Following the long-overdue canonisation in 1992, there has been a growing interest in gaining a better understanding of the life and cultural and spiritual legacy of Saint Antim of Ivire – for which, in the preceding years, particularly during the periods 1950–1956 and 1956–1966, veritable ‘campaigns’ had been carried out, under the leadership of Patriarch Justinian of blessed memory – experienced a remarkable revival, yielding edifying results in the history of Romanian, Georgian and universal. The personality of this great champion, armed with the printed word, from the late 18th century and the early 19th, proved to be of such stature, as well as a timeless model that remains relevant today. All this made it possible, in 2016, 300 years after his martyrdom, to mark a true ‘high point’ in research into and veneration of his Christian legacy, through the celebration of the Commemorative Year of Saint Antim Ivireanul, Hierarch and Martyr, and of the ecclesiastical printers by the Romanian Patriarchate, on the initiative and under the guidance of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel.
Developments on the national stage (and beyond)
In recent years, taking as a benchmark the comprehensive 1997 monograph Antim Ivireanul by the foremost expert on Antim, Academician Gabriel Ștrempel, the biography and work of the great printer and martyr hierarch have, thanks to a new generation of passionate researchers, significant new dimensions for his understanding and appreciation. Among these, we mention (summarising in particular the synthesis from the volume Antim Ivireanul, flower with golden shine of all good art / Anthim the Iberian, flower with golden shine of all good art, by Archimandrite Mihail Stanciu, Bucharest, 2018):
– definitive confirmation of his origin as a ‘Georgian by birth’ from Iviria, as he himself had stated in several printed works and as has been demonstrated in a number of dedicated books by contemporary Georgian researchers with whom Romanian researchers have begun to forge close ties;
– the identification of his birthplace (Ude, in the Meskheti region, in the south of the Samstkhe province of Iviria, which was transformed into the Çildir vilayet by the conquering Ottomans in the mid-17th century), as well as the aristocratic family (Khurtsidze) into which he was born, around the year 1650 (conventional date);
– confirmation of the 1706 statement by his apprentice, Mihail Iștvanovici, that his mentor, Anthim of Iviria, was sold in his youth by his compatriots as a ‘slave to the Turks’ (cf. also Anton Maria del Chiaro); highlighting the relevant context, without specific details;
– an explanation of his release from Turkish slavery through his purchase by Patriarch Dosithei of Jerusalem, who utilised him for his intellectual capacities and exceptional technical skills, encouraging him to master the craft of printing;
– specifying the date and place when, having been freed from the Muslim faith (which he had been forced to adopt whilst in captivity), he returned to Orthodoxy and entered monastic life: in 1685 at the Monastery of the Holy Sepulchre (as a monastery of pilgrimage);
– identifying information regarding Saint Antim’s tenure at Cetățuia Monastery in Iași (where there was a Greek printing press) and, subsequently, at the Monastery of Saint Sava at the Princely Academy in Bucharest (brought to both places by Patriarch Dosithei), although research into this is still in its early stages;
– supplementing the information on the (fatal) conflict with Patriarch Chrysanthus of Jerusalem, this time concerning the refusal to cede Snagov Monastery as a dependency of the Monastery of the Holy Sepulchre;
– identifying objects and books that are thought to have belonged to Saint Antim of Ivire in Wallachia.
As regards his biography, these make a particularly significant contribution, drawing on research carried out by Academician Gabriel Ștrempel, Archimandrite Mihail Stanciu, Associate Professor Dr Ion Marian Croitoru, Archimandrite Dr Policarp Chițulescu, Professor Dr Radu Ștefan Vergatti, and Ms Ioana Feodorov. With regard to the biography of Saint Antim Ivireanul, however, it must be noted that, in the absence of any first-hand accounts by Saint Antim himself (with the exception of the two known letters to Prince Brâncoveanu), several periods remain unclear (firstly, his time in slavery: where, when and for how long he was enslaved, and what he did; secondly, his monastic period at the Monastery of the Holy Sepulchre and his time in the service of Patriarch Dosithei, who is said to have taken him along on a journey through the Black Sea region); certain situations also remain unclear (first and foremost, the circumstances of his martyrdom), for which there are various conjectures, hypotheses and insufficient research.
