Bishop Antim Petrescu — the shortest tenure in the See of Râmnic (II)

Bishop of Râmnic

The spring of 1918 was to bring a completely unexpected turn of events in the life and work of Antim Petrescu, the vicar bishop of Iași. When the post of Bishop of Râmnic became vacant following the resignation of Bishop Sofronie Vulpescu, the Electoral College, meeting in the capital of Moldavia, elected him to head the Oltenian diocese on 3 July, by a unanimous vote. Confirmed by the government on the same day, he was installed on 5 July, also in Iași. In the speech he delivered on the occasion of the presentation of the episcopal insignia, the newly elected bishop stated that he had taken the helm of Christ’s ship in the Oltenia region, determined to support the struggle to improve the lives of his flock: “I am the son of free-holding peasants from a village in the Vâlcea region, and my parents instilled in me a love for my country and for my fellow human beings. I have lived amongst the people; I know them well, both their noble qualities and their sufferings. I declare to you that I shall always be amongst them, to guide them along the right path. I shall count the happiest moments of my life as those spent amongst the people. I know that amongst the representatives of the Nation present here today are many doctors who are aware of the evils afflicting our people. I promise these men of science, as well as all the priests and teachers, that they will find in me their most ardent supporter in the struggle to improve the moral and material condition of our people’1

The enthronement took place on 15 September in the Episcopal Cathedral of Râmnicu-Vâlcea, in the presence of local civil and military authorities, Captain von Betrab, the commander of the 270th Mobile Brigade, representatives of the monastic communities in Oltenia and of the Catholic and Evangelical denominations in the town, as well as numerous landowners, civil servants, doctors, lawyers 2. His pleasant appearance, distinguished bearing, exceptional intelligence and vast knowledge earned him the esteem of the parishioners of Oltenia, who saw in the new bishop, aged just 42, an energetic organiser and a first-rate orator. In Craiova, where he had carried out excellent pastoral work as a priest and teacher; in Turnu-Severin, where a monument to the soldiers who fell in the War for National Reunification was to be consecrated; in Târgu-Jiu, where a monument has been erected in memory of Ecaterina Teodoroiu, as well as in other regions of the diocese, he received a warm welcome. For example, in the town in Mehedinți County, as the train had been delayed, he was awaited on the station platform until midnight by local officials, led by the prefect, the mayor and the commanding general of the local division, much to the delight of the crowd of believers at having their primate3, in their midst.

Concerned for the welfare of his spiritual sons, he soon undertook a gruelling task, travelling through the regions of Oltenia, ravaged by enemy troops, to get to know his archpriests and priests, the churches and monasteries, the financial situation of the clergy and the religious state of the faithful. During this time, with his blessing, the churches in Amărăști, Muereasca de Sus, Dealul Bălcești, Mecea, Perișani, Mateești, Măgura, Știrbești, Tortoiești, Săcături, Burta, Gibești, Pleșoiu and Balota, all in Vâlcea County, many of which were consecrated between 1918 and 1919 4. To these are added the churches founded in Gorj County in Brădiceni, Jupânești, Tâlvești, Mischii, Șomănești and Turcenii de Jos; those in Dolj County at Rovine and Tunarii Noi, Rusăneștii de Jos, in Olt County; and Jidoștița, in Mehedinți County 5. A telegram from Drobeta-Turnu Severin Town Hall to the Diocese, regarding the consecration of the ‘Saint Dumitru’ Chapel in the parish cemetery, restored following the fighting in November 1916, urged the bishop to delegate ‘another priest, as the archpriest of this county is ill, to conduct the service’6.

Aware of the Church’s role in difficult times for the country, in July 1918, Antim requested the Ministry of Culture and Education of Oltenia “to facilitate the return to their posts of all priests and monks who had taken refuge from Oltenia because of the war, as there was a great shortage of priests in the Diocese of Râmnic”, and on 26 September he asked the Deanery of Vâlcea County to “contact the Society for the Protection of War Orphans in order to take those orphaned children lacking financial means under paternal care, through public donations”. Seeking to re-emphasise the importance of education amongst his flock, in October, in his capacity as Honorary President of the School Board, established within the Râmnic Seminary, he said: “We, the diocesan clergy, from the Bishop down to the village priest, must preserve the school where we received our education in our youth and to which we send our children […] In our diocese, where there are over 800 priests, what a significant sum would be raised if each priest were to contribute between 50 and 100 lei annually. In the past, the state obliged the clergy to pay an annual tribute to the Bishop. Let each one imagine that this Bishop is none other than myself today. This is the appeal we are making to the clergy in this year in which we take the helm of Christ’s ship on this side of Oltenia, and how full of hope we are that the entire clergy will rise to the occasion.”

