Saint Glicherie Tănase

Saint Glicherie Tănase of Slătioara was the Second First Hierarch and Metropolitan of the Romanian Old Calendarist Orthodox Church (Biserica Ortodoxă de Stil Vechi din România) who led the Church from 1959 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 being a Great Spiritual Leader and Builder of the Old Calendar Community in Romania, as he helped to build over 40 Churches by the late 1920s, and many more after, and endured through the troubling Periods under King Carol II of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and then later under the Communist Regime from the 1950s to 1985. He is known as a Confessor of the Faith and a Clairvoyant Miracle Worker.

Early Life

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 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 (BOR) 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.

Monasticism and the Calendar Change

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. In 1925, when he was stationed in Procrov Monastery, he received a letter from a Hieromonk Arsenie Cotea from Mount Athos calling those to stick to the Old Calendar which is what the Monastery would be doing since 1924. After the 1926 celebration of Pascha, which broke the Canons of the First Ecumenical Council, and after he and David were called back to Neamț Monastery to discuss accepting the New Calendar and refused, both Hieromonk Glicherie, Hierodeacon David, and a few others would choose to leave the nearby Procrov Monastery and start living in the forests of Romania for some time before going to help establish new Orthodox Parishes along the and around the Carpathian Mountains. While in the beginning years of the Calendar Change it was more passive and Churches and Parishes who wanted to retain the Old Calendar were allowed to operate, by the late 1920s, Patriarch Miron put restrictions on the usage of the Old Calendar and him, along with some Bishops and Priests of the Romanian Patriarchate, and King Carol II started to undermine Old Calendar Operating Parishes and even persecute Orthodox Christians who wanted to keep to the Patristic Calendar (Commonly known as Old Calendarists).

At this point, Hieromonk Glicherie and Hierodeacon David were helping to set up Catacomb Churches along with trying to help manage and keep their Old Calendar Churches set up throughout Romania. Unfortunately they saw limited success as some Parishes ended up being closed down and some Old Calendarists were arrested for some months due to infractures on not leaving a Property they were Confiscating due to a Court Order, possibly illegal assembly of a undeclared Church, or even causing a public disturbance if there were some Processions. In 1929, Hieromonk Glicherie decided to go abroad seeking more support for the Old Calendar Parishes of Romania. He first went to Mount Athos where he met many whom gave vocal support for Hieromonk Glicherie and the Old Calendar Movement he's helping to lead, then after a short couple Months in Mount Athos, he continued to journey to Jerusalem to see the Patriarch of Jerusalem for abit more Spiritual Education and also garnering more support for the Old Calendar Movement in Romania. After meeting Patriarch Damius Kasiotis of Jerusalem, Hieromonk Glicherie found another Synod which gave support for him and the Old Calendar Movement in Romania. In 1930, Hieromonk Glicherie would return to Romania and give the good news of support for the Old Calendar Movement there from Mount Athos and the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. During the Period of the 1930s, Persecution continued against Old Calendarists continued with even Hieromonk Glicherie getting thrown into a Labour Camp at one point with Legionnaires and close to be shot with them were it not for a miraculous decision to let him and the rest of the Iron Guard Members go 10 minutes before their scheduled execution by shooting at 9 in the Morning.

Hieromonk Glicherie's Search for Ordinations

Soon after in 1934, Hieromonk Glicherie would go abroad again but this time, after the issue of the New Calendar and Canons being broken wasn't fixed nor rectified yet, to seek Ordination and gain new Bishops as prior the Old Calendar Movement, while having numerous Priests and Monastics, has had 0 Bishops. After hearing of the coming collection of a New Synod under Metropolitan Chrysostomos Kavouridis of Florina, after 10+ years of persecution and trying to rectify and fix the situation of reversing the New Calendar there and ceasing hostilities against Old Calendarists, Hieromonk Glicherie, with 3 other Clerics of the Church including one who spoke fluent Greek and Russian, journeyed to Mount Athos first and then went to Greece to ask for a Bishop to come to ordain a few Bishops for them. While GOC of Greece Synod did support and desire to ordain them Bishops, they had to wait until Metropolitan Chrysostomos came back from Jerusalem as he was held up Cyprus because of the United Kingdom and some Passport Issues and after a couple Months of waiting, hostility was increasing and pressure against the Romanians was growing so they had to leave before obtaining Ordinations. From there, 2 of the accompanying Priests decided to go back to Romania while Hieromonk Glicherie and another Romanian Monastic went north to Belgrade and met Archbishop Anastasius Gribanovsky and inquired about coming to Romania and ordaining them Bishops for which Archbishop Anastasius was supportive although he could not leave at the time and told him to go up north to Budapest to meet a ROCA Bishop there and ask him to go to Romania. So Hieromonk Glicherie would then journey to Budapest but would stumble across the ROCA Parish there and find the Bishop moved to Vienna. So Hieromonk Glicherie then went to Vienna to see the Bishop and when he saw him and met him, he unfortunately couldn't come to Romania because of some Pastoral duties but more over because he was afraid of getting in trouble with Romania and getting arrested there.