As regards the anti-Mian work, among the significant developments of the last two decades, we note:
– the reissue, on two occasions, of the works – by the Basilica Publishing House of the Romanian Patriarchate (by Archimandrite Mihail Stanciu and Academician Gabriel Ștrempel), with particular emphasis on the previously unpublished volume of Letters to and from Saint Antim, in which a great deal of new and particularly relevant information has been uncovered;
– new, improved editions of some of Antim’s major works, including Figures of the Old and New Testaments (edited by the late Archimandrite Sofian Boghiu), Christian-Political Counsels (edited by Rev. Daniel-Alexandru Bărîcă), and The Divine Liturgies (with a critical study by Alina Camil);
– the comprehensive album Antim Ivireanul – The Printed Works (2016), produced by a team coordinated by Archimandrite Dr. Policarp Chițulescu and comprising Dr Doru Bădără, Associate Professor Dr Ion Marian Croitoru, Ioana Feodorov and Ioana Dumitrescu, authors of the translations and related annotations; the volume, published by the Romanian Cultural Institute;
– the publication in 2017, as part of a joint project by the Romanian Academy Publishing House and Istros Publishing House in Brăila, as a restitutio, of the volume Antim Ivireanul. Sermons. An unpublished manuscript from Bessarabia (1824), a critical edition, an introductory study, notes and facsimile by Zamfira Mihail and Paul Mihail – a text that could not be published before 1989 and which contains significant elements relating to the Romanian Orthodox community on both sides of the Prut, as well as, in the commentary, among other things, an original perspective on Bishop Antim Ivireanul and his (as yet) unknown stenographer;
– the reissue by the Basilica Publishing House of the Romanian Patriarchate of some of the most valuable studies dedicated to Antim Ivireanul during the interwar and post-war periods, authored by figures such as Nicolae Iorga, Alexandru Elian, Damian P. Bogdan, Teodor M. Popescu, Iorgu D. Ivan and Ioan Rămureanu (vol. Saint Antim Ivireanul – a missionary hierarch and martyr, 2016);
– valuable new interpretations of the life, personality and typographical, pastoral-spiritual and literary-artistic works of Saint Antim Ivireanul, by eminent researchers such as: Gabriel Ștrempel, Dan Horia Mazilu, Eugen Negrici, Doru Bădără, Gheorghe Chivu, Doina Curticăpeanu, Mihai Rădulescu, Florin Faifer, Dorel Man, Archimandrite Sofian Boghiu and, more recently, Archimandrite Mihail Stanciu, Archimandrite Dr Policarp Chițulescu, Rev. Dr Jan Nicolae (University Lecturer), Dr Ion Marian Croitoru (University Lecturer), Rev. Dr Dumitru A. Vanca, Rev. Assoc. Prof. Dr Mihai Săsăujan, Prof. Dr Radu Ștefan Vergatti, Prof. Dr Mihaela Palade, Dr Dan Zamfirescu;
– on the same level of innovation in their approach, particularly to the works of Antim, the relatively frequent appearance – in academic or theological publications – of studies and papers by younger researchers: Prof. Laura Bădescu, PhD, Associate Professor Dr Cristina Dobre-Bogdan, Associate Professor Dr Laura Lazăr-Zăvăleanu, Associate Professor Dr Luiza Marinescu, the writer Tudor Cristea, Maria Cătănescu, Alexandra Iorgulescu;
– outstanding doctoral theses dedicated to Antim Ivireanul at universities in Bucharest, Iași, Timișoara, Constanța and elsewhere, of which those by Marius Vasileanu, Gianina Picioruș, Alina Camil and others have been published.
– academic collaboration between Romanian and Georgian specialists, through the organisation of joint symposia in Romania and Georgia and bilateral projects which will soon be brought to fruition – this being one of the most significant contributions to Antimology, a hallmark of the last two decades. In this regard, we note that, as early as 2016, on the 300th anniversary of his martyrdom, a number of joint international academic events were organised, namely:
a) the international conference ‘Antim Ivireanul and the European Enlightenment: Texts and Contexts’ (Tbilisi, Georgia, 7–8 June 2016); initiated and hosted by the ‘Saint Antim Ivireanul’ Centre for Scientific Research in Philosophy and Theology at the Ivan Javakhishvili State University in Tbilisi, noting that the university’s lecturers published, in 2016, the Georgian-language edition of the Didachies and other writings of Saint Antim;
b) in the Archdiocese of Râmnic, at Cozia Monastery, on 17–18 September, the symposium ‘Saint Antim Ivireanul – European and Caucasian Culture and Spirituality at the End of the 17th Century and the Beginning of the 18th Century (see the volume of the same title published in the same year by the Praxis Publishing House of the Archdiocese of Râmnic).