Other documents show that on 21 October, whilst attending a session of Parliament in Iași, he recommended that vacancies in the monasteries be filled, and a few months later he enquired whether the monastic settlements and churches had submitted reports detailing the shortages and damage caused by enemy armies. Overcome by overwhelming feelings for the nation’s heroes, on 18 February 1919 he asked the priests to draw up a list of all the soldiers from the parish who had died at the front, to be read out during the Divine Liturgy, and “to categorically refuse any pretence of a burial by interring coffins and pieces of cloth in the cemetery, for these are mere superstitions which the Church condemns. The faithful should know that wherever their bodies may be buried, God will accept the prayers, memorials and acts of charity performed for the repose of their souls. Memorial services at 3 and 6 weeks, as well as those at 6 months and one year, are to be conducted solely in accordance with Church rites. The offering of alms and the distribution of clothing to the poor, in memory of fallen soldiers, in these times of great hardship and high prices, must be carried out as sparingly as possible; they must not spend beyond their means, lest their children be left without food and clothing. Let us not lose sight of the noble purpose of almsgiving: Christian charity and mercy, which saves the soul from death.”

Deeply rooted in the realities of his time and aware of the plight of the peasantry, from which he himself hailed, he called, in his capacity as a senator by right, for legislation to expropriate large estates so that poor peasants might be granted land, and on 6 March 1919 he required rural priests, who were members of the expropriation and land-granting commissions, to obtain permits for the entire period during which they were absent from their parishes. Due to the transitional situation, a few months later, on 8 August, he urged them “to celebrate the Divine Liturgy regularly and without fail on feast days, to preach peace and social harmony, and to combat the harmful and anarchic ideas that certain enemies, so well hidden amongst us, seek to spread”. He had addressed the same exhortation to priests and teachers on the eve of the Great Union, urging them to realise “the purpose of these endeavours, by enlightening the people”, since “we find ourselves on the eve of great transformations intended to improve the lot of the Romanian soldier, who, with his sword and his own blood, has crowned the vast map of liberation […] Conscripts, who have roamed the villages of the newly liberated regions, should put into practice the art of more systematic housekeeping and exemplary domestic care. Parishioners should cover their beds with a straw mattress rather than leave them to rot unused in the barns. Better housekeeping and a good start to saving one’s earnings […] Priests throughout the diocese, through advice on general cleaning and pest control, hair-cutting, shaving and rubbing the body with kerosene as often as possible, as well as boiling laundry and whitewashing houses, to combat exanthematic typhus, this scourge which claims so many victims amongst the population’.

We should also note here that in the winter of 1918, ‘in keeping with tradition’ and ‘especially because of the great days marking the fulfilment of our national dream’, the hierarch issued “an invitation to attend, on 6 December according to the old style”, the feast of the Episcopal Cathedral, which was to be celebrated with great honour7”. On this occasion, he invited the prefect of Vâlcea County to a religious service dedicated to the union of Bukovina and Transylvania with Romania and to Prince Nicolae’s name day, followed by a reception at the Episcopal Palace 8. Contemporary sources show that in 1919 he also officiated at other Te Deum services on various occasions: the commemoration of Bessarabia’s annexation to the motherland (9 April), the Romanian armies’ reaching the Tisza (4 May), the celebration of Royalty Day (10 May), the signing of the peace treaty between the Allies and Germany (29 June), the celebration of the Queen’s Name Day (4 August), the entry of Romanian Army troops into Budapest (6 August) and the commemoration of the heroes who fell on the battlefield for the unification of the nation (10 August)7.

During this period, he did not forget his native village either, returning on several occasions as the head of the Râmnic Diocese to conduct services alongside priests from neighbouring villages, in the presence of numerous worshippers. His portrait can still be seen today in the family’s church in Vlăduceni, alongside that of Bishop Atanasie Mironescu, who consecrated it in 1903.

