Teoctist Arăpașu

Teoctist (Romanian pronunciation: [te.okˈtist], born Toader Arăpașu; February 7, 1915

His Beatitude
– July 30, 2007) was the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church from 1986 to
Teoctist
2007.
Grand Cross and Sash ranks of the
Teoctist served his first years as patriarch under the Romanian Communist regime, Order of the Star of Romania
and was accused by some of collaboration. He offered his resignation after the By God's mercy, Archbishop of
Romanian Revolution of 1989, but was soon restored to office and served a further Bucharest, Metropolitan of Muntenia
17 years. and Dobrogea, Locum tenens of the
throne of Caesarea Cappadociae
A promoter of ecumenical dialogue, Patriarch Teoctist invited Pope John Paul II to
and Patriarch of the Romanian
visit Romania in 1999. It was the first visit of a Pope to a predominantly Eastern
Orthodox Church,
Orthodox country since the East-West Schism of 1054.
His Beatitude Patriarch Teoctist,
Patriarch of All Romania

Contents
Studies and ecclesiastic career
Ascension to the patriarchal chair
The 1989 Revolution
Activity after 1989
Controversy
Football team
Securitate
Death
Notes
References

Studies and ecclesiastic career

Church Romanian
He was born as the tenth of eleven children of Dumitru and Marghioala Arăpașu, of Orthodox Church
Tocileni, Botoșani County. He attended the primary school in Tocileni (1921–1927).
See Bucharest
In 1928, Arăpașu became a novice at Sihăstria Voronei Hermitage, and later at Installed November 16, 1986
Vorona Monastery. He became a monk on 6 August 1935 at the Bistrița-Neamț Term ended July 30, 2007
Monastery. In 1940, he began his studies at Theology School at the University of
Predecessor Patriarch Iustin of
Bucharest, from which he graduated in 1945. On March 1, 1945, he was sent to Iași,
Romania
where he was ordained hieromonk on 25 March 1945, and archimandrite in 1946.
Between 1946 and 1947, he studied Literature and Philosophy at the University of Successor Patriarch Daniel of
Iași. Romania
Orders
At the beginning of 1947, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church
Ordination March 25, 1945
revoked Arăpașu's archimandrite rank due to his pro-Communist opinions, the
decision being published in the official newsletter of the Romanian Patriarchate, the Consecration March 5, 1950
"Biserica Ortodoxă Română".[1] Personal details
Birth name Toader Arapașu
 Born 7 February 1915
Ascension to the patriarchal chair
Tocileni, Botoșani
In 1948, Justinian became Patriarch of Romania and in 1950, Arăpașu became County
patriarchal bishop-vicar, being the secretary of the Holy Synod and the rector of the
Died 30 July 2007
Theological Institute of Bucharest between 1950 and 1954.
(aged 92)
In 1962, Arăpașu was named Bishop of Arad. In 1963, an attempt to make him the Bucharest
leader of the Romanian Orthodox community of the United States failed after the Buried Romanian
U.S. authorities refused to grant him a visa. In 1973, he became the Archbishop of Patriarchal
Craiova and Metropolitan of Oltenia and in 1977 the Metropolitan of Moldavia and Cathedral
Suceava. Nationality Romanian

In 1986, he became the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church. He was Denomination Christian Orthodox
accused of obedience to the Communist authorities, culminating with the approval of Parents Dumitru Arapașu
the demolition of 26 historic churches in Bucharest. He sent many congratulatory Marghioala
telegrams to Nicolae Ceaușescu, who also gave him many valuable old prints and Arapașu
other heritage objects. Alma mater Faculty of Orthodox
Theology
Between 1975 and 1989, he was also a member of Marea Adunare Națională, the
Romanian parliament.[2] For instance, in the 1985 elections, he was elected to the
Parliament, being the only candidate who ran in the 9th electoral district - Belcești (Iași County), being nominated by Gheorghe
[3] He was also a delegate to theSocialist Unity and Democracy Front
Zaharia, the Juridical Secretary of the County People's Council.
congresses and a member of Ceaușescu'sNational Peace Committee.[4]