An ‘Antimological’ experience of worship and culture in Râmnicu-Vâlcea
In the period from the canonisation of Saint Antim Ivireanul, Hierarch and Martyr, to the present day, alongside the canonical services held at places of worship (notably, of course, the All Saints Monastery, the Antimian foundation in Bucharest) and alongside the cultural, academic and artistic events organised in churches, universities and cultural institutions both at home and in the diaspora, the town of Râmnicu-Vâlcea has also made a significant contribution to the veneration of Saint Antim and to research into his life and work. This is the place where the man from Ivire was first appointed bishop, as head of the Diocese of Râmnic – Noului Severin (between March 1705 and February 1708), and where he established the Râmnic printing centre (which was to become, in the 18th century, a veritable ‘capital of printers’, cf. Nicolae Iorga), a place which, in 1999, chose him as its spiritual patron.
Here, under the auspices of the Diocese and, since 2009, the Archdiocese of Râmnic, memorable archiepiscopal services have been held every year since 1992 on 27 September (the day dedicated to the Saint in the Romanian Orthodox calendar). In 2016, on the initiative and with the support of His Eminence Varsanufie, Archbishop of Râmnic, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, together with His Beatitude Ioan X, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, consecrated the new monastery in Râmnic, dedicated to ‘Saint Antim of Ivire’, a title recently bestowed upon it, and a new church in the same ancient town steeped in spiritual tradition.
In the year of grace 1999, in Râmnicu-Vâlcea, on the very day of the Saint’s feast, the Antim Ivireanul National Centre for Medieval Studies was established, “with the support of the Diocese and the local authorities (…) and under the practical organisation of the Faculty of Philology at the University of Bucharest, under the leadership of Prof. Dr Eugen Negrici”, a native of Vâlcea, the initiative having been formulated by the then dean of the faculty, the late Prof. Dr Dan Horia Mazilu. The Centre subsequently became the Antim Ivireanul Centre for Medieval and Pre-modern Studies, maintaining its national scope through its members and collaborators from across the country, numbering over 50 over the years; it was attached, as a specialist body of the Saint Antim Ivireanul Cultural Foundation (established in 1991, prior to his canonisation), which has managed matters relating to its operation, funding and editorial promotion, as well as the logistics of organising joint meetings. From its twenty years of uninterrupted activity, we note:
– summer camps for the study of old Romanian books, held between 2000 and 2008 at the monasteries of Cozia (‘The Cozia School’, led by Prof. Dan Horia Mazilu) and Bistrița (under the leadership of Associate Professor Ioan St. Lazăr and Professor Ion Soare, PhD), attended by university lecturers, undergraduates, master’s students and PhD candidates, some of whom have already made a name for themselves;
– annual conference sessions (every September), featuring prominent researchers from across the country and the county, as well as young scholars (including participants in the summer camps and students from subsequent cohorts at universities in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Pitești); the sessions have traditionally comprised two sections: Saint Antim Ivireanul in Cultural and Spiritual Memory and Research into Medieval and Pre-modern Culture, to which, in recent years, the G. Popescu-Vâlcea Artistic Athenaeum has been added, within which illustrious researchers of yesteryear (G. Popescu-Vâlcea, Maria Golescu, Olga Greceanu), who specialised in medieval and pre-modern Romanian art, were honoured;
– the ongoing publication of papers from these sessions, as well as other studies relating to the life, work and contemporary relevance of Saint Antim Ivireanul in the annual journal of theology and culture Lumina lumii, sponsored by the Saint Antim Ivireanul Cultural Foundation (a journal which, in 2019, reached its 28th issue).
– the compilation of the most valuable research on Saint Antim carried out by the Centre’s members and collaborators, including that published in the journal Lumina lumii, in the series of volumes entitled Antimiana, namely Vol. I (2004), Vol. II (2012) and Vol. III (2016) – volumes which, together with the journal, feature in the bibliographies of many researchers from Vâlcea and across the country.
Over the course of the Centre’s two decades of activity, leading figures from ecclesiastical and cultural life, as well as many specialist researchers from universities in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Pitești, Alba Iulia, Brașov and Târgoviște, academic institutes (the C.S. Nicolaescu-Plopșor Institute in Craiova), places of worship (Antim Monastery in Bucharest, Nicula Monastery in Cluj County), major libraries (the Academy Library, the Central University Library, and the Holy Synod Library), museums (the Royal Court Museum in Târgoviște, the Șchei Museum in Brașov) and other cultural institutions.