His tenure in Râmnicu-Vâlcea was not, however, a long one, as might have been expected for a life ‘withdrawn and devoted solely to ecclesiastical matters’, because the Liberal government returned to Bucharest in the autumn of 1918, and on 6 November issued a decree annulling the decisions taken in Iași, and thus also his election as bishop. Consequently, the Ministry of Religious Affairs informed him that, from that day onwards, he ‘no longer held the office of Bishop of Râmnic’.

The final years of his life

In such circumstances, being “by nature submissive and orderly”, Bishop Antim tendered his resignation, but he was entrusted with the continued leadership of the diocese until the morning of 6 September 1919, when he passed away at the episcopal residence, aged just 44, as a result of a relentless illness 9. His strenuous labour, “compounded by his forced abdication from the episcopal see of Vâlcea”10, hastened his end; he was buried on 10 September, beside the altar of the infirmary in the courtyard of the Bishop’s Palace. The ceremony was attended by numerous priests and believers from the diocese, as well as many residents of the town and his home village, who came to pay their last respects “to that man who, through his intelligence and exceptional qualities, had risen to one of the highest rungs of the country’s social hierarchy”. He died, leaving his children only the house in Vlăduceni as an inheritance—a house he had built so as not to lose touch with the people and places to which he felt attached 3.

He was held in high esteem and loved by everyone; his death was mourned in the newspapers of the time, which reported the sad event quite objectively: “Elected bishop in 1918 whilst he was vicar of the Metropolis of Iași, where, during the hard days of war and refuge, he carried out an exceedingly arduous religious labour”11. Particularly laudatory words also came from Gala Galaction, who went on to write a beautiful obituary in his memory in the magazine Chemarea: “He was a soul of a clarity that went beyond the Christian, for it was almost apostolic; and, standing before his closed coffin, I may, without formality or constraint, write whatever my heart urges me to write […] I almost always found him occupied with a task in which he had specialised, namely the translation of devotional stories and short stories, which he found particularly in German folk literature. He edited at least some 20 booklets of this kind. An unspeakably modest endeavour, yet useful and commendable […] For the time being, the ruling church, that of Wallachia, has sent a pure soul to heaven12

His character also caught the attention of Archimandrite Iuliu Scriban who, whilst describing the situation of the Church during the First World War, wrote a few lines about the Bishop of Râmnic: “The late Bishop was a true priestly figure. He was gentle and unassuming, devout in the service of the Lord, zealously performing all the rites and duties of his ministry. Even when he was a married deacon and a student at the University of Bucharest, his colleagues used to call him a ‘monk’, because of his secluded life devoted solely to ecclesiastical matters […] In this hierarch, the Church has lost one of its worthy servants…”13 He also notes that his parishioners have not forgotten him, and on the seventh anniversary of his death, the monks at Frăsinei Monastery honoured him as was fitting, performing the memorial service in remembrance of their worthy hierarch 14.

We must also take particular note of the writings of Nicolae Iorga, who wrote in 1936: ‘The son of a villager from Vâlcea, a priest for many years in Craiova, who took the monastic vows only on the eve of his elevation to the rank of bishop, the blessed Father Antim was not only a decent man in every sense of the word, honest with his friends and forgiving towards his enemies – if only they had a soul like his! – but also a clergyman of profound and moving faith, for whom the fulfilment of his ecclesiastical duties was not a mere formality, but a mission imbued with the gravest and noblest responsibility […] One could never forget a liturgy celebrated by him, nor the sight of his pale face, with his long locks and rich black beard cascading from beneath the golden mitre. And as a preacher and orator, he was one of those whose heart gives them words’15

