Daniel Ciobotea

Daniel Ciobotea, 2013

Daniel Ciobotea (born July 22, 1951 in Dobreşti , Bara , Timiş County as Dan Ilie Ciobotea ) is the sixth Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church .

Life

education

Dan Ilie Ciobotea was born as the third child of Alexie and Stela Ciobotea. Between 1958 and 1962 he attended elementary school in his home village Dobreşti and between 1962 and 1966 the middle school in Lăpuşnic , Timiş district . In 1966, after successfully completing the entrance examination, he was admitted to the municipal high school in Buziaș and graduated from the Coriolan Brediceanu high school in the city of Lugoj in 1970 . After school he attended the Theological Institute of Sibiu from 1970 to 1974 , which he graduated with a degree in the New Testament. After that, he received his doctorate in the Department of Systematic Theology at the Theological Institute in Bucharest , u. a. at Dumitru Stăniloae . The continuation of his studies led him to the Protestant Theological Faculty of the University of Strasbourg and the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg for two years . He was finally promoted to Dr. theol. PhD. The title of his dissertation was: Réflexion et vie chrétiennes aujourd'hui. Essai sur le rapport entre la théologie et la spiritualité . The work was supervised by Professors Gerard Siegwald and André Benoit . A year later, an extended version of this work was submitted to the Theological Faculty of the University of Bucharest for the award of a doctorate. After the public defense of the dissertation on October 30, 1980, he also received a doctorate from an Orthodox faculty.

Church career

From priest monk to auxiliary bishop of Timisoara

On August 6, 1987, he entered the Sihastria Monastery. He received the name Daniel from Archimandrite Cleopa Ilie , his monk spade . He was ordained a deacon on August 8, 1987 and a priest monk on August 15, 1987 . In October 1988 he got the rank of protosingel . Between September 1, 1988 and March 1, 1990 he was patriarchal advisor and at the same time director of the section “Contemporary Theology and Ecumenical Dialogue”. At the same time he taught at the Theological Institute of the University of Bucharest as a professor at the chair for Christian missiology.

In January 1990 Ciobotea became President of the Reflection Group for the Renewal of the Church. Here he worked with the archimandrite Bartolomeu Anania, the pastors Constantin Galeriu and Dumitru Stăniloae as well as with lay representatives. The aim of the reflection group is the complete reintegration of religious education as a normal subject in all Romanian schools.

On March 1, 1990 Daniel Ciobotea was proposed by Nicolae Corneanu , Metropolitan of the Banat , as auxiliary bishop for the diocese of Timisoara . After the election by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, he was ordained bishop on March 4, 1990 in the Timişoara Cathedral with the title Lugojanul (of Lugoj ).

Archbishop of Iasi and Metropolitan of Moldova and Bukovina

On June 7, 1990, he was elected Archbishop of Iași and Metropolitan of Moldova and Bukovina . On July 1, he took possession of the diocese, which had been vacant since 1986 .

Since 1992 Metropolitan Daniel has taught dogmatics and pastoral theology at the Orthodox theological faculty of the University of Iași. As a metropolitan he also took part in several ecumenical conferences: for example, he led the delegation of the Romanian Orthodox Church to the general assembly of the World Council of Churches in Canberra (1992). He is also a representative of the National Synodal Commission for Religious Education (Bucharest), President of the Commission for Liturgy and Theology of the Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church (the former Education Commission), founding member of the National Commission of Historical Monuments, member of the Central and Executive Committee of the WCC (1991–1998), member of the presidium and the central committee of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) (since 1990) and Vice-President of the 11th General Assembly of CEC ( Graz 1997). His intense commitment to ecumenism has earned him sharp criticism in conservative circles of the Orthodox Church and monasticism.

In 1998 he founded the radio station Trinitas in Iași.

Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church

At the synod for the election of a successor to the late Patriarch Teoctist I , the choice fell on September 12, 2007 on Ciobotea.