Among the hierarchs, we mention Metropolitan Bartolomeu Valeriu Anania and Archbishop Gherasim Cristea, His Eminence Academician Irineu Popa and His Eminence Dr Varsanufie. We would also like to mention Academician Gabriel Ștrempel, Academician G. Mihăilă, Academician Dan Horia Mazilu and the renowned university professors: Eugen Negrici, Nicolae V. Dură, Radu Ștefan Vergatti, Zamfira Mihail, Cătălina Velculescu, Dinică Ciobotea, Adrian Marinescu, Archimandrite Mihail Stanciu, Archimandrite Dr Policarp Chițulescu, and other distinguished academics, such as: Dan Zamfirescu, Rev. Associate Professor Dr Jan Nicolae and Dumitru A. Vanca, Associate Professor Dr Ion Marian Croitoru, Cristina Dobre-Bogdan, Laura Bădescu, Laura Lazăr-Zăvăleanu, Silvia Marin-Barutcieff, Victor Petrescu, Ștefan Găitănaru, Petruța Măniuț-Coroiu, Luiza Marinescu, Gabriela Gabor, Constantin Mălinaș, as well as distinguished researchers in the field, such as: Doru Bădără, Vasile Oltean, Tudor Nedelcea, Rev. Dr Ioan Dură, Nicolae Mihai, Gabriela Nițulescu and Dorin Teodorescu, the writers Paul Aretzu and Doina Pologea, the art historians Dragoș Morărescu and Luiza Barcan, the icon painters Elena Murariu and Gina Maria Pilipova, as well as the younger researchers Marius Vasileanu, Alexandra Crăciunescu-Vasiliu, Ana-Maria Mihail-Iorga, Adriana Gorgos and undergraduates, master’s students and PhD candidates from universities in Bucharest and Pitești.
Over the years, these researchers from across the country have been joined by around 30 researchers from Vâlcea, including: Archimandrite Dr Vartolomeu Androni (Cozia), Archimandrite Veniamin Micle (Bistrița), Rev. Dr Nicolae Bălașa, Rev. Ion Gavrilă, Rev. Nicolae Proteasa, Rev. Laurențiu Rădoi and, more recently, Rev. Dr Ștefan Zară, Rev. Dumitru-Siluan Scurtu, Rev. Nifon-Dorin Iancu and Protosinghel Antim Motorga, followed by Rev. Drd. Constantin Mănescu-Hurezi, Rev. Nicolae Moga, Prof. Dr. Petru Pistol, Rev. Dr. Lecturer Leon Dură, Prof. Ion Soare, Dr., Florin Epure, Ion Predescu, Dumitru Lazăr, curator Dr. Ioana Ene, historian Eugen Petrescu, Prof. Costea Marinoiu, journalist Mihai Popa, as well as the young Drd. Gabriel Enache, theologian, MSt. Veronica Lazăr-Arsene, PhD candidate Elena-Lavinia Diaconescu, Alina Nicola, and the librarian. Their contributions, which were highly diverse in line with the broad thematic scope of the annual sessions, proved to be substantial in terms of both information and interpretation.
In this regard, alongside the doctoral research of a significant number of these scholars, several authors stand out for their notable cultural contributions, such as:
• Archimandrite Veniamin Micle, for his bold, well-argued hypotheses, currently undergoing validation:
a) The infirmary of Bistrița Monastery was a Hesychast church dating from the 14th century, with the specific patronal feast of the Transfiguration;
b) the first printer in Wallachia, Macarie, was Romanian and printed the 1508 Liturgy Book at Bistrița Monastery;
c) The monastic school at Bistrița was, in Wallachia, in terms of continuity and quality, equivalent to Neamț Monastery in Moldavia;
d) recently, the possible location of the Battle of Posada (1330) in the Bistrița Gorge;
• Prof. Dr Petru Pistol, for his monograph on the Christian apologist Lactantius and his translations of Lactantius’s works;
• Rev. Prof. Dr Ștefan Zară, for his patristic monograph Saint Ambrose of Milan;
• Prof. Ion Soare, PhD, for his presentation of Slavic-Romanian documents from the archives of Oltenia;
• Rev. Prof. Dr Ion Gavrilă, for the monographic study Church Music in the Vâlcea Region Through the Centuries;
• Rev. Prof. Dr Laurențiu Rădoi, for the monographs dedicated to all places of worship in the blessed Diocese of Râmnic, compiled in a monumental volume, and for a monograph dedicated to Prince Mircea the Great, the ‘lar’ of Vâlcea.
