Gherasim Safirin (; born Gheorghe "Gherasim Safirin", entry in Mircea Păcurariu, Dicționarul Teologilor Români, p. 425. Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 1996 or George Safirin,Cernăianu, p. 130 also rendered Safirim, Saffirin, Saffirinu, or Safrim; October 1849 – February 14, 1922) was a Wallachian, later Romanian cleric who served as a bishop in the Romanian Orthodox Church and was deposed following a national controversy. Originally a schoolteacher, he felt attracted to monastery life an took orders in 1873, becoming a deacon the following year. His second career was as a seminary professor attached to the Râmnic Diocese, where, as principal, he also instituted a campaign for transparency and reform. He was eventually deposed, but still took over as vicar for two separate periods. A translator, polemicist, and composer of church music, he was eventually elected as the Bishop of Roman in 1900, and became a putative candidate for the Metropolitan Bishop in 1909. He lost the latter race to Atanasie Mironescu, his lifelong rival.
Safirin placed himself at the center of a scandal surrounding the attributes of the Romanian Synod. He objected to the secularist agenda of the National Liberals and to Atanasie's concessions in this respect. In 1910, he issued excommunication against his rivals, then retracted, eventually suing Atanasie before the Synod. His cause was supported by a coalition of traditionalist churchgoers, Catholic observers, and members of the opposition Conservative Party. The latter group withdrew its support upon coming to power in 1911, and Safirin was left more exposed.
The Synod eventually cleared Atanasie of all charges, but pressured both Safirin and Atanasie into resigning. Safirin resisted coercion, then left the country. He returned to favor in 1913, but was unable to obtain the Râmnic bishopric for himself, and eventually retired to Frăsinei Monastery. He is remembered as a controversial figure: obstinate to the point of mental illness, with a rare penchant for politics.
Biography
Early life and monasticism Born in Izvorălu, Mehedinți County, Safirin was allegedly the son of a Greek Romanian man and his Romanian wife (or, according to various rumors, mistress).Beu, pp. 260, 266 He studied at what is now Carol I National College in Craiova, graduating in 1870. From 1870 to 1873,Beu, p. 260 he was both French teacher and principal at the gymnasium in Târgu Jiu, but took a sabbatical to live in contemplation among the monks of Mount Athos. He was himself tonsured a monk at Tismana Monastery in 1873,Cernăianu, pp. 130–131 despite not having the formal requirements for the job, including a seminary graduation. In order to gain acceptance, he declared himself a "theomaniac".Beu, pp. 266–267
Eventually, in 1874, Safirin was ordained a deacon for the Râmnic Diocese. He also resumed his work in teaching, encouraged to do so by bishop Athanasie Stoenescu and by his former students. From 1875 to 1889, he taught morals, liturgics and pastoral theology at the Râmnicu Vâlcea seminary. He began collecting old books for the Romanian Synod's library, and, in 1877, transported hundreds of books from Horezu Monastery to Bucharest.Policarp Chițulescu, "Livres des bibliothèques médiévales roumaines, conservés dans la Bibliothèque du Saint Synode de Bucarest", in Actes du Symposium international Le Livre. La Roumanie. L'Europe. 4ème edition: 20–23 Septembre 2011, Vol. I, Section 1, 2012, p. 252
In 1878, he became a priest, and also the seminary's principal. Safirin, who used his salary to sponsor his graduates' continued training in theology, accused his predecessor of corruption.Cernăianu, pp. 131–132 At the time, he adopted Constantin Chiricescu, an orphan student from Topești, who later became head of the church printing press.Cernăianu, p. 141 His work as a principal also led him to write and publish the typikon for aspiring priests (1878; second edition 1897) and an 1885 dissertation on monasticism, Monahii sunt gloria Bisericei lui Hristos ("Monks are the Glory of Christ's Church").Angheluță et al., p. 164. See also Cernăianu, p. 133 In that context, he also began his work as anti-Catholic polemicist, translating La papauté hérétique by Wladimir Guettée (1885)."'Ortodoxia românească' și 'Pravoslavia rusească'. III: Cuvântul Redacției", in Biserica și Școala, Nr. 31–32/1937, p. 271; Beu, p. 260; Cernăianu, p. 133
This period pitted him against the professors, many of whom were sacked by Safirin. They accused the principal of tolerating homosexuality on school grounds, and of harassing a destitute woman. His protector Stonescu having since died, Safirin was ultimately deposed by Dimitrie Sturdza, the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs. That year, he published in Râmnicu Vâlcea a brochure in which he outlined his defense (and which he signed as "Gerasim Saffirinu").Angheluță et al., p. 164. See also Beu, p. 267 An archimandrite from 1888, Safirin was vicar of Râmnic from 1889 to 1890.
