Archimandrite Filaret Jocu – a Life Between Serving God and Espionage
Archimandrite Filaret Jocu – a Life Between Serving God and Espionage

Summary/Abstract: Archimandrite Filaret Jocu was one of the most controversial figures of theRomanian Orthodox Church in the first decades of the 20th century. The controversies are not relatedto his theological education or his moral quality, which were both remarkable, but to the role he playedin a few important issues regarding the Church. While studying in Athens, Filaret Jocu managed toposition himself within the influential circles of the Church of Greece and make several connectionswhich would prove extremely important over the years. He was one of the clerics who officiated thereligious wedding between Carol, Crown Prince of Romania, and Princess Helen of Greece. AfterPrincess Helen’s arrival in our country, Filaret Jocu was one of the closest people in her entourage.Being sent as a secret agent to Greece, he had the mission to examine the Greek people’s attitudetowards monarchy compared to the republicanism of Eleftherios Venizelos. A few years later, in1929, Patriarch Miron Cristea and the Romanian Government entrusted Archimandrite Jocu withundertaking a tour in the Patriarchates of Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria inorder to understand their attitudes in terms of the calendar change, while the official purpose of his visitwas searching for carpets for the Romanian Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest. After having servedfor several years at the Patriarchal Cathedral, in 1941 he was elected Bishop of Argeş, an electionwhich was later revoked due to tensions within the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Churchand several political interests.Our paper, by means of original archive sources, aims at presenting the main aspects ofArchimandrite Filaret Jocu’s life, a servant of the altar and a spy in the benefit of the RomanianOrthodox Church and Romania

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