Honouring him today

For his virtuous life, the faithful of Oltenia still commemorate their worthy shepherd with great reverence to this day. Thus, the Craiova-based professor Toma Rădulescu rightly places him amongst the great hierarchs of the time: ‘Alongside Atanasie Stoenescu, Bishop of Râmnic (1873–1880) and Bishop Gherasim Safirin, the priest and later Bishop Antim Petrescu (1918–1919) are among the leading figures of Oltenia. Thus, his deeds confirmed what Antim, Bishop of Râmnic, had affirmed at his consecration as archbishop: ‘I shall be particularly imbued with the spirit of peace which I shall follow, with Christian love and, along with its various fruits, namely patience, mercy, generosity, humility, decency, selflessness, gentleness, innocence and sincerity. I shall endeavour as best I can to safeguard unwaveringly the sacred deposit of our Holy Church and, even at the cost of my life, to defend the truths of the faith, so that I too may say in due course, as the Apostle to the Gentiles once did’ ‘I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished the course’ and to hear from the Chief Shepherd the saving words: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been entrusted with a little, I will put you in charge of much; enter into the joy of your Lord!’”16. For his part, the priest from Râmnicu Vâlcea, Nicolae State-Burluși, who republished some of his works, wrote, on the occasion of the centenary of his passing, that Antim “has remained and continues to be a moral and spiritual beacon for today’s hierarchs and priests”17. Nor should we overlook the press of the time, which, a few years ago, published a brief account by Dr Florin Epure, director of the Vâlcea County Directorate for Culture, on the life and work of the hierarch with the shortest tenure in the bishopric of Râmnic, emphasising his cultural work 18.

In addition to all this documentary evidence, it is worth noting that, in his memory, on 23 September 1999, the first commemorative event, entitled ‘Antim Petrescu, Bishop of Râmnicu-Noul-Severin (1875–1919), and on 21 December, the County Council named the public library in his home village ‘19’ after Bishop Antim Petrescu. To mark the 90th anniversary of his death, on 19 November 2009, on the initiative of Professor Vasile Mamotă, the Town Hall and the local library, the Writers’ League, Vâlcea Branch, and the Anton Pann Cultural Society of Vâlcea organised the ‘Antim Petrescu Commemorative Medallion’ ceremony at the Păușești-Măglași Town Hall, in the presence of members of the local council and residents of the commune of 20.

A further tribute took place on 23 October 2014 at the Town Hall, where the ‘Antim Petrescu’ commemorative event – Bishop of Râmnic and Noul Severin – was presented, organised with the blessing of the Archdiocese of Râmnic, in collaboration with the Commune Library and the County Library. During the event, lectures were delivered highlighting his life and character, both as vicar bishop in Iași and as a hierarch in Râmnicu-Vâlcea21.

In 2019, too, the Archdiocese of Râmnic honoured its forebears by organising a series of commemorative events, which began on 1 September, at the church in the village of Vlăduceni, with the Divine Liturgy celebrated by His Eminence Varsanufie, followed by a memorial service for Bishop Antim, 100 years after his passing into the Kingdom of God, and the inauguration of the Antim Petrescu Library in the village. The following day, priests and cultural figures took part in the proceedings of the Antim Petrescu of Râmnic Centenary Symposium (1919–2019), organised by the Archdiocese, in partnership with the Town Council and Library of Păușești-Măglași and the Râmnic Cultural Forum. The event was opened by the Archbishop, who, in his words of blessing, said that “Bishop Antim Petrescu of Râmnic, who departed to serve in the eternal Kingdom a hundred years ago, has gone down in the history of the Romanian Orthodox Church as a self-sacrificing bishop, a devout minister and a tireless scholar of our nation”. The other speakers continued in equally laudatory terms, presenting the cultural, spiritual, pastoral, missionary, social and philanthropic work of the Vâlcea hierarch at the beginning of the 20th century22

Here are a few reasons why we feel compelled to honour his memory in these pages, written now, more than a century after his passing, in the hope that, in the future, other historians and cultural figures will examine his life and work, carried out chiefly in Râmnic during his brief period as bishop at the end of the First World War.

• 1

  Yvonna Petrescu-Moscu, ‘Antim Petrescu – Bishop of Oltenia. A distinguished son of the village of Păușești-Măglași, Vâlcea County’, in the volume TheDiocese of Râmnic. 500 Years Since Its Founding (1503–2003), Râmnicu-Vâlcea, 2005, p. 414.

• 2

  Prof. Dumitru Garoafă, ‘The Fate of Places of Worship in Vâlcea during the Years of Foreign Occupation (1916–1918)’, in Misiunea, vol. V (2018), no. 1 (5), p. 116.

