#Patriarch Alexei I of Moscow

This article presents the life and work of Bishop Iosif Gafton (1896–1984), from his origins in a priest’s family in Puțeni-Tecuci, through his parish ministry in Rotari and Bucharest, to his long tenure as Archbishop of the Diocese of Râmnic and Argeș, highlighting his administrative, pastoral, homiletic and cultural achievements throughout his 40 years in office.

Bishop Iosif Gafton of Râmnic and Argeș is remembered through a personal encounter in the summer of 1983, at the age of 87, painting a portrait of a cultured hierarch with a fiery temperament and a remarkable gift for preaching. The article also touches upon the history of Frăsinei Monastery, founded by Saint Calinic of Cernica, the only monastery in Romania which, under the communist regime, maintained a ban on women’s entry, alongside several illustrative episodes relating to breaches of this rule.