Gurie Grosu (; 1 January 1877 – 14 November 1943) was a

Bessarabia Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...

n priest and the first holder of the Basarabian Metropolitan Church after 100 years of Russian occupation. His Christian name was Gheorghe, and he took the name of Gurie when became a monk. Gurie was an extremely devout man and one of the promoters of Romanianism in Bessarabia. When

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Carol II Carol II (4 April 1953) was King of Romania from 8 June 1930, until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. As the eldest son of Ferdinand I of Romania, King Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I, ...

paid a visit to Bessarabia in 1930, Metropolitan Gurie prevented him from entering the altar through the royal gates, telling him that a king can only do it with a crown on his head and with his wife Princess Elena of Greece, criticizing his extra-marital relations. The king has never forgiven this; he has created a campaign against Gurie, exaggerating what has happened before. He was accused of abuses and lack of management, being investigated by the Cassation Court, who never conducted the investigation to the end. At the press of the king, on 11 November 1936, the Holy Synod, led by Patriarch Miron Cristea, suspended him not taking into account the letter sent by him. Only the

Legionnaires The French Foreign Legion (, also known simply as , "the Legion") is a corps of the French Army created to allow List of militaries that recruit foreigners, foreign nationals into French service. The Legion was founded in 1831 and today consis ...

and a high prelate were in his defense.

Early days

Grosu was born in

Nimoreni Nimoreni is a village in Ialoveni District, Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romani ...

Bessarabia Governorate The Bessarabia Governorate was a province (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its administrative centre in Kishinev (Chișinău). It consisted of an area of and a population of 1,935,412 inhabitants. The Bessarabia Governorate bordered t ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. He studied at the Spiritual School (1888-1882) and at the Theological Seminary of Chișinău (1892-1898), then from 1898 to 1902 at the Spiritual Academy in

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, founded by Romanian Metropolitan Petru Movilă, where he obtained the degree of the Master of Theology.

Pedagogical and spiritual activity

In 1902, he was ordained in the

Noul Neamț Monastery Noul Neamț Monastery (; ) is an all-male Moldovan Orthodox Church, Moldovan Orthodox monastery located in Chițcani, near Bender, Moldova, Bender and Tiraspol. Geographically located in the historical region of Basarabia, it is today controlled b ...

Chițcani Chițcani ( mo-Cyrl, Кицкань, ; ; ) is a commune in Căușeni District, in south-eastern Moldova. It consists of the village ''Chițcani'' and two small villages (hamlets), ''Merenești'' and ''Zahorna''. Chițcani is situated to the sout ...

, ordained hieromonk and called "eparchial missionary" (1902), later he was ordained protocell and archimandrite (1909). One of his merits was obtaining the establishment of an eparchial printing press (1896) "The Illuminator" in

Chișinău Chișinău ( , , ; formerly known as Kishinev) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Moldova, largest city of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial centre, and is located in the middle of the coun ...

(1908). He was the Prior at St. Abram Abbey in

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

(1909) and the director of the teacher-training school (normal schools) of the Gruševsk (1910-1914) and Samovka (1914-1917) and the professor of

Romanian language Romanian (obsolete spelling: Roumanian; , or , ) is the official and main language of Romania and Moldova. Romanian is part of the Eastern Romance languages, Eastern Romance sub-branch of Romance languages, a linguistic group that evolved fr ...

in Chișinău (1917-1918) and the militant of Romanianism, as Deputy Minister of Justice in the Provisional Government of Chișinău. On 4 July 1918 was elected by the Holy Synod of

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, as

Pontiff In Roman antiquity, a pontiff () was a member of the most illustrious of the colleges of priests of the Roman religion, the College of Pontiffs."Pontifex". "Oxford English Dictionary", March 2007 The term ''pontiff'' was later applied to any h ...

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

of the Metropolitan Church of Moldova, with the title ''"Botoșăneanul"'' (ordained at Iaşi on 15 July 1918). In 1919 he was appointed Pontiff

of the archiepiscopacy of Chișinău (with the title ''"Bălți"''). On 1 January 1920 the Pontiff of Chisinau and

Hotin Khotyn (, ; , ; see other names) is a city in Dnistrovskyi Raion, Chernivtsi Oblast of western Ukraine, located south-west of Kamianets-Podilskyi. It hosts the administration of Khotyn urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. According ...

, and on 21 February 1920, was elected as a full holder (enthroned in 1921), and from 28 April 1928 he became Metropolitan of

, ministering by 11 November 1936, when he was retired. He died on 14 November 1943 in Bucharest.

Works

* ''Carte de învățătură despre legea lui Dumnezeu alcătuită după mai multe manuale rusești'', Chișinău, 1908. * ''Bucoavnă moldovenească''. Chișinău, 1909. * ''

Abecedar :''Note: "Abecedar" is also the name of the primer (1st grade school book) in Romanian.'' The ''Abecedar'' was a school book first published in Athens, Greece, in 1925. The book became the subject of controversy with Bulgaria and Serbia when ...

moldovenesc'' Chișinău, 1917, (în colaborare; ed. a II-a şi a III-A, cu litere latine, în 1918, ed. a VII-a în 1922). * ''Rugăciune și lămurirea lor'', Chișinău, 1920, 44 p.. * ''Despre omul "trupesc", "sufletesc" și "duhovnicesc''". Chișinău, 1924. * ''Istoria sfântă a Vechiului și Noului Testament'', Chișinău, 1924 (și alte ediții). * ''Slujirea lui Dumnezeu a unui preot bun, după Părintele loan de Cronstadt'', Chișinău, 1925.

Notes

External links

*
Personalităţi marcante ale neamului - Gurie Grosu
, proiectul Moldova lui Ştefan {{DEFAULTSORT:Grosu, Gurie 1877 births 1943 deaths People from Ialoveni District Romanian people of Moldovan descent Moldovan Christian clergy Metropolitans of Bessarabia Burials at Cernica Monastery Cemetery