Mitropolitul Partenie şi festivităţile de la Iaşi din toamna anului 1904

Abstract

In 1904, Romanians commemorated 400 years since the death of Stephen the Great, ruler of Moldavia. Important festivities took place in Iași at the beginning of October, attended by members of the Royal Court and the Council of ministers, by local officials and commoners, by foreign delegates, and numerous hierarchs. Archival documents and testimonies of the time record several important events, significant for the cultural and spiritual life of all Romanians: “Sf. Nicolae Domnesc” church, built by Saint Stephen the Great, and “Sfinții Trei Ierarhi” church, founded by Vasile Lupu, were re-consecrated after restoration, and there was a celebration for the centenary of the “Veniamin Costachi“ Seminary. They also record how these events were received by contemporaries. It was written, for instance, that „the ancestral virtues were celebrated, the fruit of love and devotion to the Church and the Nation, and the unwavering faith in all that is good, true and beautiful was affirmed”. Under these celebratory circumstances, amongst other contributors to the good organization and development of the ceremonies, one personality stood out: Partenie Clinceni, successor of St. Metropolitan Iosif Naniescu as Archbishop of Iasi and Metropolitan of Moldova and Suceava.