Teoctist Arăpaşu

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Teoctist Arăpaşu (Patriarch Teoctist I of Romania)
Born	February 07, 1915 (age 92)

Teoctist I, born Toader Arăpaşu on February 7, 1915, has been the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church since 1986.

He was born as the tenth of the eleven children of Dumitru and Marghioala Arăpaşu, of Tocileni, Botoşani County.

In 1928 he became a novice at Sihăstria Voronei Hermitage, and later at Vorona Monastery. He became a monk on 6 August 1935 at the Bistriţa-Neamţ Monastery. In 1940, he began his studies at Theology School at the University of Bucharest, from which he was graduated in 1945. On March 1, 1945, he was sent to Iaşi, where he was ordained hieromonk on 25 March 1945, and archimandrite in 1946. Between 1946 and 1947, he studied Letters and Philosophy at the University of Iaşi.

At the beginning of the year 1947, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church revoked the archimandrite rank due to his pro-communist opinions, the decision being published in the official newsletter of the Romanian Patriarchy, the "Biserica Ortodoxă Română" magazine, no. 1-3 of January-March 1947.

Arăpaşu associated with an archiereus-vicar, Justinian Marina, also a pro-communist cleric who attacked in press his superior, Irineu Mihălcescu, the mitropolite of Moldavia. In the meantime, the Communists gained power in Romania and the Communist authorities replaced Irineu Mihălcescu with Justinian Marina. In 1948, Justinian became Patriarch of Romania and shortly after, in 1950, Teoctist became patriarchal bishop-vicar, being the secretary of the Holy Synod and the rector of the Universitary Theological Institute of Bucharest between 1950 and 1954.

In 1962, he was named bishop of Arad. In 1963, an attempt to make him the leader of the Romanian Orthodox community of the United States failed after the US authorities refused to grant him a visa. In 1973, he became the Archbishop of Craiova and Metropolitan of Oltenia and in 1977 the Metropolitan of Moldavia and Suceava. In 1981, he used money of the Orthodox Church to sponsor the Politehnica Iaşi football team.

In 1986, he became the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church. As patriarch, he was an ally of the Communist authorities, approving the demolition of 26 historical churches in Bucharest. He also sent many congratulatory telegrams to Nicolae Ceauşescu, who also gave him many valuable old prints and other heritage objects.

After the Romanian Revolution of 1989 he resigned and fled to the Sinaia Monastery and in January 1990, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church accepted his resignation. The new power, lead by Ion Iliescu, called him back to Bucharest and in March 1990, he returned to lead the Romanian Orthodox Church and one month later, in April 1990, the Holy Synod revoked its decision of accepting the resignation.

After 1989, various accusations were made in the Romanian press, including that he was a collaborator of the Securitate, the political police in Romania, that he allegedly was homosexual and that as "legionnaire" (member of the "Legion of the Archangel Michael", an extreme-right Orthodox nationalistic movement of the interwar period, associated politically with the Iron Guard) he participated in the vandalizing of a Bucharest synagogue. The last two accusations were based on a 1950 file found in the archives of the Securitate. The official response of the Orthodox Church was that the file was made by the Soviets with the intent of destroying the Romanian Church.

In July 2006, historian Stejărel Olaru said he found in the archives of the Securitate documents which prove that Teoctist was an agent of influence, doing propaganda for the communist regime.^[1]

[edit] References

1. ^ BBC Romanian, Preoţi colaboratori ai fostei securităţi 28 July 2006

• Article about Teoctist Arăpaşu in "Dicţionarul Teologilor Români"
• Cotidianul, Teoctist a bagat bani in fotbal, 5 May 2005
• România Liberă, "Ce ar fi trebuit sa stie ambasadorul Taubman cand s-a dus la Patriarhie" 10 December 2005
• Observator Cultural "Patriarhul Teoctist: legionar laureat ori comunist promovat?", January 2001
• Article about nuns being beaten by Teoctist's communist allies, April 2006

Preceded by Justin I

Patriarch of All Romania 1986 – present

Succeeded by Incumbent

Heads of the Romanian Orthodox Church
Metropolitan- Primates	Nifon Rusailă | Calinic Miclescu | Iosif Gheorghidan (first time) | Ghenadie Petrescu | Iosif Gheorghidan (second time) | Atanasie Mironescu | Conon Arămescu-Donici | Miron Cristea
Patriarchs	Miron Cristea | Nicodim Munteanu | Justinian Marina | Iustin Moisescu | Teoctist Arăpaşu

The Current Eastern Orthodox Patriarchs
Ancient Patriarchates
Bartholomew I (Cons.) | Theodoros II (Alex.) | Ignatius IV (Hazim) (Ant.) | Theophilos III (Jeru.)
Autocephalous Churches
Alexius II (RU) | Ilia II (GE) | Pavle (RS) | Teoctist (RO) | Maxim (BG) Chrysostomos II (CY) | Christodoulos (GR) | Sawa (PL) | Anastasios (AL) | Christopher (CZ/SK)