Saint Glicherie Tănase

Saint Glicherie Tănase of Slătioara was the Second First Hierarch and Metropolitan of the Romanian Old Calendarist Orthodox Church (BOSVR) who led the Church from 1957 until his death on June 15th (June 28th New Style) of 1985 in Slătioara Monastery in the Suceava Region of Romania. For BOSVR and many numerous Romanian Old Calendarists, he was known for his being a Great Builder of the Old Calendar Community in Romania, as he helped to build over 40 Churches by the late 1920s, and endured through the troubling Periods under King Carol II of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and then later under the Communist Regime from the 1950s to 1989.

On the 21st of February (4th of March New Style) of 1892, Saint Glicherie was born as Gheorghe Tănase in Mihoveni, Suceava, Romania to a Lower Middle Class Father and Mother. He was baptized soon after Birth and given Saint George of Lydda as his Patron Saint. Gheorge Tănase grew up in a relatively normal home with some Religious Upbringing however when he reached the Age of 7, his Father would pass away of illness and his Mother would soon after abandon him. It would be then where his Uncle, his Father's Brother who worked on the Railroads and ran a Vineyard, Ilarion Tănase would take him under his Wing and raise him like his own Son and where the young Gheorge would be instilled with more Religious Fervor and Piety. It was during his younger years, and after moving in with his Uncle in Miroslava, just West of Iași, that the Young Gheorge would take a substantial interest into becoming a Monastic of the Romanian Orthodox Church (BOR).

During his Childhood, Gheorge would be known as more of a quiet yet pious child which led to other children, whether at school or elsewhere, sometimes calling him a Priest. He would then complete basic education, and after turning 18 he would begin to enter the work force as a Worker in a Sausage Factory, and also was a part time Florist and Landscaper, and made an average wage and was able to live day to day. However at the age of 24/25, the young Adult Gheorge Tănase would go on to accept his calling, as he thought about in his younger years, and would be accepted as a Monastic at the Cetățuia Monastery in Iași in 1916. Within 2 years in Cetățuia Monastery, founded by Prince Gheorghe Duca of Moldova (1620 - 1685), Monk Gheorge would be tonsured and ordained a Hieromonk in Neamț Monastery and would be there on known as Hieromonk Glicherie (Glick-ear-ie), a name which comes from Greek meaning 'Sweet man' or 'Man of Sweetness'. He would also be promoted to lead this Great Monastery founded by Prince Petru Mușat in the 14th Century - It was here where he would meet and then delegate his close Spiritual Brother and Hieordeacon named David Bidașcu to help him manage one of Romania's most famous Spiritual Monasteries.

As Hieromonk Glicherie grew in Piety and Spirituality while helping to manage Neamț Monastery, and after the First World War and Romania gaining territories in Transylvania, the Romanian Orthodox Church would be shifting from a Metropolis of Romania to the Romanian Patriarchate and the Romanian Orthodox Church would get it's first Patriarch in 1924 who was Miron Cristea (1868 - 1939). This was a great and substantial moment for Romanian Orthodoxy as the Romanian Orthodox Church became a Patriarchate just like that of the Russian Orthodox Church, Ecumenical Patriarchate, Jerusalem Patriarchate, and etc. However, soon enough, a few bad decisions would be made by the Patriarchate. After the failure of the Council of Constantinople with most Churches not agreeing to the Topics discussed such as the change towards the Revised Julian Calendar (New Calendar) from the Patristic Julian Calendar (Old Calendar). However despite mass opposition from the Churches which attended the Council, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which had prior released its 1920 'Unto the Churches of Christ Everywhere' Encyclical, decided to implement the Calendar Change anyways in 1924. Within the same year both the Church of Greece, under Metropolitan and Archbishop Chrysostomos Papadopoulos of Athens, and the newly made Romanian Patriarchate, under Patriarch Miron Cristea of Toplița, would follow the Ecumenical Patriarchate in it's direction of abandoning the Patristic Julian Calendar in favour of the Revised Julian New Calendar. While this New Calendar did not altar the Paschalion, Patriarch Miron Cristea would later decide to push towards using the Papal Paschalion and announced the Church would celebrate Pascha with the Roman Catholic Church in 1926 and in 1929 which would be faced with massive backlash from most of the Church and something he wouldn't dare to try again through the rest of his Tenure as Patriarch.

At the time of the Calendar Change in 1924, Hieromonk Glicherie and his great friend Hierodeacon David Bidașcu would voice their opposition to the Calendar Change and continue operating the Neamț Monastery off of the Old Calendar, along with some others Parishes and Churches. After the 1926 celebration of Pascha, which broke the Canons of the First Ecumenical Council, he and David would choose to leave the nearby Procrov Monastery