The 1989 Revolution Styles of

Patriarch Teoctist of
On 18 December 1989, at the start of the Romanian Revolution of 1989, the Holy
Romania
Synod had a meeting in which Teoctist announced that he agreed with the repression
Reference style His Beatitude
of the anti-communist movement in Timișoara, claiming the events were caused by
foreign interference.[5] He sent a telegram to Ceaușescu, praising him for his Spoken style Your Beatitude
"brilliant activity", "wise guidance", "daring thinking" and claiming that the Religious style Patriarch
Romanians live "in a golden age, properly and righteously bearing [Ceaușescu's]
name".[6]

Just a few hours after the Ceaușescus fled, Teoctist signed his resignation and fled incognito to the Sinaia Monastery, a location
allegedly suggested to him by Gelu Voican Voiculescu.[5] On 18 January 1990, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church
fice, without giving any motivation.[5]
accepted the patriarch's resignation by announcing that he retired from his of

In April 1990, The Holy Synod unanimously revoked its decision to accept the resignation and Teoctist was reinstated, claiming that
he withdrew temporarily for health reasons.[6] According to the Tismăneanu Report, this has been seen by the Romanian
[7]
intelligentsia as a harmful event and the start of the neo-Communist restoration in Romania.

Activity after 1989

After 1989, Arăpașu promoted religious education at all levels of education and founded new theological seminaries as well as
schools for church singers, historical monument restoration, and other specialties. He also ganized
or foreign scholarships.

In May 1999, Patriarch Teoctist received the visit of Pope John Paul II to Romania. This was the first time a Pope had visited a
predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054, the event that separated Eastern Orthodoxy and Western
Catholicism. On his arrival, the Patriarch and the President of Romania, Emil Constantinescu, greeted the Pope. The Patriarch stated,
"The second millennium of Christian history began with a painful wounding of the unity of the Church; the end of this millennium
has seen a real commitment to restoring Christian unity." On 9 May, the Pope and the Patriarch each attended a worship service (an
Orthodox Liturgy and a Catholic Mass, respectively) conducted by the other. A
crowd of hundreds of thousands of people turned up to attend the worship services,
which were held in the open air.

In 2007, he criticized the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's declaration on
"Subsistit in" in Lumen Gentium, saying "We were stunned by such a statement,
which troubles the entire Christian world."[8]

Teoctist and Pope John Paul II

Controversy

Football team
In 1981, when he was the Metropolitan of Moldavia, Teoctist used money from the Orthodox Church to sponsor the Politehnica Iași
.[9]
football team and justified this as being an attempt to do something good for the local community

Securitate
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 a "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 stored
propaganda materials at the Cernica and Căldărușani monasteries[2] and that he participated in the vandalizing of a Bucharest
synagogue. Accusing Teoctist of having been both a Legionnaire and a Communist collaborator is only an apparent contradiction,
since numerous Legionnaires, in principle fierce anti-Communists, ended up being recruited by the Securitate political police.

The last two accusations were based on a 1950 file found in the archives of the Securitate. The official response of the Orthodox
[10]
Church was that the file was made by the Soviets with the intent of destroying the Romanian Orthodox Church.

In July 2006, historian Stejărel Olaru said he found in the archives of the Securitate documents which prove that Teoctist was an
[11]
agent of influence, who did propaganda for the Communist regime. The accusations were publicly denied by the Church.

Death
The Patriarch died on July 30, 2007, after undergoing surgery for a prostate adenoma at the Clinical Institute of Fundeni.[12] The
surgery was not an emergency, but a scheduled operation. Along the day, the news received suggested he was recovering. According
to the doctors, the death occurred following cardiac complications, at 17:00 (GMT+2). The Patriarch had a history of cardiac
problems. His body was laid in theRomanian Patriarchal Cathedralin Bucharest.[13]

After the session of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Churchthe date of burial was set for Friday, August 3, 2007, at 11:00
(GMT+2) and took place at the Patriarchal Cathedral. PM Călin Popescu-Tăriceanuannounced that the Government decided the date
to be a National Day of Mourning. The burial place was chosen by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church to be the
Patriarchal Cathedral and the burial service was officiated by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, alongside Romanian Orthodox
hierarchs and hierarchs representing churches of the Eastern Orthodox communion. After the religious service, the Patriarch was
given state honors.

