Studia Humanitatis

The study presents historical documents from the collection of the scholar-bishop Ghenadie Enăceanu, held at the Library of the Romanian Academy, with a focus on charters adorned with miniatures issued by Matei Basarab, Grigorie I Ghica, Radu Leon, Gheorghe Duca and Constantin Brâncoveanu in the 17th century. The analysis combines the legal and socio-economic content of the documents with an examination of their miniature decoration — plant, zoomorphic and iconographic motifs, as well as votive portraits — highlighting the links between chancery art and the miniatures found in religious manuscripts from Wallachia.

The article traces the history of the transfer of the relics of Saint Dimitrios the New to Bucharest on 13 July 1774, against the backdrop of the Russian military occupation and the plague epidemic, and examines the role of these relics in protecting the capital during times of crisis, from the processions of the 18th and 19th centuries through to the Covid-19 pandemic and the anniversary celebrations in 2024.

The Archangel Hermitage on Priba Hill, on the outskirts of Râmnicu Vâlcea, is a monastic settlement first documented in 1490, founded by Jupan Stoica Vel Paharnic in 1522 and rebuilt on several occasions, including in 1725 by Archimandrite Petronie and in 1811–1817 by Sofronie Zlătăreanul. The article reconstructs its history through princely charters, inscriptions and Austrian sources, highlighting its role as a centre of culture and local administrative training.

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.

On the night of 16–17 February 1918, Bulgarian soldiers stole the holy relics of Saint Dimitrie Basarabov from the Metropolitan Cathedral in Bucharest, and the intervention of the German military authorities, alerted by Metropolitan Primate Konon, led to their recovery on the evening of 20 February 1918. As a token of gratitude, the faithful presented a candle to the reliquary, which was subsequently, through the care of Patriarch Justinian, taken to the church in the village of Ciunget, in Vâlcea County.

This article presents the prefaces by the Greek editors Polyzóis Labanițiótis and Gheorghe Vendótis to Meletius of Athens’ Ecclesiastical History, preserved in the unpublished Romanian manuscript by Naum Râmniceanu held at the Library of the Romanian Academy, alongside the foreword by Metropolitan Veniamin Costachi from the Iași edition (1841–1842), highlighting the editorial efforts and the context of the Viennese printing (1783–1795).

This article analyses the role of punctuation in determining the meaning of key passages in Eminescu’s posthumous poetry, drawing on manuscripts, publications in Convorbiri literare, the Almanahul România Jună and the Maiorescu editions. The cases discussed — the comma in ‘Rugăciunea unui dac’, the hapax ‘nemurie’ in ‘Luceafărul’ and the lunar passage in ‘Satira IV’ — demonstrate how tacit changes to punctuation have distorted Eminescu’s cosmology and poetic logic.

Capela Hill in Râmnicu Vâlcea is presented in all its historical, geographical and cultural complexity, from Roman legends and the Austrian occupation to the bobsleigh run opened in 1923 and the recent ‘Pădure’ project–Park project, completed in May 2024. The article traces the hill’s connections with the town’s history, including the Diocese of Râmnic, Saint Antim Ivireanul and the Statue of Independence.

Bishop Ghenadie Georgescu (1855–1912) led the Diocese of Râmnic between 1909 and 1912, distinguishing himself through systematic canonical visits to all the counties of Oltenia, the founding of the diocesan magazine Luminătorul, the organisation of pastoral conferences, the consecration of dozens of new churches and numerous philanthropic endeavours. The article traces the life and work of this little-known hierarch, from his training as a priest-teacher and pastor of the Romanian Orthodox community in Paris, right up to his untimely death, highlighting his contribution to the revival of spiritual life in Oltenia.

The documents presented consist of six appendices dating from 1841–1855, which illustrate the administrative and legal activities of Saint Calinic in his capacity as abbot of Cernica Monastery, as well as his episcopal correspondence from Râmnic: disputes over the Pupăza estate, the appointment of stewards, the dispute with the servant Catinca Suslăneanca, and the dispatch of sacred vessels and relics to the Church of St George in Cernica.