• 3a3b

  Yvonna Petrescu-Moscu, Antim Petrescu..., p. 415.

• 4

  Rev. Dr Laurențiu Rădoi, Vâlcea: A Cradle of Romanian Culture and Spirituality, Sibiu, 2012, pp. 151–450 (with bibliography).

• 5

  The Holy Metropolis of Oltenia, Râmnic and Severin, Church Life in Oltenia. Yearbook of the Metropolis of Oltenia, Craiova, 1941, pp. 148–668.

• 6

  Tudor Rățoi, Nicolae Chipurici, Documents of the Severin Municipality (1916–1920), vol. V, Craiova, 2009, p. 281.

• 7a7b

  Information gathered from Professor Vasile Mamotă and Ioana Goran, a librarian at the Păușești-Măglași Library.

• 8

  Corneliu Tamaș et al., Vâlcea County during the First World War, Bălcești pe Topolog, 1979, pp. 378–379.

• 9

  Archimandrite Iuliu Scriban, ‘Internal Church Chronicle: The Life of the Romanian Church during the War. The Bishops during the German Occupation’, in BOR, vol. XL (1922), no. 6, p. 462; The Holy Metropolis of Oltenia, Râmnic and Severin, Church Life in Oltenia…, p. 112; Niculae Șerbănescu, The Bishops of Râmnic…, p. 207; Rev. Prof. Dr Mircea Păcurariu, History of the Romanian Orthodox Church, vol. III, 3rd ed., Iași, 2008, p. 133.

• 10

  Archimandrite Iuliu Scriban, ‘Church Chronicle: Bishop Teofil Mihăilescu’, in BOR, vol. XLIV (1926), no. 9 (546), p. 541.

• 11

  Dr Toma Rădulescu, ‘Antim Petrescu (1875–1919), Bishop of Râmnicu-Noul-Severin – new documentary evidence’, in MO, vol. LXVI (2014), no. 9–12, pp. 116–119, p. 115.

• 12

  Gala Galaction, ‘Vlădica Antim’, in Chemarea, vol. II (1919), 18 September, no. 155, p. 1.

• 13

  Archimandrite Iuliu Scriban, Internal Church Chronicle: The Life of the Romanian Church during the War..., p. 462.

• 14

  Archimandrite Iuliu Scriban, ‘Brief Notes. News’, in BOR, vol. XLV (1927), no. 4 (553), p. 253.

• 15

  Nicolae Iorga, ‘Vlădica Antim’, in Oameni care au fost, vol. III, Bucharest, 1936, pp. 28–29.

• 16

  Toma Rădulescu, Bishop of Râmnicu Noul Severin..., p. 115.

• 17

  Fr. Nicolae State-Burluși, ‘Bishop Antim Petrescu, 1875–1919 (100 years since his passing)’, in Lumina Lumii, vol. XXVIII (2018), no. 28, p. 607.

• 18

  Dr Florin Epure, ‘Archbishop Antim Petrescu, the bishop of Râmnic with the shortest tenure’, in Semnalul Oltului, Râmnicului și Argeșului, 8 July 2015, published by Georgiana Sebeș, at: https://semnaluloltuui.wordpress.com/2015/07/08/arhierul-antim-petrescu-episcopul-ramnicului-cu-cea-mai-scurta-numire/, accessed on 1 February 2021.

• 19

  Information gathered from Vasile Mamotă and Ioana Goran, a librarian at the Păușești-Măglași Library.

• 20

  Zenovia Zamfir, ‘Commemorative Medallion: Antim Petrescu, Bishop of Râmnic and Noul Severin (1875–1919)’, in Cultura Vâlceană, vol. II (2009), no. 22–24, p. 13.

• 21

  Emilia Smedescu, Commemorative medallion ‘Antim Petrescu – Bishop of Râmnic and Severin’, 28 October 2014, in: http://lecturasiimprumut.blogspot.com/2014/10/, accessed on 7 February 2020.

• 22

  Archdiocese of Râmnic, Proceedings of the Symposium ‘The Centenary of Antim Petrescu of Râmnic’, 2 September 2019, in: http://arhiepiscopiaramnicului.ro/cultural/lucrarile-simpozionului-centenar-antim-petrescu-al-ramnicului, accessed on 7 February 2020.