Serafim

BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

• He was born on 4 September 1948, son of Ioan and Ana, in the village of Boholț, commune of Beclean, county of Brașov. He was baptized Romul.

TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• 1965-1969 – student at “Andrei Saguna” High School in Brașov, Brașov County;
• 1970-1974 – studies at the University Theological Institute in Sibiu;
• 22 September 1974 – ordained as a celibate priest in the village of Pojorta, Brașov County, by His Grace Emilian Rășinăreanul, Assistant-Bishop of the Archdiocese of Sibiu;
• 1975-1982 – fulfils the duties of missionary priest and museum guide at the Episcopal Cathedral of Alba Iulia;
• 1982-1985 – doctoral studies at the “Saint Serge” Institute in Paris (France);
• 1985 – defends his doctoral thesis at the “Saint Serge” Institute in Paris (France), entitled: Le renouveau hesychaste dans les Pays Roumains, under the guidance of Prof. Boris Bobrinskoy and Prof. Olivier Clément;
• 1986-1989 – lecturer at the Theological Institute “Saint Serge” in Paris (France);
• 1989-1990 – is a spiritual father and assistant within the Department of Spiritual Formation of the Theological Institute of University Level in Sibiu;
• 17 February 1989 – He becomes a monk, the liturgical service being conducted by His Eminence Antonie Plămădeală, Metropolitan of Transylvania (Ardeal), at the Brâncoveanu Monastery at Sâmbăta de Sus, Brașov County;
• 12 February 1990 – elected Assistant-Bishop of the Archdiocese of Sibiu, with the title of Făgărășeanul, and on 11 March 1990 he was ordained by His Eminence Antonie Plămădeală, Metropolitan of Transylvania (Ardeal), in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Sibiu;
• 16 October 1993 – he was elected Archbishop of Berlin and Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan of Germany, Central and Northern Europe by the Diocesan Assembly meeting in Aachen (Germany), being confirmed by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church on 12 January 1994, and on 5 June 1994 he was installed in Munich.