The author recounts his visit to Malta in April 1990 – his first trip to the West following the fall of communism – as part of the ‘Voices from the East’ seminar organised by AZAD. He describes the sites associated with the shipwreck of the Apostle Paul, the island of Gozo, the port of Marsaxlokk and Caravaggio’s painting The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist in the Cathedral of the Order of Saint John.

Bishop Chesarie of Râmnic (ordained in 1774, died in 1780) is regarded as one of the most important cultural figures of 18th-century Romania, through his printing work in Râmnic, where he oversaw the printing of the Minei and other religious texts exclusively in Romanian, thereby making a decisive contribution to the replacement of Church Slavonic in the Orthodox Church of Wallachia.

Bishop Damaschin of Râmnic (died 1725) translated almost all the liturgical books from Greek and Church Slavonic — the Mineya, the Octoechos, the Triodion, the Anthologion, the Book of Hours and others —, reopening the printing press at Râmnic and, with the support of Ilie Cernăvodeanul, a Book of Hours (1724) and a Treatise on the Seven Sacraments, thereby making a decisive contribution to the replacement of Church Slavonic with Romanian in church services throughout all the Romanian provinces.

Patriarch Justinian Marina (1901–1977) is presented through his life story and his achievements at the head of the Romanian Orthodox Church during the communist era, with a focus on the reorganisation of theological education following Decree 177/1948: seminaries, schools for cantors, monastic seminaries and university-level theological institutes in Bucharest and Sibiu.

Evstratie Arghentie’s work on Baptism, analysed in full in this study, refutes the Western practice of sprinkling, arguing on theological and canonical grounds that a valid baptism requires immersion in water three times, in the Name of the Holy Trinity, as a symbol of burial and resurrection with Christ. The author draws upon Holy Scripture, the decrees of the Second Ecumenical Council and medieval Western sources, concluding that Westerners baptised by sprinkling must be regarded as unbaptised.

This study presents the work of the Greek theologian Evstratie Arghentie on Holy Baptism, printed in Constantinople in 1756 and preserved in two Romanian manuscript copies from Căldărușani and Cernica, produced in 1791–1792 within the Paisian movement. The study analyses the context in which the work was produced, linked to the disputes concerning the validity of Western baptism within the Greek Orthodox world, and the actual content of the work, including the patristic and scriptural arguments put forward by Arghentie in favour of baptism by immersion.

The narthex of the great church at Hurezi houses a gallery of nearly thirty portraits — the Cantacuzinos, the Brâncoveni, and the Bessarabian princes from Laiotă and Neagoe right up to Șerban Cantacuzino — through which Constantin Brâncoveanu visually legitimised his dual dynastic lineage: his paternal Bessarabian and his maternal Cantacuzino-Byzantine lineages. The same Baroque-inspired historicism can be found in the votive paintings from Târgoviște, in the portraits from Mogoșoaia and in the prints of the period, marking the beginnings of the historicist mindset of modern Romanian civilisation.

Archimandrite Chrysant Penetis, a Greek by birth from Andros and abbot of Hurezi Monastery, drew up on 1 January 1850 two wills adorned with miniature icons — the Transfiguration for the Greek church in Sibiu and the Holy Trinity for the Ciorogârla-Samurcășești hermitage —, bequeathing to them revenues from Mount Cocora and from a storehouse in the port of Brăila. The study publishes transcriptions and facsimiles of the two documents, analysing the clergyman’s personality, the content of the bequests, the iconography of the miniatures and the place of these documents within the typology of Romanian charters decorated with images of saints.

The study analyses the causes of the deposition and beheading of Saint Constantin Brâncoveanu (15 August 1714), based on domestic narrative sources — the chronicles of Radu Popescu, the Anonymous Chronicle, the accounts of Anton-Maria del Chiaro and Dimitrie Cantemir — and the Ottoman documents published by Mihai Maxim, demonstrating that the Cantacuzino family orchestrated the voivode’s downfall through intrigues, forgeries and denunciations, with the aim of seizing the rule of Wallachia.

