Patriarch Daniel of Romania - Life

Life

Daniel Ciobotea was born in the village of Dobrești, Bara Commune, Timiş County, as the third son in the family of teacher Alexie and Stela Ciobotea.

He followed the Primary School in his home village (1958–1962) and the Gymnasium in Lăpușnic village (1962–1966), Timiş County. In 1966 he began the High School courses in Buziaş, which he then continued in Lugoj, at the "Coriolan Brediceanu" High School (1967–1970).

After passing his Baccalaureate exam, he then joined the university-level Theological Institute in Sibiu (1970–1974), where he obtained his degree in Theology with specialization in the New Testament.

During the period 1974–1976 he followed the doctoral courses at the Theological Institute in Bucharest, Systematic Theology Section, under the supervision of Dumitru Stăniloae; he continued his studies abroad: two years at the Protestant Theology Faculty of the University of Human Studies in Strasbourg and another two years at the Albert Ludwig University in Freiburg im Breisgau, Catholic Theology Faculty.

His studies abroad prompted critics to argue that he collaborated with the Securitate, because during the rule of communist president Nicolae Ceauşescu, traveling and studying outside the Eastern Bloc was almost impossible for those who did not send informative notes to the Securitate. Mircea Dinescu of the CNSAS however said that his Securitate file was burnt in December 1989 and as such, it can't be known whether he collaborated with it or not.

On 15 June 1979 he defended a Doctoral Dissertation at the Protestant Theology Faculty in Strasbourg, entitled: "Réflexion et vie chrétiennes aujourd'hui. Essai sur le rapport entre la théologie et la spiritualité, 424 pp." (Christian reflection and life today. Essay on the relationship between theology and spirituality, 424 pp) The dissertation was prepared under the supervision of two well-known French professors: Gerard Ziegwald and André Benoit and it received high praise. Thus he becomes Doctor of the Strasbourg University.

A more developed version of his doctoral dissertation was prepared under the guidance of his mentor, Dumitru Stăniloae and it was successfully defended on 31 October 1980 at the Orthodox Theological Institute in Bucharest under the title: "Teologie și spiritualitate creștină. Raportul dintre ele și situația actuală" (Theology and Christian spirituality. The relationship between them and the current situation).

Between 1980–1986, Dan Ilie Ciobotea served as lecturer at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland, while from 1986–1988 he acted as the institute's Adjunct Director.

In 1987 he entered the monastic life in the Sihăstria Monastery in Romania and took the name Monk Daniel, having as his "monastic godfather" the well-known spiritual Archimandrite Cleopa Ilie.

In 1992 he started teaching Theology at the Dumitru Staniloae Faculty of Orthodox Theology in the Al. I Cuza University in Iași.

Between 1 September 1988,– 1 March 1990, he was patriarchal counsellor and director of the Contemporary Theology and Ecumenical Dialogue Section in the Romanian Patriarchate.

In early 1990 he belonged to the short-lived Group for Reflection on Church Renewal where ironically he shared the same views for church reform with Bartolomeu Anania, who would become his rival in the race for patriarch in 2007.

In March 1990, Daniel was ordained as suffragan bishop of the Archbishopric of Timișoara. Three months later, in June 1990, he was appointed Metropolitan of Moldova and Bukovina.

He founded the influential Radio Trinitas in 1998.

Between 5–8 October 2005, the Metropolitanate of Moldova and Bukovina co-organized with the Centre for Post-communist Studies (Canada, directed by Dr. Lavinia Stan and Dr. Lucian Turcescu) a prestigious international symposium on Church and State in Post-communist Eastern Europe.

On 12 September 2007, he was elected to take the lead of the Romanian Orthodox Church, after leading in all three rounds, ahead of the other candidates (Bartolomeu Anania, Metropolitan of Cluj and Ioan Selejean, Bishop of Covasna and Harghita).

Although appreciated for his intellectual skills and diplomacy, Daniel is regarded as a renovationist and iron-handed patriarch by traditionalists and various radicals, who accuse him of being a Freemason, of supporting ecumenism (considered a "heresy of our times"), and of planning to forcibly unite the Romanian Orthodox Church with the Roman Catholic Church, although he refuted the first allegation in a public statement.