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Visarion

Bishop of Tulcea
PS Visarion

BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

  • He was born on 19 October 1959, son of Nicolae and Măcinica Bălțat, in Tălmaciu, Sibiu County. He was baptized Dumitru.

 

TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

  • 1966-1974 – attended elementary school in Tălmaciu, Sibiu County;
  • 1974-1976 – Graduated from the first year of high school at the Theoretical High School in the same locality;
  • 1976-1981 – student at the Romanian Orthodox Theological Seminary in Cluj;
  • 1982-1986 – attends the Theological Institute of University Level in Sibiu, graduating as class valedictorian, with an average of 9.92. The thesis was entitled: The Romanian Orthodox Church as Seen by Foreign Travellers (XV-XIX Centuries), under the guidance of Prof. Mircea Păcurariu;
  • 1986-1989 – PhD in Theology, specialization in Dogmatic and Symbolic Theology, at the Theological Institute of University Degree in Sibiu;
  • 15 August 1989 – ordained hierodeacon by His Eminence Antonie Plămădeală, Metropolitan of Transylvania (Ardeal), at the Monastery of Sâmbăta de Sus, Brașov County;
  • 1994-1997 – attends specialization courses at the Faculty of Philosophy (1994-1995) and at the Faculty of Theology (1995-1997) of the University of Athens, as a Greek state scholarship holder, for the preparation of his doctoral thesis in Theology (specialization in Dogmatics), under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Konstantinos Skouteris;
  • 5 October 1997 – he is ordained hieromonk in the Romanian Orthodox Cathedral in Cluj-Napoca, by His Eminence Bartolomeu Anania, Archbishop of Vad, Feleac and Cluj;
  • 30 September 1997 – was elected Assistant-Bishop of the Archdiocese of Sibiu, with the title of Rășinari (Rășinăreanul), and on 12 October 1997 was ordained hierarch in the Orthodox Cathedral of Alba Iulia;
  • 2005 – he submits his doctoral thesis at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology “Andrei Șaguna” in Sibiu, entitled: The Mariological Teaching of St. Nicholas Cabasila in the Orthodox Spirituality of the 14th Century;
  • 5 March 2008 – was elected by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church to the vacant episcopal see of the Diocese of Tulcea, being enthroned as Bishop of Tulcea by His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, on 25 March 2008, in the church of the Annunciation (Bunavestire) in Tulcea.