Bishop Antim Petrescu (1875–1920) of Râmnic is presented through his life, theological training and pastoral and cultural work, from his origins in Vlăduceni, Vâlcea County, right up to his election as vicar bishop of the Metropolis of Moldavia and Suceava in 1912. His patristic and moral writings are highlighted, as are his translations of works by Christoph von Schmid and Henry Drummond, the studies he published in Biserica Ortodoxă Română (The Romanian Orthodox Church), and his role in founding the Society of the Protection of the Mother of God.

The stone fountain commissioned by Bishop Filaret of Râmnic on 1 September 1784, on the banks of the River Olt, near the ford at Goranu, is examined from a historical, artistic and documentary perspective, with reference to the inscription in verse, the hierarch’s scholarly work and the vicissitudes of the monument, which was finally restored by His Eminence Varsanufie in 2015.

The article retraces a journey through Malta, Asia Minor and Constantinople, following the sites where the first Christian communities were established and where ecumenical councils were held: Ephesus, site of the Third Ecumenical Council; Myra in Lycia, home of Saint Nicholas; and Tarsus, home of Saint Paul. The geographical landscape and historical remains provide an opportunity for reflections on the connection between space and the understanding of faith, in the spirit of Nicolae Iorga’s method.

Bishop Vartolomeu Stănescu of Râmnic (1921–1950) was one of the most active hierarchs of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the first half of the 20th century, distinguishing himself through the founding of the ‘Renașterea’ Society, the organisation of parish centres, libraries and priests’ residences, the establishment of clergy credit unions, and the revitalisation of monastic life in Oltenia. His pastoral, missionary and cultural work profoundly transformed the Diocese of Râmnic, providing the clergy and faithful of Oltenia with solid frameworks for religious, social and economic development.

The pastoral work of Bishop Filaret of Râmnic (1780–1792) has been reconstructed on the basis of a register of decrees preserved at the Library of the Romanian Academy (call number cmlxxix/1-180), containing 180 documents from the years 1780–1783. The register reveals the hierarch’s concerns regarding the administration of church property, the issuing of certificates of ordination and spiritual guidance, the investigation of divorce cases, the organisation of processions with the Holy Relics, and the reconstruction of places of worship such as the Church of the Holy Archangels in Craiova.

The coat of arms of Saint Antim Ivireanul, a silver snail in a vertical position (in pale) bearing a six-pointed star between its horns, is analysed from a heraldic and symbolic perspective in the context of the Foundation Charter of the Monastery of All Saints (1713) and the Archiepiscopal Charter of 1715, revealing that the choice of the snail expresses detachment from earthly things and the ascent towards heavenly things.

Drawing on previously unpublished documents from the Central National Historical Archives, this article reconstructs the final years of the Church of the Forty Martyrs in Bucharest, a dependency of the Diocese of Râmnic founded by Mihail Cantacuzino, tracing the efforts of Bishop Saint Calinic of Cernica to save it from demolition, the controversial contract between the French contractor Alexis Godillot and the Bucharest City Council, and the transfer of the land for the construction of the Romanian Athenaeum.

Bishop Sofronie Vulpescu of Râmnic (†1923) is portrayed in the context of his pastoral and cultural work carried out before and during the First World War: the construction of new premises for the Theological Seminary in Râmnicu-Vâlcea, the reorganisation of the diocesan printing press, the publication of the Orthodox Church Calendar for 21 years, and the publication of works such as Man’s Free Will as a Principle of Moral Action and General Observations on the Life and Works of Immanuel Kant, alongside his contribution to the Synod and the hardships he endured under German occupation.

This article analyses the work Apologia against the Godless, attributed to St Athanasius of Paros, printed at Neamț Monastery in 1816 and reprinted in Bucharest in 1819, presenting the historical context of its publication in relation to the European Enlightenment and the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s policy towards Voltairean ideas, as well as the relationship between philosophy and theology set out in the text of the work.

