Nifon Rusailă (the name of the layman Nicolae Rusailă ; b. 1789 , Bucharest , Wallachia - d.5 mai 1875, Bucharest , Romania ) was a Romanian Orthodox clergyman, who held the position of Metropolitan of Ungrovlahia (1850-1865) and then Metropolitan-Primate of Romania (1865-1875). He played a major role in the unification of the Romanian principalities in 1859.
Metropolitan of Ungrovlahia[]
Nicolae Rusailă was born in 1789 (1797 after Dimitrie R. Rosetti [1]), in Bucharest, to Romanian parents [2]. He attended the Oţetari church school, and in 1809 he went to the Cernica Monastery where he embraced the monastic scheme with the name of Nifon. He was ordained hierodeacon at the Metropolitanate, and in 1826 hieromonk.
He was promoted on February 1, 1827 as a stavrophore and protosinghel iconographer at the Bishopric of Râmnicu and in 1836 as an archimandrite by the Neophyte bishop of Râmnicu. After Neophyte became metropolitan, he was appointed abbot of Cozia Monastery on December 19, 1839 . At the end of 1841 he was appointed vicar of the Metropolitan Church of Ungrovlahia. Following the intervention of Metropolitan Neophyte under the Patriarch of Constantinople, on October 24, 1842, he was ordained titular bishop of Sevastia, retaining his position as vicar of the metropolis. During the Revolution of 1848 he was appointed provisional ruler of the Diocese of Râmnic (January 1848 - September 1850), and after the resignation of Metropolitan Neophyte he led, as vicar, the Metropolitanate of Ungrovlahia (August 11, 1849 - September 14, 1850).
On September 14, 1850, he was elected Metropolitan of Ungrovlahia, being enthroned on October 8, 1850. On January 11, 1865, he was granted the title of "Primate Metropolitan" of Romania, pastoring until his death. The diocesan theological seminaries, closed during the revolution of 1848, reopened in 1851. In 1852 he set up a printing house, in which he edited almost all the service books (later taken over by the state). At his own expense, he rebuilt several places of worship (Zamfira Monastery, Cetățuia Hermitage in Râmnicu Vâlcea) and built the church in Letca Nouă].
Metropolitan Nifon served as president of the Ad-hoc Divan in Bucharest on September 29, 1857 and of the elective Assembly that elected Alexandru Ioan Cuza on January 24, 1859. In 1864, the Romanian Senate was established , Metropolitan Nifon becoming the first president of the Senate. [3]During his pastorate, the well-known church reforms of Alexandru Ioan Cuza took place (secularization of monastic properties, the Synodal Law, the Law for the appointment of metropolitans and diocesan bishops). In 1865 he was appointed primate of Romania.
On May 10, 1866, he met Prince Carol, who took the oath of allegiance to the Metropolitan on the same day.
In 1872 the "Organic Law for the election of metropolitans and bishops and for the establishment of the Holy Synod" was promulgated. On November 17, 1872, he founded - with his own money - a second seminary in Bucharest, with 4 classes, which bore his name. This seminary was maintained - until 1948 - from the funds left by the metropolitan and from the revenues of the Letca Nouă] estate. Metropolitan Nifon Rusailă died on May 5, 1875, in Bucharest, being buried at the Cernica Monastery. Metropolitan Nifon remained in history as the first leader of an autonomous Romanian church and the first president of the Senate, but also as the basic man in everything that constituted the union of the principalities and the creation of a modern Romanian state.
Numismatics[]
On June 2, 2014, the National Bank of Romania put into circulation, for the attention of collectors, a set of three coins (gold , silver and copper tombac), as well as a silver coin , on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Romanian Senate. [4]
The gold coins have a face value of 100 lei , have a title of 900 ‰, a diameter of 21 mm, a weight of 6,452 grams and a serrated edge. All silver coins have a face value of 10 lei, a title of 999 ‰, a diameter of 37 mm, a weight of 31.103 grams, and the edge is serrated. Copper tombac coins have a face value of 1 lei, a diameter of 37 mm, a weight of 23.5 grams and a serrated edge. All coins in this issue are round and proof quality .[5]
On the reverse of all the coins in this issue were engraved the portrait of Alexandru Ioan Cuza and that of Metropolitan Nifon, who was the first president of the Senate. On the reverse of the coins were engraved the names of the personalities represented, and in a circular arc the text 150 YEARS FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SENATE and 1864, the year of the event that is celebrated.[5]
Note[]
- ^ Rosetti, Dimitrie R. (1897), Dicționarul Contimporanilor, București: Editura Lito-Tipografiei «Populara», pp. 139, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dimitrie_R._Rosetti_-_Dic%C8%9Bionarul_contimporanilor.pdf&page=61
- ^ George I. Gibescu, Istoricul Mitropoliei Ungro-Vlahiei și Mitropoliții Țărei Muntenești, Tipografia Cărților Bisericești, 1907, p. 101
- ^ "Patriarhul României la aniversarea a 150 de ani de la înființarea Senatului României", Patriarhia.ro, 17 iunie 2014, http://patriarhia.ro/patriarhul-romaniei-la-aniversarea-a-150-de-ani-de-la-infiinarea-senatului-romaniei-6033.html, retrieved 9 octombrie 2019
- ^ Emisiune numismatică dedicată aniversării a 150 de ani de la înființarea Senatului României
- ^ a b Banca Națională a României
Bibliography[]
- Mircea Păcurariu - Dicționarul Teologilor Români (Ed. Univers Enciclopedic, București, 1996)
External links[]
- Nifon, primul mitropolit al Principatelor Române Unite, 5 mai 2008, Ciprian Bâra, Ziarul Lumina
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