Ignatie

BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

• He was born on 7 July 1976, son of Gheorghe and Ana Trif, in Bilbor, Harghita County. He was baptised, receiving the name of Ilie.

EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• 1983-1991 – attends primary and secondary school in his native Bilbor, Harghita County;
• 1991-1992 – attends the first year of high school at “Mihai Eminescu” High School in Toplița, Harghita County;
• 1992-1997 – pupil at the Orthodox High Theological Seminary “Mitropolit Simion Ștefan” in Alba Iulia;
• 1997-2001 – studies at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology at the “1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia, graduating with an overall average of 9.91;
• 1998 – undertakes a bibliographical research internship at the Benedictine Monastery of En Calcat (France);
• 6 August 2001 – is ordained deacon, and on 11 August 2001 is ordained priest by His Eminence Andrei Andreicuț, Archbishop of Alba Iulia, at the Archdiocesan Cathedral in Alba Iulia;
• 2003-2005 – attends MA courses at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology from the “1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia, defending the dissertation thesis: Teologia persoanei în gândirea Părintelui Dumitru Stăniloae. O incursiune în teologia patristică şi contemporană (The Theology of the Person in the Thought of Father Dumitru Stăniloae. An Incursion into the Patristic and Contemporary Theology);
• 2003-2008 – attends doctoral studies in Athens as a scholarship holder of the Holy Synod of Greece and YKY (Idrima Kratikon Ipotrofion), preparing a doctoral thesis on the topic: The Contribution of Contemporary Romanian Theologians to Inter-Christian Theological Dialogue, under the scientific guidance of Rev. Archim. Prof. dr. Nikolaos Ioannidis and His Eminence Hrisostomos Savvatos, Metropolitan of Messinia;
• 2003-2004 – attends courses of Ancient Greek and Neo-Greek at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Athens (Greece);
• 24 February 2008 – is tonsured a monk by His Eminence Andrei, Archbishop of Alba Iulia, at the Holy Trinity Monastery, Archiepiscopal Cathedral of Alba Iulia, receiving the name Ignatie;
• 19 April 2008 – is elevated to the rank of protosyncellus by His Eminence Andrei, Archbishop of Alba Iulia, at the Archdiocesan Cathedral in Alba Iulia;
• 15 March 2011 – defends his doctoral thesis at the Faculty of Theology “Justinian the Patriarch” in Bucharest, entitled: Sfântul Grigorie Palama şi doctrina despre energiile necreate (Saint Gregory Palamas and the Doctrine of Uncreated Energies) having as scientific advisor Deac. Prof. Dr. Ioan Caraza;
• 18 March 2011 – is canonically transferred to the Romanian Orthodox Metropolis of Central and Southern Europe;
• 19 May 2011 – is elevated to the rank of archimandrite by His Eminence Andrei, Archbishop of Alba Iulia, at Afteia Monastery, Alba County;
• 24 October 2011 – is elected Assistant-Bishop for the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Spain and Portugal by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, with the title Mureșeanul (of Mureș);
• 11 December 2011 – is ordained bishop in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael in Paris, by His Eminence Iosif Pop, Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan of Western and Southern Europe and His Eminence Andrei Andreicuț, Metropolitan of Cluj, Sălaj and Maramureș;
• 2013 – attends English language courses at the Centre of English Studies, Dublin (Ireland);
• 5 October 2017 – is elected Bishop of Huși by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, being enthroned on 22 October 2017 in the Episcopal Cathedral in Huși, Vaslui County.