Romanian Orthodox Church Makes History, Appoints First Bishop to Ireland and Iceland
Basilica News – OCP News Service – 26/10/2024
Bucharest-Romania: On October 25, 2024, the Holy Synod elected Bishop Nectarie of Brittany, Assistant Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of Western Europe, to the position of Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Ireland and Iceland.
Archimandrite Simeon Mureșan, abbot of the “Dormition of the Mother of God” Monastery in Vilar, France, was also considered for the role. In the same session, the Synod elected the first Romanian Orthodox Archbishop of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Biography
Bishop Nectarie was born on January 11, 1980. He completed his undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral studies at the Saint-Serge Institute of Orthodox Theology in Paris. His doctoral thesis, supervised by Father Prof. Dr. Nicolas Ozoline, focused on the topic, “The Sacrament of Confession – The Historical Development of the Rite in Romanian Territories and Its Theology in the Orthodox Church”, which he defended in 2012.
He began his monastic life in 1996 as a novice at Crasna Monastery and took his monastic vows under the name Nectarie at the same monastery in 2000. From 2010 to 2017, he served as abbot of Crasna Monastery.
Since October 2017, he has been the Exarch of Monasteries in the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of Western Europe. From January 2020 until 2023, he served as Vicar for the same Archdiocese.
On July 4, 2023, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church elected Archimandrite Nectarie Petre as Assistant Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of Western Europe. His episcopal ordination took place last September at the Cathedral in Paris.
The Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Ireland and Iceland was formally established by the Holy Synod on February 29, 2024, with its headquarters in Dublin. Together with the Archdiocese of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolis of Western and Southern Europe.
Photo: Basilica.ro
Source: Basilica News