The inauguration took place on September 30, 2007 in the Patriarchal Cathedral of Saints Constantine and Helena in Bucharest .

Immediately after his inauguration, he founded a media trust intended exclusively for church use, which was officially inaugurated on October 27, 2007.

Scientific activity

After completing his doctorate, Ciobotea continued his research as part of a lectorate at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey , Switzerland, where he was director of studies between 1986 and 1988. At the same time he taught at the universities of Freiburg im Üechtland and Geneva . Since 1992 Ciobotea has been teaching dogmatics and pastoral theology at the Orthodox theological faculty of the University of Iași.

According to his curriculum vitae, compiled by the Romanian Patriarchate, Ciobotea has published over 876 studies, essays and speeches in Romanian and over 100 essays and studies in English, French and German in specialist journals and edited volumes. He is also the author of several relevant theological monographs. In addition, he took part in over 200 theological symposia, congresses and conferences.

Monographs

• "Atât de mult a iubit Dumnezeu lumea ..." (God loved the world so much ...) Trinitas publisher: Iași, 1996.
• "Confessing the Truth in Love - Orthodox Perceptions of Life, Mission and Unity" Trinitas: Iași, 2001.
• "Luptător jertfelnic și ctitor darnic - lucrarea harului în viața Sfântului Voievod Ștefan cel Mare" (Self-sacrificing fighter and generous benefactor - The effect of grace in the life of Prince Stephen the Great) Trinitas: Iași, 2004.
• "Făclii de Înviere - Înțelesuri ale Sfintelor Paşti" (Lights of Resurrection - meanings of the holy Pachas), Trinitas publishing house: Iași 2005.
• "Recunoștință și reînnoire" (Recognition and Renewal), Trinitas Publishing House: Iași, 2005.
• "Dăruire si Dăinuire" (Devotion and Persistence - History and Spirituality of the Romanians) Trinitas Publishing House: Iași, 2005.
• "Comori ale Ortodoxiei" (Treasures of Orthodoxy) Trinitas Publishing House: Iași, 2007.

Important essays

Of the essays published in theological journals, the following have received a great deal of attention:

• "Chemarea preoțească" (The priestly vocation) 1973.
• "Elements ale religiei geto-dacilor favorabile procesului de încreștinare a strămoșilor" (elements of the geto-dacic religion, which were favorable for the Christianization process) 1976.
• "Învățătura Sfântului Ioan Gură de Aur despre rugăciunile pentru cei adormiți în Domnul" (The teaching of John Chrysostom on prayers for those who fell asleep in God) 1976.
• "Timpul și valoarea lui pentru mântuire în Ortodoxie" (Time and its value for salvation in Orthodoxy) 1977.
• "Temeiurile dogmatice ale bucuriei creștine" (Dogmatic foundations of Christian joy) 1977.
• "Creștinii din Occident în căutarea Ortodoxiei" (The Christians of the West in Search of Orthodoxy) 1978.
• "Dorul pentru Biserica nedespărțită sau apelul tainic și irezistibil al Sfintei Treimi" (The Missing of the Undivided Church or the Secret and Irresistible Call of the Holy Trinity) 1982.
• "Mărturia ortodoxă în Mișcarea Ecumenică" (The Orthodox Witness in the Ecumenical Movement) 1989.

Awards

For its ecumenical and interreligious activities, Ciobotea received the Abbot Emmanuel Maria Heufelder Prize from the Ecumenical Institute of Niederalteich Abbey in 1998 .

For his scientific work he received honorary doctorates from three universities, the Sacred Heart Catholic University in Fairfield (Connecticut) (2003), the George Enescu University Iași and the University of Alexandru Ioan Cuza Iaşi .

On September 30, 2007 Ciobotea received the national order "Steaua României" ( Star of Romania ) from the Romanian President Traian Băsescu in the degree of the Grand Cross .

Web links

• Biography on the website of the Romanian Patriarchate

predecessor	Office	successor
Teoctist I.	Patriarch of Romania since 2007	...