Archbishop Justinian Chira departed to the life of blessedness about ten years agotranslated

The Very Reverend Archbishop Justinian Chira, Honorary Archbishop of the Maramureș and Sătmar Dioceses, departed to the Lord about ten years ago, on October 30, 2016.

Known as the "Voievod of Maramureș," the hierarch made a significant contribution to the reorganization and development of church life in this region after the reestablishment of the diocese in 1990.

He was born on May 28, 1921, in the village of Plopiș, Maramureș County, in a family of believing peasants, receiving the name Ioan at baptism.

At the age of 20, he entered the monastic community of the Monastery of "Holy Anna" in Rohia, where he was tonsured into monasticism in 1942, receiving the name Justinian.

He was ordained deacon on August 15, 1942, and hieromonk on April 17, 1943, by Bishop Nicolae Colan of Vadul, Feleac, and Cluj. During a difficult period for monastic life in Transylvania, he was appointed starets of the monastic settlement at the age of only 23.

Contribution to church life in Maramureș After the fall of the communist regime, the reestablishment of the Maramureș and Sătmar Dioceses in 1990 represented an important moment for church life in northern Romania.