Refiguring the Figures of the Passion

This article examines the mural paintings in Transylvania’s wooden churches in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, focusing on the reimagining of Christ’s persecutors as Hungarians and Ottoman Turks. These depictions reflect the socio-political struggles of Romanian peasants under oppressive feudal rule. Drawing on theological, sociological, and art-historical perspectives, the study explores how Passion imagery became a medium for symbolic resistance, subverting dominant power structures and reinforcing communal identity. By integrating local dress, architecture, and historical references into sacred narratives, these murals provided spiritual solace and a critique of social hierarchies. The reinterpretation of Christ’s Passion as a reflection of the peasants’ lived experiences served as a means of asserting agency, allowing them to symbolically challenge their oppressors and envision an alternative moral and social order aligned with divine justice.