Delegations from 30 Orthodox Churches were present at the services. Taking part in the funeral itself were representatives from the
churches of Constantinople, Albania, Russia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Finland, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Greece, Cyprus, Poland and
the Czech Republic. Also present were delegations from the Holy See, different Christian denominations (Anglican, Armenian
Apostolic, Ethiopian Church and Syriac churches), other religious communities from Romania (The Romanian Muftiat) and
Romanian political leaders. About 8,000 people attended the funeral.
Notes
1. "Biserica Ortodoxă Română", no. 1-3 (January–March 1947).
2. (in Romanian)"Dosarul de cadre al Patriarhului Teoctist" (http://cotidianul.ro/index.php?id=13344&art=34405&cHash
=1c3903ae71), in Cotidianul, 22 August 2007
3. "Ultimii deputați comuniști ai Iașului"(http://www.ziaruldeiasi.ro/cms/site/z_is/news/ultimii_deputati_comunisti_ai_ias
ului_126939.html), Ziarul de Iași, October 17, 2005
4. Stan and Turcescu, p. 34
5. "Cumpăna Patriarhului"(http://www.romanialibera.ro/a102585/cumpana-patriarhului.html), in România Liberă, 2
August 2007
6. Michael Bourdeaux, "Obituary: Patriarch Teoctist"
(https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,,2142900,00.html), in The Guardian, August 7, 2007
7. Presidential Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania
, Final Report of the Presidential
Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania(http://www.presidency.ro/static/ordine/RAPOR
T_FINAL_CADCR.pdf), p. 467
8. Patriarch Teoctist of Romania: A Brutal Document (http://www.orthodoxeurope.org/page/14/124.aspx#1)
9. Cotidianul, Teoctist a bagat bani in fotbal(http://www.9am.ro/revistapresei/Sport/10081/Teoctist-a-bagat-bani-In-fotba
l), 5 May 2005
10. (in Romanian)Observator Cultural "Patriarhul Teoctist: legionar laureat ori comunist promovat?" (http://www.observat
orcultural.ro/informatiiarticol.phtml?xid=3959&xrubrica=AR TICOLE&print=&return=arhiva&xnrrevista=48) , January
2001
11. (in Romanian)BBC Romanian, Preoți colaboratori ai fostei securități(http://www.bbc.co.uk/romanian/news/story/200
6/07/060728_preoti_colaboratori.shtml)28 July 2006
12. Observator de Bacău, 30 July 2007(http://news.observatordebacau.info/2007/07/30/romanian-patriarch-Teoctist-die
s-of-heart-complications.html)Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20070819232406/http://news.observatordebaca
u.info/2007/07/30/romanian-patriarch-teoctist-dies-of-heart-complications.html)
19 August 2007 at theWayback
Machine..
13. "Head of Romanian Church Dies"(https://web.archive.org/web/20071025004117/http://www .guardian.co.uk/worldlat
est/story/0,,-6815405,00.html). London: guardian.co.uk. Archived fromthe original (https://www.theguardian.com/wor
ldlatest/story/0,,-6815405,00.html)on October 25, 2007.

References
Article about Teoctist Arăpașu in "DicţionarulTeologilor Români"
România Liberă, "Ce ar fi trebuit sa stie ambasadorul T aubman cand s-a dus la Patriarhie"10 December 2005
Article about nuns being beaten by T eoctist's communist allies, April 2006
Lavinia Stan and Lucian Turcescu, "The Devil's Confessors: Priests, Communists, Spies, and Informers", East
European Politics and Societies, 19 (2005), no. 4, 655–685.doi:10.1177/0888325404272454
Lavinia Stan and Lucian Turcescu, Politics, national symbols and the Romanian Orthodox Cathedral , Europe-Asia
Studies, 8 (2006), no. 7, 1119-1139.OCLC 90228854
Lavinia Stan and Lucian Turcescu, Religion and Politics in Post-communist Romania , Oxford University Press, 2007.
ISBN 0-19-530853-0

Eastern Orthodox Church titles

Preceded by Patriarch of All Romania Succeeded by
Iustin Moisescu 1986–2007 Daniel Ciobotea

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