The presence of Romanian Orthodox priests on the front lines of the First World War – from the mobilisation of over 250 clergymen in August 1916 under the coordination of Archpriest Constantin Nazarie to acts of heroism such as that of Father Justin Șerbănescu at Azuga – illustrates a tradition of military chaplaincy with roots dating back to the era of Prince Barbu Știrbei and which has continued, following a communist hiatus, since 1994.

On the occasion of the centenary in 2018, this article looks back at the stages leading up to the Great Union of 1 December 1918, from the union of Bessarabia and Bukovina with Romania to the Great National Assembly at Alba Iulia, where over 100,000 Romanians voted for the union of Transylvania with Romania, through the testimonies of Ilie Mișcuția, Nicolae Iorga and Vasile Goldiș.

This article presents previously unpublished documents from the archives of the Vâlcea Court and the Vâlcea Prefecture concerning the trial of the 16 robbers who attacked the Surpatele Hermitage on the night of 10 September 1839, resulting in the death of Abbess Elisabeta. The article includes the nuns’ petition of 11 September 1839, the judgement of the High Criminal Court of Craiova dated 27 February 1840, and the decree of Prince Alexandru Dimitrie Ghica dated 3 February 1841, by which the death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment.

Bishop Inochentie of Râmnic (1728–1735), successor to Damaschin Dascălul, served as bishop of Oltenia whilst it was under Austrian occupation, vigorously defending the rights of the Church before the Viennese Court and opposing the Administration’s interference in the appointment of abbots and in diocesan affairs. His work also includes a rich body of printed works — the Prayer Book, the Book of Hours, the Triodion, the Liturgy Book, and the Catavasier — which were distributed throughout all the Romanian provinces, including Transylvania.

The study analyses the charitable work of Saint Calinic of Cernica and Râmnic, focusing on four monastic complexes — the churches of the monasteries of Cernica, Pasărea, the Diocese of Râmnic and Frăsinei — which were built or rebuilt in the first half of the 19th century. The study examines the three-conch plan, the three-towered structure, the mouldings of the façades and the neoclassical elements that define the founder’s architectural style, in contrast to the dominant neo-Gothic trend of the period.

Popânzălești Monastery in the former county of Romanați, founded in 1678 by the logothete Hamza Popânzălescu and dedicated to Saint Gregory the Decapolite, has undergone several phases of restoration over the years, the most significant being the restoration in 1853 by Saint Calinic of Cernica, and its re-establishment as a monastery in 1992, at the suggestion of Metropolitan Nestor Vornicescu.

The article reconstructs the robbery of the Surpatele Hermitage in Vâlcea County on the night of 10–11 September 1839 and the death of Abbess Elisabeta as a result of the beatings she received at the hands of the seven robbers, by transcribing and commenting on the documents from the ‘Delă atingătoare’ file concerning the robbers who murdered the late Elisabeta Surpăteanca, the abbess, held at the Central National Historical Archives, which reveal the identity of the attackers, their modus operandi and the correspondence between Archimandrite Hrisant of Hurezi, Abbess Platonida and the authorities of Vâlcea County.

Archbishop Dr Varsanufie of Râmnic has established the Cross of Râmnic award, intended to recognise contributions to the tradition of church-building, monasticism and scholarship within the Diocese of Vâlcea. The award commemorates the history of the Metropolis of Severin, founded in 1370, and the hierarch’s four years of ministry, marked by the establishment of eleven new monasteries and extensive restoration work.

Three significant events in the autumn of 1955 — the liturgical canonisation of the first Romanian saints, the 70th anniversary of autocephaly, and the widespread veneration of saints with relics — are reconstructed on the basis of the chronicle in issue 11–12/1955 of the journal The Romanian Orthodox Church, written by the priest and professor Niculae Șerbănescu. The highlight was the canonisation of Saint Calinic at Cernica Monastery on Sunday, 23 October 1955, in the presence of Patriarch Justinian, foreign Orthodox delegations and an impressive crowd of the faithful.

