UN IERARH TRANSILVĂNEAN UITAT ŞI EPOCA SA. VIAŢA ŞI ACTIVITATEA EPISCOPULUI VASILE MOGA (1774-1845)
A Forgotten Transylvanian Hierarch and His Age. The Life and the Activity of Bishop Vasile Moga (1774-1845)

Summary/Abstract: The life and the activity of bishop Vasile Moga (1774-1845) were briefly analysed in the Romanian historiography both because of the absence of some systematic researches on the archivist material existing in Romania and abroad and also due to the rich activity developed by his successor, the bishop and afterwards archbishop and metropolitan Andrei, baron of Şaguna. His figure was analysed after his contribution to the development of the Romanian education, to the improvement of the moral-religious life of the eparchy, to the national-political fight of the Transylvanian Romanians and less after his contributions to the institutional realities, the organization of the bishopric, the relation with the archpriestships and the eparchies, constituting a lack of the historiography that remains to be solved. We will aim through our study, based on the analysis of the Romanian writings dedicated to the life and the activity of bishop Vasile Moga, at capturing the main phases and research directions as well as its significations hoping that this modest study will focus the attention of the historians and theologians in order to make this honest hierarch, unduly marginalized come into prominence. The historiographical passages referring to bishop Vasile Moga’s life and activity demonstrated the fact that over time he was an ,,aggrieved” of the historical writing compared to his successor, Andrei Şaguna.Vasile Moga (1774-1845), the first Romanian Orthodox hierarch after the incorporation of Transylvania into the Habsburg empire, is one of those figures who are insufficiently represented in Romanian historiography. His image, almost unknown to the general public, has long been left to oblivion, both because of the scarcity of documentary sources (part of his personal archive was destroyed during the events of 1848-1849), as well as due to the multifaceted activities carried out by his successor, Andrei Şaguna. Initially five serious researches were elaborated only based on a huge documentary material dedicated to the life and work of bishop Andrei Şaguna, while the tasks of bishop Vasile Moga was presented only in a single paper, published in the 1930s, written by the theologian Sebastian Stanca. In this study, starting from the monograph of Sebastian Stanca and from the few published sources that include various articles in newspapers, magazines or partials from larger researches, I tried to present a brief analysis of the public, educational, religious, national and political policies, conducted by bishop Vasile Moga, during his long religious activity.

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