Arsenie Boca was a Romanian Orthodox

Romanian Orthodox Church

The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...

 monk, theologian and artist. He was persecuted by the Communists and named among the 100 greatest Romanians.

He was born in Vaţa de Sus, in the county of Hunedoara Romania, and died at a monastery of Sinaia

Sinaia

Sinaia is a town and a mountain resort in Prahova County, Romania. The town was named after Sinaia Monastery, around which it was built; the monastery in turn is named after the Biblical Mount Sinai...

, in the county of Prahova, Romania.

Studies and formation

He was born on the 29th of September, 1910, in the village Vața de Sus, in the county of Hunedoara, and his parents gave him the first name Zian. He studied at the ”Avram Iancu” National High School, graduating it in 1929. The same year he starts to study at the Theological Academy in Sibiu, which he graduated in 1933. He received a scholarship from the archbishop of Transylvania to study at the Institute of Bellearte in Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

. Meanwhile, he attended the medical classes of professor Francisc Rainer and the Christian Mystics class of professor Nichifor Crainic.

Remarking on his artistic talent, professor Costin Petrescu entrusted him to paint the scene that represents Mihai Viteazul from the Romanian Athenaeum

Romanian Athenaeum

The Romanian Athenaeum is a concert hall in the center of Bucharest, Romania and a landmark of the Romanian capital city. Opened in 1888, the ornate, domed, circular building is the city's main concert hall and home of the "George Enescu" Philharmonic and of the George Enescu annual international...

. Sent by his bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

, he traveled to Mount Athos

Mount Athos

Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...

for documentation and spiritual experience.

External links

• Christian Orthodox Association Hieromonk Arsenie Boca Association