Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Contents
Studies and ecclesiastic career
Ascension to the patriarchal chair
The 1989 Revolution
Activity after 1989
Controversy
Football team
Securitate
Death
Notes
References
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]
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.
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]
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