"priests [...] manage to destroy what the Bolsheviks had failed to destroy, concerning faith in God. This is due to their engaging in illicit business transactions and committing actions which compromise the dignity of their office." The sexual conduct of the Romanian clergy was also a source of public outrage, and Puiu, pressured by both Government and Church authorities, was forced to issue stricter guidelines. Another source of resentment was the fact that ethnic Romanian priests were paid three times more than local ones. There was an effort on Puiu's part to appeal to the local Orthodox population. Less radical in his approach to"Romanianization compared to his predecessor Scriban, he occasionally held religious services in Church Slavonic or gave sermons in Russian. On 1 December 1943, Puiu sent a letter of resignation to Marshal Antonescu requesting that he be allowed to return to the Neamț Monastery. He argued that preparations were made for the evacuation of the province, that he had insufficient human and financial resources to run the mission and complained that he had waited six months to receive a printing press and was facing difficulties with the paper supply. The tide of the war was turning and, arguably, Puiu was being cautious. Between January and August 1944, he stayed at the Neamț Monastery, and then traveled to Bucharest. Exile Voyage to Croatia and exile in Nazi Germany In August 1944, Patriarch Germogen Maximov of Croatia decided to place Spyridon Mifka on the episcopal seat of Sarajevo. Maximov's autocephalous Croatian Orthodox Church was a creation of the pro-Nazi Ustaše regime, and, by enthroning a bishop in Sarajevo, it sought to extend its influence over modern Bosnia and Herzegovina. Per cannon law, the ceremony required a co-consecrator and the Romanian Orthodox Church ended up providing one in the person of Puiu. The fact that Romania and Croatia were both Axis countries at the time likely played an important part in the move. Puiu left Romania on 10 August, held a press conference in Zagreb on 14 August, paying his respects to Ustaše leader Ante Pavelić, and participated in the ceremony on 15 August. Maximov and Mifka would be executed after the war, but for Puiu, the timing of this voyage proved very fortunate. He was still abroad on 23 August when, following the 1944 Romanian coup d'état by King Michael I, Romania changed sides and joined the war against Nazi