Atanasie Anghel


Atanasie Anghel Popa was a Romanian Greek-Catholic bishop of Alba Iulia between 1698 and 1713. He was the successor to Teophilus Seremi in the seat of Mitropoliei Bălgradului. Through his continued efforts, he perfected the union of the Romanian Transylvanians with the Catholic Church.

Life

He was the son of an Orthodox priest from Bobâlna who was a nobleman of Ciugud.
Anghel was ordained bishop on January 22, 1698, by Eastern Orthodox Metropolitan Teodosius, Primate of the Metropolitan diocese of Ungro-Wallachia and by Patriarch of Jerusalem Dositheos II, who was in exile.
Patriarch Dositheos II also asked Bishop Atanasie Anghel to listen to both the Greek hierarchs from the court of voivode Constantin Brâncoveanu, who supervised the work of the Romanian hierarchs and the Transylvanian Calvinist hierarchy.

First synod of Alba Iulia

On 7 October 1698 he convened the "Union Synod" in Alba Iulia. The Act of Union with the Catholic Church was signed not only by Atanasie Anghel, but by all members of the Synod, and sealed with the seal of the Metropolitan Archbishopric of Alba Iulia. The Transylvanian Diet, controlled by Protestants, did not look favorably upon the confessional issues of the Romanian people. Large land holders began to persecute the new Romanian Greek-Catholic priests, a situation which Atanasie Anghel had to cope with. Protestant noblemen encouraged revolts among peasants opposed to joining the Catholic Church.
Under these circumstances, the bishop Atanasie Anghel convened a new synod, also held at Alba-Iulia on 4 September 1700. This was attended not only by protopopes and priests, but also by 3 laymen delegates from each Romanian village. The 54 protopopes, together with the priests and all the delegations present, signed a new act which reinforced the decision of the synod of 1698, reaffirming religious unification of Romanians in Transylvania with the Catholic Church.
For Greek-Catholic bishop Atanasie Anghel, there followed years of hardship, being attacked by Calvinists and also by the Orthodox Archdiocese of Bucharest. Atanasie was summoned to Vienna to give explanations. Under these circumstances, on 7 April 1701 he made a statement that he no longer recognized the Archbishop of Bucharest as his superior.

Business activities

Metropolitan Athanasius was accused several times of carrying out commercial activities. Fifteen years before joining Rome he bought a house in Alba Iulia where he brewed beer and wine. In 1703, after the union with Rome, he was summoned to cease this activity, considered incompatible with the status of bishop. In 1711, he still earned income from beer production.

Death

Anghel died in Alba Iulia on August 19, 1713, being buried near the old church of the Bălgrad Metropolitanate. Subsequently, with the construction of the Alba Carolina Citadel, the old church was demolished, and the tomb of Atanasie was moved to the cemetery near the Holy Trinity Church in Alba Iulia.
In 2013, the remains of Atanasie Anghel were moved to the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Blaj.

Literature