook, authored by Pyotr Kudryavtsev).Nicolae Popovschi, "Din negura trecutului. Crâmpeie de amintiri. Școala. II", in Viața Basarabiei, Vol. XI, Issue 4, April 1942, p. 247
Upon graduating with honors in 1892,Colesnic, p. 291 Frățiman served as seminary administrator,Sorokin, p. 172 before moving to the Faculty of Theology in Kazan. He graduated in 1897, as a candidate in theology, thereupon returning to teach at Kishinev's spiritual school (1897–1899).Colesnic, p. 291. See also Sorokin, p. 172 He was finally a graduate of Petersburg University. Nina Negru, , in Magazin Bibliologic, Issue 1/2003, p. 87Colesnic, p. 291; Prohin, pp. 454, 455–456 In 1899, Frățiman was appointed tutor of Greek at the Theological Seminary in Pskov; in June 1904, he took a similar posting in Lyskovo, but left to take up an administrative position in Saint Petersburg.Sorokin, p. 172 Iustin's works of the period included a biographical essay about the Moldavian bishop Iacob Stamati, published in Russian in 1901.Ștefan Ciobanu, Cultura românească în Basarabia sub stăpânirea rusă, pp. 323–324. Chișinău: Editura Asociației Uniunea Culturală Bisericească, 1923. See also Colesnic, p. 292 He later resumed work as a teacher: in 1910, he taught Greek and Latin at the Seminary in Olonets. Though admired for his erudition, he received poor marks for his educational performance, including his harshness toward students and his tendency of questioning orders he received from the rectorate.Sorokin, pp. 147–148, 152, 172 By 1912, to the satisfaction of his superiors, Frățiman had been reassigned to the Orthodox Seminary of Pinsk.Sorokin, pp. 152, 172. See also Aizenshtadt, pp. 19, 21
As reported by Ghibănescu, Frățiman had a "Romanian heart" and, on his trips back to Bessarabia, collected and stored Romanian books for his personal library. Linguist Ioan Bianu later suggested that such an endeavor was in itself subversive, since Frățiman intended to publish his documentary fund only as a gift to a future "unified Romania".Ioan Bianu, "Ședința generală 15 maiu 1928. Raport asupra lucrărilor făcute în anul 1927—28", in Analele Academiei Române. Ședințele, Vol. XLVIII, 1927–1928, p. 92 His training allowed him to teach religion, French language, and world history; his brother Petru had similar interests and, in 1904, helped establish the Bessarabian Historical and Archeological Society.Prohin, pp. 454, 456 Highly educated for a Bessarabian of that era, Iustin also obtained a diploma from the Imperial Institute of Archeology,Colesnic, p. 291 being inducted as a full member in 1907.Sorokin, p. 172
In 1914–1915, Frățiman had returned to Bessarabia for good, and was employed by the Normal School in Soroca,Aizenshtadt, p. 20 being allowed by Olga Catargiu to do research in her family's unusually large book collection.Colesnic, p. 291 His career was interrupted when he began campaigning for the Romanian Latin alphabetProhin, p. 454 and drew suspicion as a "Romanianphile".Gheorghe Negru, "Contracararea 'curentului românofil' din Basarabia în anii Primului Război Mondial. Cazul Daniel Ciugureanu", in Andrei Emilciuc (ed.), Primul Război Mondial și Basarabia (1914–1918). Culegere de studii și articole, p. 82. Chișinău: Academy of Sciences of Moldova, 2015. Scholar Iurie Colesnic sees most of the charges brought up against him as calumnies by "chauvinistic teachers, under the leadership of a certain Khalyutin."Colesnic, p. 291 According to historian Paul Vataman, he was also punished for his personal stash of banned books, in various languages. In summer 1916, Russian officials had him detained at the penitentiary of Soroca, and subsequently deported to Central Asia, in Turgay Oblast;Aizenshtadt, p. 20. See also Colesnic, pp. 290, 291 some authors, including Frățiman himself,Colesnic, p. 292 suggest that he was also held in Siberia.Prohin, p. 454 He reportedly used his time in exile to observe the customs of Moldavian communities in Russia.Colesnic, p. 290
MDR functionary Frățiman was still absent from Bessarabia during the February Revolution,Prohin, p. 454 following which Bessarabia embarked on a process of self-rule, and eventually united with Romania. On May 4, 1917, he and Emanoil Catelli, who represented the Bessarabian Romanian community in Kherson Governorate, addressed a letter to the Russian Provisional Government, asking for the recognition of Romanian rights, and describing "historic Dacia" as an ethnic homeland.Petru Cazacu, Moldova dintre Prut și Nistru, 1812—1918, pp. 344–345. Iași: Viața Romînească, . In May–June, Frățiman attended the Moldavian Teachers' Congress in Odessa, where he spoke about the issue of Romanian Bessarabian communities in Novorossiya. His resolution, backed by the other delegates, was that Romanian villages in towns should be allowed secular and religious instructions in "Moldavian", rather than the official Russian. Moreover, the Congress pressed for a "Romanian bishopric" to be formed at Dubăsari.Rotaru, pp. 110–111, 287–288. See also Colesnic, p. 291 Authors such as Onisifor Ghibu and C. Gh. Constantinescu also mention that Frățiman had specifically asked for Romanian-inhabited places in Kherson and Odessa areas to be merged into Bessarabia.Rotaru, pp. 287, 359 Ghibu was in the audience as Frățiman spoke, and reported being unimpressed: "Professor Iustin Frățiman [demands from us] all sort of 'sacrifices'; he is utterly imprecise."Onisifor Ghibu, "Documentele continuității. În vîltoarea revoluției rusești (XXII)", in Vatra, Vol. XXIII, Issue 5, May 1993, p. 10
Frățiman returned to Bessarabia by May, when his memoirs of exile were simultaneously hosted by two local newspapers, Svobodnaya Bessarabia and Nash Golos.Colesnic, p. 292 On June 17,Colesnic, p. 291 he joined a corpus of teachers tasked with Romanianizing Bessarabian schools, which included the adoption of Latin spellings; he also taught the history of Romania.Colesnic, pp. 291–292; Poștarencu, pp. 67–68 A Bessarabian Directorate for Schools and Churches was formed in August, being staffed by locals, alongside new arrivals from other Romanian-inhabited regions. The latter group included Ovid Țopa, who admired Frățiman as his only "radical" Bessarabian colleague—in that he alone favored quick Latinization.Ovid Țopa, "Chișinău: 1917–1918 (Fragmente din amintirile unui refugiat bucovinean)", in Mesager Bucovinean, Vol. XV, Issue 1, 2018, p. 36 Ghibu, who supervised the contribution of local teachers, noted that both Frățiman and Alexei Mateevici were enthusiastic and well oriented politically, but incompetent.Colesnic, pp. 291–292 Ghibu adds:[Frățiman's] situation was beyond pathetic. Here was a man completely shattered by his long struggles for liberty and for his nation, and only arose in others a feeling of pity, mixed up with admiration for him as a great invalid [...]. His lessons were, from the very beginning, a topic of amusement for his audience, people who were largely devoid of the reverence that would've been as required toward any other toiler in the field of spiritual culture.Colesnic, pp. 193–194, 292