Timotei Sătmăreanul

BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

• He was born on 13 January 1974, son of Augustin and Anastasia Bel, in Rohia, Maramureș County. He was baptized Cristian-Simion.

TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• 1980-1988 – attended secondary school in Rohia, Maramureș County;
• 1988-1990 – Graduated the “Petru Rareș” Theoretical High School in Târgu Lăpuș, Maramureș County;
• 6 October 1989 – he enters the Monastery of Ana – Rohia, Maramureș County, His Grace Iustin Hodea, Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Maramureș and Sătmar, being at that time the abbot of the monastery;
• 1991-1996 – he attends the Romanian Orthodox Theological Seminary in Cluj-Napoca;
• 1 October 1993 – ordained deacon by His Grace Justinian Chira, Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Maramureș and Sătmar;
• 28 June 1994 – was tonsured into monasticism by His Grace Justinian Chira, Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Maramureș and Sătmar, and His Grace Iustin Sigheteanul, Assistant-Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Maramureș and Sătmar, his godfather in monasticism, receiving the name Timotei;
• 1996-2000 – studies at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Oradea, obtaining a BA degree in theology with the paper “Părinți duhovnici din Transilvania, apărători ai dreptei credințe” (“Spiritual Fathers of Transylvania, Defenders of the True Faith”), defended at the Department of Missiology and Ecumenism, under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Ioan Mihălțan, Bishop of Oradea;
• 2000-2001 – pursued advanced studies at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Oradea;
• 2000-2001 – attends a course in Modern Hellenic language in the Philology Department of the Faculty of Philosophy of the “Aristotle” University of Thessaloniki (Greece), which he graduated with the “Exceptional” honour;
• June 2001 – December 2006 – doctoral studies at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology “Aristotle” of Thessaloniki (Greece);
• 2001-2005 – serves as a hierodeacon and from 2005-2006 as an archimandrite in the churches of Great Martyr Demetrius and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in the town of Serres, Metropolis of Serres and Nigriti (Greece);
• 14 September 2005 – he was ordained hieromonk and elevated to the rank of protosyncellus by His Grace Iustin Sigheteanul, Assistant-Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Maramureș and Sătmar;
• 1 February 2006 – appointed Exarch of the monasteries of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Maramureș and Sătmar;
• 14 September 2006 – was elevated to the rank archimandrite by His Grace Iustin Sigheteanul, Assistant-Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Maramureș and Sătmar;
• 1 May 2007 – appointed Abbot of the Monastery of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist in Scărișoara Noua, Satu Mare County;
• 19 June 2007 – defends his doctoral dissertation at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology “Aristotle” of Thessaloniki (Greece), entitled: “Erminia și Exegeza Noului Testament în Biserica Ortodoxă Română în secolul XX” (“Hermeneia and Exegesis of the New Testament in the Romanian Orthodox Church in the 20th Century”), under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Ioannis Galanis;
• 24 May 2018 – is elected by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church as Assistant-Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Maramureș and Sătmar, with the title of Sătmăreanul (of Sătmar), being ordained and installed on 24 June 2018 by His Eminence Andrei Andreicuț, Metropolitan of Cluj, Maramureș and Sălaj, together with several hierarchs.