Archimandrite Nicodim Petre, diocesan adviser in the Department for Mission, Statistics and Pastoral Planning of the Archdiocese of Iași and abbot of Bucium Monastery, was elected Bishop of Bălți at Thursday’s working session of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church. His enthronement will take place on a date to be announced by the diocese.
The newly elected bishop is 58 years old and has been a monk for 26 years, having received monastic tonsure and ordination at Putna Monastery towards the end of 2000.
He graduated from the St Dumitru Stăniloae Faculty of Orthodox Theology at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iași in 1998, completed a master’s programme at the Andrei Șaguna Faculty of Orthodox Theology at Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu in 2009, and pursued doctoral studies at the St Sergius Institute in Paris between 2011 and 2013.
Ministry to young people
During his university years, he served as vice-president of the Iași branch of the Association of Romanian Orthodox Christian Students and continued his missionary work among young people after completing his studies.
From 2013 to 2016, he served as a diocesan inspector in the Youth Mission Department of the Archdiocese of Iași. After 2016, he was appointed diocesan adviser, responsible for the archdiocese’s entire Department for Mission, Statistics and Pastoral Planning.
The department oversees a wide range of activities, including missionary work at deanery level and missionary partnerships, youth ministry, outreach to minority communities, and counselling and support for people affected by addiction.
Among the bishop-elect’s achievements are organising the 2017 International Meeting of Orthodox Youth (ITO) in Iași and coordinating every edition of the Meeting of Orthodox Youth from Moldova (ITOM) since 2018.
He has also organised numerous other activities for young people and for priests involved in youth ministry.
Media ministry and work abroad
Bishop-elect Nicodim of Bălți also has experience in missionary work abroad, having provided pastoral care to the Romanian community in the United Arab Emirates from 2007 to 2014 and to Orthodox Christian communities in Tanzania from 2010 to 2011.
The newly elected hierarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church has also been extensively involved in missionary activities through print and audiovisual media and has participated in international conferences.
Abbot of Bucium Monastery
In December 2018, he was appointed abbot of Bucium Monastery in the city of Iași.
There, he coordinated the restoration of the monastery church, the construction of the shell of the Mother of God Prodromița Youth Education Centre, several ancillary buildings, and the renovation of the guesthouse, abbot’s residence, monastic cell, and cellar.
He also oversaw the preparation of documentation for the construction of a new church.
As abbot of Bucium Monastery, he initiated and organised numerous annual events, many of them dedicated to children and young people.
These included the Across the Hills of Iași walking pilgrimage, as well as camps, catechetical programmes and scholarships.
The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church elected him Bishop of Bălți during its working session of 29 October 2026.
The election followed the Synod of the Metropolis of Bessarabia’s decision on 19 October 2026 to nominate him as a candidate for the episcopal office, alongside Archimandrite Dosoftei Dijmărescu, a monk at Putna Monastery and Honorary Cultural Exarch of the Archdiocese of Suceava and Rădăuți.
