over the following years, the party broke apart; most bessarabian nazis joined up with the iron guard, the more successful fascist movement. by june 1934, cecan was cited before the metropolis of bessarabia, to answer for his "propaganda against the orthodox church." a 1968 letter by greek-catholic bishop ioan ploscaru notes that cecan was ultimately defrocked in 1935. according to ploscaru, cecan had by then also alienated his catholic backers upon revelations about his past: "our bishops sent one of our priests to cecan's home, to learn about him. once there, they discovered that the pro-unionist was a priest defrocked for his immoral lifestyle, that he was missing an eye, that he had wrestled the sacristan over some money, and that all of bessarabia detested him. as soon as this report came out, we put a stop on all propaganda."