A metropolitan for the Romanians in the Americas

(Basilica.ro) - On April 30, the Sunday of the Myrrhbearing Women, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae (Condrea) was enthroned as the first Romanian Orthodox metropolitan of the Americas. The event took place after the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of Sts. Constantine and Helen in Chicago.

The delegation of the Romanian Patriarchate was led by Metropolitan Nifon of Târgoviște.

The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church established the new metropolis on October 28, 2016, and then-Archbishop Nicolae was elevated to the rank of metropolitan on Sunday October 30, 2016 after the Divine Liturgy in the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest, with His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel presiding.

His Eminence Archbishop Nicolae was born on April 15, 1967 in Constanta, Romania. He attended high school in Constanta and Bucharest and continued with the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Sibiu from 1988 to 1992. He earned a Master’s Degree (1995) and a PhD in Theology (2001) at Marc Bloch University in Strasbourg, France.

He was tonsured into monasticism in December 2001 at Radu Vodă Monastery in Bucharest, and has served as the Romanian Orthodox Archbishop of the Americas since 2002.

The Holy Synod also established the Diocese of Canada at its October meeting, and Bishop Ioan Casian is to be enthroned as its ruling bishop on Sunday, May 7, in St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Montreal.