The reign of Mircea the Elder is analysed as the founding era of medieval Romanian civilisation, characterised by four defining features: political realism reflected in his territorial titles, the cultural synthesis between the Gothic West, Palaeologan Byzantium and Arab-Turkish Islam; spiritual tolerance, illustrated by his sheltering of Sheikh Bedreddin of Samavna and Bulgarian refugees; and the aesthetic Romanity highlighted by the balanced architecture of Cozia, in contrast to the exuberance of contemporary Moravian places of worship.

The article traces the history of the wooden church dedicated to Saint Nicholas in the hamlet of Cărpinișu, Anghelești village, Pietrari commune (Vâlcea County), a monument relocated and restored at the Vâlcea Village Museum in Bujoreni in 2009–2010. By deciphering seven inscriptions discovered during the restoration, including two inscriptions on the tympanum beam between the narthex and the nave, three stages in the church’s history have been established: an early form dating from the late 16th century (a monastery chapel or boyar estate chapel dedicated to Saints Constantine and Helena), a second foundation on 8 December 1655 by the priest Vasilie together with the parishioners, during the reign of Constantin Șerban, with the master builder Ognea Ion, and a third reconstruction in 1736–1737 by Gheorghe, son of Priest Vâlcu, in the hamlet of Cărpinișu. These discoveries refute earlier dates (1737 or 1810) and challenge Radu Crețeanu’s theory that the wooden churches in Vâlcea lack their original inscriptions and were built anonymously by peasants, demonstrating that they were founded by priestly families and wealthy communities, and built by specialist craftsmen.

The text analyses the study The History of Christianity as Cultural History, published in 1927 by Professor Teodor M. Popescu upon his appointment to the Chair of Universal Church History at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Bucharest, and examines its contemporary relevance to the debate on the relationship between Christianity, culture and modernity. The philosophical foundations of the work — which draw on the ideas of Rickert, Windelband and Schleiermacher — are examined, alongside the thesis that Christianity, although not a cultural programme, has generated a civilisation that is defined in contrast to its religious origins, whilst remaining its constitutive source.

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.

The study investigates whether Mihai Eminescu may have been familiar with Antim Ivireanul’s Didahii, tracing the history of the manuscript copies of this posthumous work and the poet’s relationship with documentary sources such as Aron Pumnul’s library, Timotei Cipariu’s Crestomația, and his collaboration with Moses Gaster. On the basis of linguistic and stylistic analogies identified in Eminescu’s poetic and journalistic texts, the author proposes that Eminescu may have read fragments of at least five of Antim’s Didachia from manuscript miscellanies, drawing on expressive passages in his own work.

The monograph presents the wooden church dedicated to Saint Nicholas in the hamlet of Cărpinișu, Anghelești village, Pietrari commune, Vâlcea County, identified as the oldest wooden church with definite documentary evidence in northern Oltenia, dating from the late 16th or early 17th century. The discovery, during dismantling work in 2009, of two original inscriptions hidden beneath the layer of fresco on the beam between the narthex and the nave led to a reassessment of the history of the foundation of wooden parish churches in Wallachia, pushing the phenomenon back by a century earlier than previously thought. The study also reconstructs the history of the commune of Pietrari, the free community of freeholders, the local priests and the founders, placing the monument within a broader social, cultural and religious context.

The study publishes in full, in transcription and facsimile, the printed work Capete de poruncă by Bishop Climent of Râmnic (1743), preserved in Sibiu, identifying it with the Invățăturile în Postul Mare from the Bibliografia Românească Veche. The text is compared with the pastoral letters of Antim Ivireanul (1714), Inochentie (1731), Climent (1747) and Filaret (1781), highlighting the continuity of the canonical, moral and liturgical concerns of the bishops of Râmnic in the 18th century.