O SCHIłĂ DE BIOGRAFIE A PROTOPOPULUI ALBAIULIAN NICOLAE RAłIU
AN OUTLINE OF A BIOGRAPHY OF THE ARCHPRIEST NICOLAE RAłIU FROM ALBA IULIA

Summary/Abstract: This study attempts to approach the life and activity of the Orthodox archpriest of Alba Iulia, Nicolae RaŃiu. However, the sources of this research are quite meager or refer only indirectly to his biography. A search for unpublished documentary sources is required for future investigations in order to deepen the historical knowledge regarding his biography and his intellectual portrait.Some details of his familial life could be recovered. We know now that he had at least two children from the marriage with Agaftia, who was seventeen years younger than the archpriest. An attempt was also made to investigate his conduct during Horea’s uprising, based on unpublished sources contributing to the recreation of the atmosphere of the age. The author has used the bishop’s ordinance that requested Orthodox clerics to participate in the action aimed at stopping Romanian peasants from joining the border militia. In fact, this event has contributed to the start of the movement. The author has also used the Christmas’ pastoral letter of the Bishop Ghedeon Nichitici, a text found in Bălgrad (Alba Iulia). This localization of the text suggested that the bishop held the religious service in Alba Iulia, in the church Maierii I, named “of the Greeks”, dedicated to the Annunciation (?), and not in Sibiu. The glosses written by the archpriest on the margins of his books were also employed and references were made to the oldest of them, from 1778, including his personal seal applied as an ex libris on a precious printed book from Wallachia. The subject proved to be extremely attractive, which urges the continuation of the research. The biography of the archpriest promises to clarify many aspects of the religious life of the Romanian inhabitants of Alba Iulia in the second half of the eighteenth century, which is exceptionally representative for the whole community of Romanians from Transylvania. Thus, the archpriest’s biography is not a common one, but one of foremost interest for the Romanian contemporary historiography.

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