{"id":561299,"date":"2026-03-04T15:34:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T13:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=561299"},"modified":"2026-03-04T15:34:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T13:34:01","slug":"patriarch-daniel-36-years-episcopal-ordination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/patriarch-daniel-36-years-episcopal-ordination\/","title":{"rendered":"Romanian Patriarch Daniel marks 36 years since episcopal ordination"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday marked 36 years since Patriarch Daniel, head of the Romanian Orthodox Church, was ordained bishop.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On March 4, 1990\u2014the first Sunday of Great Lent that year\u2014he was ordained Assistant Bishop of the Archdiocese of Timi\u0219oara, receiving the title \u201cBishop of Lugoj.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patriarch Daniel<\/a> was born on July 22, 1951, in the village of Dobre\u0219ti, Bara commune, Timi\u0219 County, the third child of Alexie and Stela Ciobotea. In 1974 he obtained a degree in theology from the Orthodox Theological Institute in Sibiu and later pursued doctoral studies under the guidance of Saint Dumitru St\u0103niloae<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His theological formation also included research and study periods in Strasbourg, France, and Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.<\/p>\n

Entering monastic life<\/h2>\n

In 1987 the future Patriarch entered monastic life at Sih\u0103stria Monastery in Neam\u021b County, with saint Cleopas Ilie as his monastic sponsor. The same year he was ordained hierodeacon and later hieromonk.<\/p>\n

In 1988 he was elevated to the rank of Protosyncellus and appointed patriarchal adviser, also serving as director of the Department for Contemporary Theology and Ecumenical Dialogue. During this period he was active in academia as a lecturer at the Orthodox Theological Institute in Bucharest.<\/p>\n

Milestones of ministry<\/h2>\n

Elected Metropolitan of Moldavia and Bukovina on June 7, 1990, he launched numerous pastoral, administrative and cultural initiatives, including the restoration of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Ia\u0219i, the establishment of the Providen\u021ba Medical Center, and the founding of the newspaper Lumina and Radio Trinitas.<\/p>\n

On September 12, 2007, he was elected Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church and enthroned on September 30, 2007. Since then, he has continued to expand the Church\u2019s pastoral and missionary work both in Romania and among Romanian communities abroad.<\/p>\n

One of the most significant projects of his patriarchate has been the construction of the Romanian People\u2019s Salvation Cathedral<\/a>, considered a symbolic landmark of the Romanian Orthodox Church.<\/p>\n

\u201cA rhythm and ethos for the Church\u201d<\/h2>\n

In a message delivered on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, Patriarchal Auxiliary Bishop Varlaam of Ploie\u0219ti highlighted<\/a> the continuity and fruitfulness of Patriarch Daniel\u2019s ministry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese 36 years of episcopal service of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel have set a rhythm and an ethos for our Church,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The bishop also recalled Patriarch Daniel\u2019s time as Metropolitan of Moldavia and Bukovina, quoting metropolitan Bartolomeu Anania, who once described the activity of the metropolis as \u201ca beehive of the Holy Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following his enthronement in 2007, the bishop added, this \u201cbeehive of the Holy Spirit\u201d expanded to the entire Romanian Patriarchate, while the Church\u2019s work became increasingly visible in society, even recognized by those not directly connected to church life.<\/p>\n

Photo: Basilica.ro \/ Raluca-Emanuela Ene
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wednesday marked 36 years since Patriarch Daniel, head of the Romanian Orthodox Church, was ordained bishop. On March 4, 1990\u2014the first Sunday of Great Lent that year\u2014he was ordained Assistant Bishop of the Archdiocese of Timi\u0219oara, receiving the title \u201cBishop of Lugoj.\u201d Patriarch Daniel was born on July 22, 1951, in the village of Dobre\u0219ti,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":561205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[35881,66,26997,53,36284],"class_list":["post-561299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anniversaries-and-commemorations","tag-episcopal-ordination-anniversary","tag-patriarch-daniel","tag-patriarhul-romaniei-en","tag-romanian-orthodox-church","tag-romanian-patriarchate-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}