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Hieromartyr18th century

Hieromartyr Moses Macinic

c. 1720s – c. 1784

Also known as Moses the Confessor

A Romanian Orthodox priest who opposed forced union and endured imprisonment for his ministry in Transylvania.

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Commemorated as

The Holy Hieromartyr and Confessor Moses Macinic, Priest of Sibiel, Transylvania

Life

Moses Macinic (Romanian: Moise Măcinic) was an 18th-century Romanian Orthodox priest of Sibiel in Transylvania who resisted the forced union of the region's Orthodox Christians with the Church of Rome. He is commemorated as a hieromartyr and confessor on October 21 together with the other Confessors of Transylvania.

Born at Sibiel in Transylvania, he was ordained to the priesthood around 1746 in Bucharest, where the residents of his village had requested his ordination; according to the Romanian tradition he was ordained through Metropolitan Neofit Cretanul of Wallachia. He spent his ministry opposing the Habsburg authorities' policy of drawing the Romanian Orthodox population into the Greek-Catholic (Uniate) Church.

Repeatedly arrested for his resistance, he was eventually imprisoned in the Kufstein fortress in Tyrol, where he died in captivity around 1784. He was glorified as a martyr by the Orthodox Church of Romania in 1992.

Troparion1 hymnReadHide
TroparionTone 8

Champion of Orthodoxy, teacher of purity and of true worship,
the enlightener of the universe and the adornment of hierarchs:
all-wise father Moses, your teachings have gleamed with light upon all things.
Intercede before Christ God to save our souls.

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Timeline6 momentsReadHide
  1. c. 1746Ordination to the priesthoodOrdained a priest in Bucharest, at the request of the residents of Sibiel; by the Romanian account through Metropolitan Neofit Cretanul of Wallachia.
  2. December 10, 1750Memorandum on Orthodox sufferingSigned a memorandum addressed to the Serbian Metropolitan Pavel Nenadovici detailing the sufferings of the Orthodox in Transylvania.
  3. 1752Mission to ViennaTraveled to Vienna with the layman Oprea Miclaus to present grievances and a petition to Empress Maria Theresa concerning the rights of the Orthodox Church.
  4. 1752Imprisonment at KufsteinImprisoned with Oprea in the Kufstein fortress in Tyrol; the Habsburg authorities denied knowledge of the petitioners despite requests for their release.
  5. c. 1784Death in captivityDied in the Kufstein fortress after roughly thirty-two years of imprisonment.
  6. 1992GlorificationGlorified as a martyr by the Orthodox Church of Romania.

Contributions & Legacy

4 contributionsReadHide

Historical Context

The persecution Moses Macinic resisted arose from a Habsburg policy begun under Emperor Leopold I in 1701, which pressured the Romanian Orthodox population of Transylvania to join the Greek-Catholic Church. The authorities offered the clergy material advantages, including income equal to that of Catholic priests, yet many of the common people remained attached to their ancestral faith and resisted union despite these inducements.

Moses Macinic was one of a group of Transylvanian confessors who suffered for this resistance. He is commemorated on October 21 alongside Bessarion (Visarion) Sarai, a Serbian-born hesychast; Sophronius, Confessor of Ciorara; the layman Oprea Miclaus (Oprea of Saliste); and the bishop John of Galesh. The wider movement of these confessors helped secure recognition of the legal existence of the Orthodox Church in Transylvania and the appointment of Bishop Dionisie Novacovic, the first Orthodox bishop there since 1701.

Ministry and Resistance

After his ordination around 1746, Moses Macinic worked against the Uniate movement among the Romanians of Transylvania. He was identified by Bishop Manuil Mihail Olsavszky as an opponent of union with Rome and arrested. According to the OCA synaxarion he was jailed in Sibiu for seventeen months and released on the condition that he cease to function as a priest, after which he lived as an ordinary peasant.

He was associated with petitions detailing the sufferings of the Orthodox in Transylvania. By the Romanian account he signed a memorandum dated December 10, 1750 addressed to the Serbian Metropolitan Pavel Nenadovici. In 1752 he traveled to Vienna together with the lay leader Oprea Miclaus to present the grievances of the Orthodox Christians to the imperial authorities, including a petition to Empress Maria Theresa concerning the rights of the Orthodox Church. The bishop John of Galesh contributed to the petition carried to the Vienna court.

Imprisonment and Death

Following the 1752 mission to Vienna, Moses Macinic and Oprea Miclaus were imprisoned by the Habsburg authorities in the Kufstein fortress in the Kaiser Mountains of Tyrol. The rulers denied knowledge of the petitioners despite repeated requests for their release. By the Romanian tradition he remained imprisoned at Kufstein for roughly thirty-two years until his death around 1784.

The same fortress was the place of imprisonment and death for several of the Transylvanian confessors. Bessarion Sarai was likewise reported to have died in the Kufstein dungeon. When the wife of Oprea petitioned Emperor Joseph II on July 24, 1784, after thirty-two years, the prison directorate had no record of him; Moses Macinic is presumed to have died at Kufstein around the same time.

Glorification

Moses Macinic was glorified as a martyr by the Orthodox Church of Romania in 1992, the same year in which his companion John of Galesh was canonized. Among the other Transylvanian confessors, Bessarion Sarai was glorified by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church on February 28, 1950, and Sophronius of Ciorara was glorified in 1955 at Alba Iulia.

He is venerated as a hieromartyr and confessor, his feast being kept on October 21 among the Confessors of Transylvania.

Member ofReadHide
The Confessors of Transylvania
Commemorated together · Oct 21
Companions4 figuresShowHide
Serbian monk whose 1744 preaching mission rallied Orthodox resistance in Transylvania; a fellow Confessor of Transylvania commemorated October 21.
Saint Bessarion Saraithe Confessor
Romanian monk of Cioara who organized the Orthodox resistance to the forced union with Rome; a fellow Confessor of Transylvania commemorated October 21.
Saint Sophroniusof Ciorara
Orthodox layman of Săliște imprisoned for decades for petitioning on behalf of the persecuted Orthodox; a fellow Confessor of Transylvania commemorated October 21.
Martyr Opreaof Salistie
Confessor of Galeș imprisoned for resisting the forced union with Rome; a fellow Confessor of Transylvania commemorated October 21.
Saint Johnof Galesh
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Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints