Irineu

BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

• He was born on 2 July 1953, son of Dumitru and Rozalia Pop, in Băsești, Maramureș County. He was baptized with the name Ionel.

EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• 1960-1968 – attends primary and secondary school in his native village, Băsești, Maramureș County;
• 1968-1973 – attends the Orthodox Theological High School Seminary in Cluj-Napoca;
• 1974-1975 – studies at the Theological Institute of University Level in Sibiu;
• 1975-1978 – he transfers himself to the Theological Institute of University Level in Bucharest, graduating as valedictorian;
• August 1, 1978 – enters the monastic life at Sinaia Monastery, Prahova County, being tonsured a monk on 14 October 1978, by Protosyngellos Calinic Argatu, abbot of the monastery;
• 22 July 1979 – is ordained hierodeacon by His Grace Roman of Ialomița (Ialomițeanul), Assistant-Bishop of the Archdiocese of Bucharest, at Sinaia Monastery, Prahova County;
• 14 October 1980 – is ordained hieromonk by His Grace Roman of Ialomița (Ialomițeanul), Assistant-Bishop of the Archdiocese of Bucharest, at Sinaia Monastery, Prahova County;
• 1981-1984 – attends doctoral courses at the Theological Institute of University Degree in Bucharest;
• 10 June 1984 – is raised to the rank of protosyncellus by His Beatitude Vasile of Târgoviște (Târgovișteanul), Patriarchal Assistant-Bishop, at Sinaia Monastery, Prahova County;
• 1985-1988 – studies at the Presbyterian Theological Institute in Princeton, New Jersey (USA);
• 26 October 1989 – is raised to the rank of archimandrite by His Beatitude Patriarch Teoctist, in the Church Sfântul Nicolae – Vlădica in Bucharest;
• 1990 – defends his doctoral thesis entitled Chipul lui Hristos în viața morală a creștinului (The Face of Christ in the Moral Life of the Christian), realized under the coordination of Rev. Fr. Dr. Dumitru Radu, at the Theological Institute of University Level in Bucharest, appreciated as of exceptional quality;
• 30 October 1990 – is elected Assistant-Bishop of the Archdiocese of Vad, Feleac and Cluj by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, with the title Bistrițeanul (of Bistrița), being ordained on 21 November 1990 by His Beatitude Teoctist, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, alongside several hierarchs, in the Archiepiscopal Cathedral of Cluj-Napoca;
• 19 May 2011 – is elected Archbishop of Alba Iulia by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church;
• 5 June 2011 – is enthroned as Archbishop of Alba Iulia by His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, together with 22 hierarchs, in the Cathedral of the Reunification of Alba Iulia.