Saint Theophan the Confessor is the spiritual protector of the Metropolitan of Moldavia and Bucovinatranslated

Saint Theophanes the Confessor, Bishop of Nicaea, is the spiritual protector of His Holiness Father Theophanes, Metropolitan of Moldavia and Bucovina.

The hierarch was born on October 19, 1959, in Corbi, Argeș county, receiving the baptismal name Dumitru. After graduating from the general school in his hometown, he attended the "St. Gregory the Theologian" Orthodox Theological High School Seminary in Craiova, between 1974 and 1979.

He continued his studies at the University Degree Theological Institute in Bucharest, which he graduated in 1984 with a thesis dedicated to monastic vows and Christian perfection. At the end of 1984, he entered the community of the Crasna Hermitage, and in July 1985 he was ordained a monk. Two months later he was ordained hierodeacon and then hieromonk.

Between 1986 and 1990 he attended the "Saint Serge" Theological Institute in Paris, where he obtained his doctorate in Theology with a work devoted to the theology of Saint Maximus the Confessor and the deification of man.

Returning to the country, he held, between 1990 and 1991, the position of secretary of the Patriarchal Cabinet. On September 2, 1991, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church elected him Patriarchal Vicar Bishop, being...