Studia Humanitatis
History, art, and culture where faith meets the world.
The study presents historical documents from the collection of the scholar-bishop Ghenadie Enăceanu, held at the Library of the Romanian Academy, with a focus on charters adorned with miniatures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 work in printing in Râmnic, where he oversaw the printing of the Minei and other liturgical books exclusively in Romanian, thereby making a decisive contribution to the replacement of Church Slavonic in the Orthodox Church of Wallachia.
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.