Bishop Nicholas (room Episcopul Nicolae, in the world Nikoale Popovich, room. Nicoale Popoviciu; January 29, 1903, Biertan, Tyrnava Mare committee – October 20, 1960, Kea Monastery) – Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Bishop of Oradsky. Doctor of Theology (1934).

Biography

He studied at an elementary school in Biertan, in a Saxon school in the same place in German. Then he studied at the Lyceum in Dumbraveni, a normal school in Sibiu and the Lyceum named after Andrei Shaguna in Sibiu in 1923-1927.

In 1925 he made a trip to the holy places of Palestine and Egypt, following the old Romanian tradition, which ordered to do this at least once in his life.

Then he entered the Orthodox Theological Faculty of Chernivtsi University, where he distinguished himself by culture, a pious life and intellect. He then became a fellow at the Orthodox Theological Faculty at the University of Athens between 1927-1928 and the Philosophy Faculty of the University of Munich from 1928 to 1930. He also took courses in T_bingen, Leipzig and Breslau from 1930 to 1932 as part of his doctorate, which he successfully defended in 1934 in Chernivtsi, defending his doctoral dissertation on the topic of the Eucharistic Epiclesis. In addition to his native Romanian, he knew German, Ancient Greek, Modern Greek, French, Latin and Hungarian well.

During this period, on September 1, 1929, he was ordained deacon in a state of celibacy. On November 23, 1934, Deacon Nikolai Popovich was ordained a priest by Metropolitan Nikolai (Belan).

In 1932-1936 he served as professor of dogmatic and apologetic theology, homiletics and Greek at the Orthodox Theological Academy in Sibiu.

On April 28, 1936, at the age of 33, he was elected bishop of Oradsk. The previous bishop of Oradskiy Roman (Chorogaryu) wished to see him in this pulpit. After taking monastic vows, on June 1, 1936, in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Sibiu, he was ordained Bishop of Oradsk. On June 28 of the same year, his enthronement took place in Orada.

On his initiative, Orthodox churches were built in places where they were rare. Called and directed believers to lead a truly Christian life. One of the fruits of his work was the marriage of more than 12,000 residents of Oradea, who had previously lived in cohabitation (konkubinat). 20 urban Orthodox churches and parish houses built of wood, mostly destroyed during the First World War, were replaced by stone churches. In his sermons, he swayed the themes of freedom, fornication, alcoholism, hatred between peoples and many other passions, fought for purity, good understanding between people, mutual respect, diligence, faith, love for the country, etc. in the town of Oradea. It was through his efforts that a school for girls was built in Beiu. He created a system of assistance to those who suffered from disasters and misfortunes.

As part of his struggle for good understanding between people in 1938, Bishop Nicolae Popovicu represented the Romanian Orthodox Church at the Alliance for the Rapprochement of Nations through the Church International Congress held in Faris Bad, Larvik, Norway. Here Bishop Nicholas of Oradsky made a speech on the minorities of Romania.

Between April 1, 1940 and March 25, 1941, Bishop Nicolae temporarily ruled the Timisoara Diocese, which was established in 1939. Bishop Nicholas took up the organization of a new diocese and even allocated personal funds for this. Among other things, he equipped the episcopal residence and the building for the Diocesan Council in the center of Timisoara.

The occupation of Northern Transylvania and its incorporation into Hortis Hungary also affected the Orada diocese: a significant part of the diocese, including the city of Oradea, became part of Hungary. Bishop Nicholas is detained and severely beaten by the Hungarian occupation authorities, and then forcibly expelled from Hungary, created by Hitler, Mussolini and Horthy. He settled in Beyusha, continuing to serve, teach, and hope.

The incorporation of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina into Romania and the creation of the Romanian Orthodox Mission in Transnistria in 1941 prompted Bishop Nicholas to ask for his blessing to travel east of the Dniester to Crimea for almost six months to contribute to the revival of Christian life in a space devastated by Soviet atheist politics … Thus, he will be part of the first group of missionaries beyond the Dniester, which is part of the Transylvanian Orthodox clergy. These are 53 priests and bishops who, under the leadership of Metropolitan Nicholas (Belan) of Transylvanian, performed excellent pastoral and missionary work in Transnistria and Bessarabia. Bishops of Arad Andrew (Majeru), Timisoara Basil (Lazarescu) and Caransebesh Benjamin (Nistor) also take part in this.

Soon, Bishop Nikolai Popovichu will return to his pastors in Krishan. He takes his episcopal throne in Beyush. Here, among other things, he cares a lot about supporting those who survived the Holocaust perpetrated by the Hungarians in northwestern Transylvania, who managed to take refuge in Romania. They were Romanians, Jews, Slavs and Gypsies.

In the summer of 1942, Bishop Nicholas again came to Transnistria together with Archpriest Aurel Mushet, military priest Ion Croitoru, Professor Cornel Sava and Deacon Aurel Daraban, diocesan secretary. Bishop Nicholas visited and served in a number of churches converted to Romanians, performed a requiem at the Odessa Orthodox Cathedral, in memory of those killed in the October 21, 1941 terrorist attack, at the cemetery of the Dalnik-Vakarzhani and Bereshani valley; he visited 31 military units and 20 hospitals, where he offered prayers for the healing of the wounded; consecrated churches in the villages of Zhura and Popenki (Rybnitsa region). He attended the congress of Moldovan students from Transnistria held in Tiraspol; responded to an invitation from the "Romanian school of culture for Moldovan teachers" in the same city where he delivered two speeches: "The relationship between science and faith" and "Our national credo". He shared 12,000 prayer books and icons. He was also among the soldiers when he could and after 23 August 1944.