For the next four years, already in his forties, he studied at the theology faculty of the National University of Athens, Greece, obtaining an undergraduate degree.Cernăianu, p. 132; Rados, pp. 96–97, 108 Registered as Gerasimos Saffirinos, he was presenting himself as an ardent Philhellene to his teachers.Rados, pp. 96–97 Safirin also asked to be examined ahead of other students: at the time, he had been promised a seat on the Synod, and did not want to miss out on the opportunity. The professors refused to do so without explicit permission from the Romanian Metropolitan Iosif Gheorghian, who refused to grant it. Safirin returned home in 1894, and until 1899, was again employed by Râmnic seminary, this time as a teacher of Latin.Cernăianu, pp. 132–133
In May 1899, Safirin was reelected vicar bishop of Râmnic, using the title Craioveanul, and was consecrated in July.Rados, p. 180 In February 1900,Beu, p. 260; Rados, p. 180 he was elected, and shortly thereafter enthroned as Bishop of Roman. According to his apologist C. Cernăianu, from his early years in office, Safirin clamped down on priestly corruption and the intrusions of political power.Cernăianu, pp. 56, 133–135 He was also an ex officio member of the Senate of Romania, but, Cernăianu notes, took distance from other church senators, whom he regarded as undignified, and mostly kept to himself.Cernăianu, pp. 134–135 At the time, his adopted son was also investigated by government and suspended.Cernăianu, pp. 136–141, 194–195
1909–1911 trial
According to the Catholic lawyer Theodorian-Carada, Safirin was already disliked by the governing National Liberals when, in January 1909, Metropolitan Iosif died. For this reason, he was overlooked in elections for the vacant seat, which went to Atanasie Mironescu on February 5.Theodorian-Carada, p. 16 Safirin soon emerged as a critic of his own church, when Synod instituted a consistory under civilian supervision, and in part controlled by the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs. The new regulation "was widely seen as too permissive in allowing any Romanian to be a possible candidate for the church hierarchy. [...] the establishment of the Superior Clerical Consistory was directed towards bringing the interests of the lower clergy closer to the decisions of the church hierarchy."Lucian N. Leuștean, Orthodoxy and the Cold War: Religion and Political Power in Romania, 1947–65, pp. 36–37. Houndmills & New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Initially, Safirin proposed that the consistory be allowed only a consultative role,Beu, pp. 260–261 and took position in his speeches at the Senate rostrum.Sîrbu, p. 185 When the Synod would not rescind, Safirin left the deliberations and, citing in his defense "the fundamental laws of the Christian Orthodox Church", he called excommunication (afurisenie) upon the Synod and Metropolitan Atanasie. The latter, as Safirin himself noted, had been an opponent of secularization during his years as bishop of Râmnic.
The Synod voted to cancel the excommunication as unlawful—unusually, Atanasie presided upon sessions deciding his own name-clearingBeu, p. 263—, and asked Safirin to return for discussions or risk forfeiting his bishop's seat. The scandal, stoked by the secularizing Education Minister, Spiru Haret, was quelled in January 1910, when Bishop Gherasim withdrew the excommunication himself.Beu, p. 261–262; Cernăianu, p. 135; Theodorian-Carada, p. 19 The indignant Safirin soon noted that the Metropolitan had not heeded his advice to review the law for possible signs of heresy. On May 16, he lodged a formal complaint against Atanasie for a trial by Synod.Beu, p. 261–262; Cernăianu, pp. 135–136 Other clerics also joined him as plaintiffs, adding to the accusations. By the time the formal trial began on May 20, Atanasie was also investigated for plagiarism, sins of the flesh, and for conspiring with Catholics such as Theodorian-Carada.Bacalbașa, pp. 18–19, 29–31; Beu, pp. 263–266; Cernăianu, pp. 136, 140–147, 156, 197–198, 222–223
In return, Atanasie's supporters attacked Safirin for his questionable origin and alleged insanity. While the latter accusation was mainly grounded in a reading of his self-diagnosis as a "theomaniac",Beu, pp. 266–268 church historian Ciprian-Marius Sîrbu argues that Safirin's public statements were "borderline pathological". He speculates that, after being moved to Roman, Safirin was jealous of Ghenadie Georgescu, the titular bishop of Râmnic. However, Sîrbu also writes that the consistory, as a "double for the Synod", was "anti-canonical".
The scandal snowballed into a political and cultural battle. While the Metropolitan was backed by Haret and his National Liberals, Safirin's cause was endorsed by the Conservative Party, which had risen to power under Petre P. Carp.Beu, pp. 262–263; Theodorian-Carada, pp. 18–20 Conservative Christians of the time expressed the hope that Carp would effect a "moral regeneration" of the church, and undo Haret's controversial work.Beu, p. 263; Cernăianu, passim The pro-Safirin camp included, alongside Cernăianu, public intellectuals such as Constantin Rădulescu-Motru, Eraclie Sterian, and Mircea Demetriade, and clerics such as Iuliu Scriban and Ilie (Ilarie) Teodorescu;Cernăianu, pp. 141–144, 153–156, 159–160, 173–175, 204–205, 215–216 reportedly, only one follower was himself a bishop: Conon Arămescu-Donici of Huși.Jean-Marie, p. 49 The nationalist historian and publicist Nicolae Iorga also campaigned for the anti-secularists, until he suddenly changed sides, along with much of the Conservative Party itself.Cernăianu, pp. 141–144, 156–157, 182–206, 215–216, 297–309, 383–387 The trial also interested the Romanian communities of Austria-Hungary, where many of the National Party conservatives sided with Safirin, as did Lazăr Gherman, Dimitrie Dan and other clerics of the Metropolis of Bukovina.Cernăianu, pp. 148–149, 151–154, 157–167, 171–173, 180, 185–206, 297–309