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Jan 01, 0001 Tâmna, Mehedinți County, Romania Died on 14 Feb 1922 (aged 1921) Capricorn
Gherasim Safirin - Place of Birth, Date of Birth, Age, Wiki, Facts, Net Worth, Birthday, Biography and Family
Gherasim Safirin, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Family, Facts, Age, Net Worth, Biography and More in FamedBorn.com
About Gherasim Safirin
- Gherasim Safirin ([gera'sim safi'rin]; born Gheorghe or George Safirin, 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 anathema 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 Frasinei Monastery.
- He is remembered as a controversial figure: obstinate to the point of mental illness, with a rare penchant for politics.