The end of 1944 brings Romania the liberation of Northern Transylvania, but at the same time marks the beginning of the country’s communization. Bishop Nicholas finally returned to Oradea, where he was received with great joy and began work on the restoration of churches and parish houses, desecrated or destroyed by the Chorthists. He was concerned about the spread of atheistic communist ideology in his country. Both in sermons and in personal conversations with people, as well as in administrative work and in church elections, hierarch Nikolai Orada constantly testifies to the Orthodox faith, declaring his opposition to atheism, the idea of __class struggle, hatred between classes, oppression of people for religious reasons. or social reasons, etc. He repeatedly exposes the abuses of the Bolsheviks and argues that a system based on injustice, violence and hatred cannot exist, predicting the fall of communism not only in Romania but throughout the world.

The first consequence is the categorical opposition of the communists to the desire of the members of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church to elect him as patriarch. In 1945, the candidate who received the most support in the Synod was Bishop Nikolai (Popovich) of Oradsk. However, in the face of overwhelming pressure from communist comrades-in-arms, Bishop Nicholas Hierarch supports – and persuades his supporters to support – Justinian (Marina).

On March 27, 1946, the National Church Congress of the Romanian Orthodox Church, at the suggestion of Metropolitan Nicholas (Belan) of Transylvanian, Bishop Andrei (Majeru) of Arad and Bishop of Oradskiy Nicholas (Popovicu), approved the creation of an „Orthodox Diocese for the Romanians of Hungary" for the care of Orthodox Romanians living in Hungary … The center of the new diocese was the small Hungarian border town of Gyula. Bishop Nicholas (Popovicu) was appointed as the administrator of this bishopric.

In 1947-1948 he was the last chairman of the „Transylvanian Association of Romanian Literature and Culture of the Romanian People" (ASTRA).

In 1949, after many Romanian Orthodox bishops were dismissed under pressure from the authorities, it was the turn of Nikolai (Popovich) and Nikolai (Kolan), who had to be forcibly removed. The opposition of the Holy Synod to this postpones such an action.

The hierarch, popular among the people, who actively criticized the new government, could not suit the latter, but the anti-communist resistance in Transylvania, active from Maramures to Banat, could have been strongly fueled by a violent gesture towards such a person. As a result, persecution occurs through countless managerial and administrative checks carried out by a government agency aimed at blocking the activities of the diocese and especially Bishop Nikolai (Popovich). The authorities introduced their own man, Andrei Coman, a former Greek Catholic who converted to Orthodoxy, an agent of the secret service, and a vicar (assistant) to the Bishop of Oradsk. On the one hand, they collected inside information about the Christian and anti-communist work of Bishop Nicholas and, on the other hand, exerted constant pressure to change his position. In the fall of 1950, the Holy Synod tried the case of Andrei Coman, who was accused of slandering the bishop (Canon 55), disobedience to the bishop (Canon 8 of the IV Ecumenical Council) and conspiracy against his bishop (Canon 18 of the IV Ecumenical Council, Canon 34 of the Trull Council). State authorities strongly opposed Coman’s conviction. Instead, they demand the dismissal of Bishop Nikolai Popovich as the only alternative to his arrest.

On October 2, 1950, Patriarch Justinian was summoned by Storm and Gheorghiu-Dej. The Prime Minister was interviewed from 7 am to 12:30 pm. Then the patriarch resumed negotiations with them: "Popovich’s situation is worse than we suspected. I have never seen a prime minister so upset; he just yelled at me. He clearly told me that if the Synod did not remove Popovich from the Oradskaya diocese, he would arrest him. If he has not arrested him until now, he did so in order not to violate the prestige of the Church … ".

As a result, on October 4, 1950, it was decided to dismiss him and live in a monastery. Fearing any rapprochement between the anti-communist resistance and Bishop Oradea, the communists demanded its closure at the Cheia Monastery, located in an area controlled by the Soviet occupation forces.

Even here, Bishop Nicholas did not have peace of mind. He was constantly monitored by agents and provocateurs sent by the Securitate, „who wanted to talk to him, but he was wary, and someone told him before leaving that he was an agent," as the informant „Mark" put it on July 7, 1953. Even a monk from the monastery, a security informant, told him: "Above Your Eminence, beware of me that the Securitate instructs me to report everything that you do in the monastery, who you communicate with, who visits you. Do it in such a way to protect yourself, so that I don’t see you. " In addition, the Securitate conducted searches, especially in Kilia, where he lived. Having a compulsory place of residence established by the communist regime, Nikolai (Popovich) was obliged to notify the local police every time he left the monastery, which he did not do, so he was closely watched. He is accused of supporting the resistance in the mountains, is being investigated and persecuted. He is repeatedly searched in his cell. They even try to poison him through the same communist agents who infiltrated the monastery.

After ten years of forced residence in the monastery under supervision, he died on October 20, 1960 and was buried in his native village of Biertan, but in 1992, his remains were reburied in the cathedral of the city of Oradea, where he served and pronounced commemorative words.