As regards the contributions made by researchers from Vâlcea to our understanding of the life and work of Saint Antim Ivireanul, we would like to acknowledge the following for their achievements:
• His Eminence Irineu Popa, for the foreword to the volume dedicated in 1997 by Mihai Rădulescu to Antim Ivireanul as a ‘teacher, writer and public figure’, as well as for his insights into the pastoral ministry of the great hierarch;
• His Eminence Bartolomeu Anania, for his subtle exploration of Ivireanul’s culture;
• His Eminence Gherasim Cristea, for his soul-stirring words concerning the memory and contemporary relevance of Saint Antim Ivireanul;
• His Eminence Varsanufie, for his insightful reflections on the contemporary relevance of the cultural, spiritual and pastoral model of the martyr and saint, Bishop and Metropolitan Antim Ivireanul;
• Archimandrite Veniamin Micle, for his theological interpretations of the Didache of Saint Antim;
• Rev. Prof. Dr Ion Gavrilă, for his account of church musical life during the time of Saint Antim Ivireanul, particularly the works of his collaborator, Filothei sin Aga Jipei, a former monk at Hurezi;
• Rev. Prof. Dr Laurențiu Rădoi, for his up-to-date documentation of the activities of Saint Antim Ivireanul as Bishop of Râmnic;
• Rev. Prof. Dr Ștefan Zară, for highlighting Bishop Antim’s spiritual guidance for priests and laypeople in one of his first books printed in Râmnic;
• Protosinghel Antim Motorga, for the insights provided by his research into Patriarch Dosithei’s work Tomos haras, printed by Bishop Antim in Râmnic.
With the reader’s permission, I would also like to mention a few of my own contributions: two books (Saint Antim of Ivire – ‘A Treasury of Gifts’, 1999, and Saint Antim of Ivire – Christian Orator, 2005; a third book is currently being finalised; the initiation of several lines of research: Saint Antim Ivireanul – a Brâncoveanu-style artist, Antimian prints in foreign collections, and the hermeneutics of the founding emblem of Saint Antim Ivireanul at the All Saints Monastery in Bucharest; organiser of the annual conference sessions; editor-in-chief and managing editor of the journal Lumina lumii and editor of the anthologies Saint Antim of Ivireanul, Spiritual Protector, 1999, Antimiana I – II – III, as well as the anthology Constantin Brâncoveanu – Prince of Creative Deeds and Sanctifying Sacrifice, 2014, the latter containing papers presented at the Centre’s study sessions – as concrete evidence that the great martyred prince and saint has always been given considerable attention within the cultural and spiritual programme.
None of this would have been possible had the Saint Antim Ivireanul Cultural Foundation not worked in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Râmnic and Râmnic Town Council, thereby securing the unwavering support of a number of trusted institutions, places of worship and NGOs: the Antim Ivireanul County Library, the Vâlcea County Branch of the National Archives, the Aurelian Sacerdoțeanu County Museum, the Saint Nicholas Theological Seminary, the monasteries of Vâlcea, particularly Cozia Monastery and Bistrița Monastery, and the churches of Râmnicu Vâlcea: the Church of the Ascension of the Lord, the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God, the Church of Saints Peter and Paul the Apostles, and the Râmnic Cultural Forum – with which a spiritual atmosphere and a loyal audience were fostered (see the booklet Hronic antimian. 1991–2016, a supplement to the journal Lumina lumii, no. 25, 2016).
Of course, however, this is a (concise) overview of the positive outcomes – for which, in greater detail, one may consult the booklet The Antim Ivireanul Centre for Medieval and Pre-modern Studies. Selective Documentary 1999–2019, a supplement to the journal Lumina lumii, no. 28, 2019 – does not absolve us of the awareness and regret regarding certain (inevitable?!) difficulties and unfulfilled aspirations, with their objective or subjective causes, known and felt on more than one occasion by the organisers. This presentation shows, however, that even from the provinces – with dedication, competence, tenacity, self-sacrifice, good organisation and collaboration – it is possible to contribute to a noble Romanian and Georgian project dedicated to the great printer, scholar and martyred hierarch, a champion of the values of Orthodoxy and of the ancestral Romanian Church, of whom the illustrious church historian Teodor M. Popescu wrote:
‘The virtues of a saint adorn the image of the most chosen shepherd of Ungro-Wallachia. Many foreigners have come to us; some have stayed for years, others have even served as pastors; some possessed spiritual qualities and had our nation’s best interests at heart, but none had the great and kind heart of Antim of Ivire, his inspiring and edifying demeanour; none took the welfare and misfortune of his adopted homeland to heart as he did, nor placed his duties of conscience above all his personal interests and desires. There have been worthy, learned, zealous and benevolent bishops and others among our people, but none have yet possessed the multitude of gifts that Antim possessed. He devoted himself entirely, along with all that he had, to the Romanian nation. This voluntary and self-sacrificing devotion lends a special, exceptional value to the figure and the deeds of this Romanianised Georgian, who presided over the See of Wallachia.”
To honour him in perpetuity, through worship and culture, becomes a duty of conscience and honour.