Romanian Synod Elected Two New Vicar Bishops

Basilica News – OCP News Service – 05/07/2023

Bucharest-Romania: Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church elected Archimandrite Paisie Teodorescu and Archimandrite Nectarie Petre as Vicar Bishops on July,04,2023. Archimandrite Paisie Teodorescu was elected as Patriarchal Vicar Bishop and Archimandrite Nectarie Petre as Vicar Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of Western Europe. Both the vicar bishops were elected by secret ballot in the synod. 

Patriarch Daniel’s assistant bishop will bear the title of His Grace Bishop Paisie of Sinaia. The post of patriarchal auxiliary bishop remained vacant following the election of Bishop Ieronim of Sinaia as Bishop of Dacia Felix. Archimandrite Andrei Anghel, a patriarchal adviser, also ran for the same position. 

Archimandrite Nectarie Petre will bear the title of His Grace Bishop Nectarie of Britain. Archimandrite Paisie Teodorescu received 39 votes and Archimandrite Nectarie Petre received 38 votes in the elections.

Bishop-elect Paisie Teodorescu

The Very Rev. Archimandrite Paisie Teodorescu has coordinated the Patriarchal Office since 2008 and has served at the Chapel of the National Cathedral since 2011. In 2014, he was appointed a patriarchal vicar. He was born in the town of Poieni, Iași county, on April 12, 1972. He graduated from the Faculty of Orthodox Theology “Dumitru Stăniloae” in Iași in 1998, and in the same year, he entered Neamț Monastery as a monk. Patriarch Daniel, who was then Metropolitan of Moldavia and Bukovina, ordained him a hieromonk the following year. In 2005 he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite on behalf of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Iași. He became a Doctor in Theology at “Patriarch Justinian” Faculty of the University of Bucharest with the thesis “Patriarchal Residence – history, art and mission” (2017).

Bishop-elect Nectarie Petre

Archimandrite Nectarie Petre was born on January 11, 1980. Between 1996-2001 he attended the “Episcop Chesarie Păunescu” Monastic Theological Seminary at the Cernica Monastery. In the period 2002-2006 he attended the undergraduate courses of the Institute of Orthodox Theology Saint-Serge in Paris, continued with the master’s courses of the same institute between the years 2006-2008. Since 2012, he is a doctor of theology at the Parisian Institute of Orthodox Theology, with the thesis “Le sacrament de la pénitence – l’histoire du rite en Roumanie et sa théologie dans l’Église Orthodoxe”.

In 2000, he was ordained a monk at the Crasna Monastery in Prahova county, in the same year he was ordained a hierodeacon, on behalf of the same monastic establishment. In the period 2002-2006 he served as a hierodeacon at the Residence of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolis of Western and Southern Europe. In 2006 he received the ordination as a hieromonk on behalf of the Crasna Monastery, also holding the position of its abbot from 2010 to 2017, when he was canonically transferred to the Archdiocese of Western Europe, where he held the positions of exarch of the monasteries in the diocese, respectively vicar eparchial. In 2013 he was ordained protosinghel, and in 2018, archimandrite.

He participated in numerous national and international theological conferences and colloquiums, during which he presented papers and scientific reports, later published in specialized periodicals. He also published several works of authorship, namely “The Mystery of the Church – The Universe of Human Deification”; “Le sacrament de la penitence – l’histoire du rite en Roumanie et sa théologie dans l’Église Orthodoxe”, being the main coordinator of the anniversary volume “Father Nicodim and the Crasna Monastery at the anniversary hour”.

Source:
OCP News Service