Rebuilding Parishes and Gaining New Bishops

Running low on money and ending up with no success thus far in getting a couple Bishops to ordain Bishops for the Old Calendarist Movement, Hieromonk Glicherie went home to Romania in 1936 however instead of disappointment, he would be met with a happy flock of Old Calendar Laity who were happy for his return. Instead of being caught up in the negative results in getting a few Bishops for the Movement, Hieromonk Glicherie returned to serve Divine Liturgies and would begin to start building new Parishes and rebuilding/reopening others. In the later half of the 1930s, while there was still Local Officials undermining Old Calendarists, Persecution of the Old Calendarists and their Parishes started decreasing by a good degree and the Churches / Parishes lost during the late 1920s to mid 1930s, were compensated for either by rebuilding or reopening those Parishes and building some new ones. The late 1930s and much of the 1940s saw almost relative peace from persecution of the Old Calendarists of Romania and it also saw the Building and Creation of Slătioara Monastery in the Village of Slătioara in Suceava which would become the Headquarters of the Romanian Old Calendarists. In the early 1940s, the new Patriarch Nicodim Munteanu actually went to request a Meeting with both Hieromonk Glicherie Tănase and Hierodeacon Bidașcu to resolve the dispute between the two sides and while there was progress and it was going well, it ultimately fell through and the Dispute between Old Calendarists and the Patriarchate wasn't resolved.

After the end of the Second World War with the Soviets winning in the East and King Mihai I and other Conservatives co reigning and trying to negotiate with Communists in the Country as to retain the Monarchy and Conservative Government, Hieromonk Glicherie and Hierodeacon David both went to prepare for Communist Persecution as they saw and heard of in Russia. At the same time, the long dissatisfied Bishop Galaktion Cordun had been sending a few letters back and forth with Hierodeacon David and Hieromonk Glicherie and was preparing to leave the Romanian Patriarchate for becoming the new Leader of the Romanian Old Calendarists and collectivizing a Formal Synod for the Movement and in 1953 he did just that and left Bucharest and went to Slătioara Monastery. 2 Years later, Metropolitan Galaktion Cordun would formally and publicly declare that he will lead the Romanian Old Calendarists and declare it the Romanian Old Calendarist Orthodox Church of the Slătioara Synod and on April 5th of 1955, the new Communist State would give recognition of it being a Religious Group and Church Institution of it's own. During the next couple years, First Hierarch and Metropolitan Galaktion would overlook and overseeing BOSVR although growing older and aging. So in 1957 Metropolitan Galaktion decided to, since he was growing old and couldn't contact any Bishops outside of Romania and was under some pressure from the Communist State at times during this period, oikonomically ordain new Bishops and would first ordain Father Evloghie Oța and Father Meftodie Marinache as Bishops and then go on to ordain 3 more Bishops with the first of the three being Hieromonk Glicherie to the status of a Archbishop. Soon on July 8th of 1959, Metropolitan Galaktion Cordun would pass away at night and be buried at midnight in a spot where he requested before his passing. It was soon after that Archbishop Glicherie would be chosen to lead BOSVR.

Elevation to First Hierarch and Death

The new First Hierarch and Metropolitan Glicherie of Slătioara would go on to lead the Romanian Church for the next 16 years from Slătioara Monastery and would eventually pass away on June 15th (June 28th New Style) of 1985 just 4 years before the Romanian Revolution of 1989 and the Collapse of the Communist Government of Romania. He would then have a Funeral Service that would be carried out by the new First Hierarch and Metropolitan of Slătioara Sylvester Onofrei. It wouldn't be until 1999 where the Synod went to check the inside of the Tomb of Metropolitan Glicherie and found that his Body was incorrupt and emanating a beautiful and good smelling fragrance and in on the day of his Repose on June 15th (28th of June New Style) the Holy Synod of BOSVR carried out a Divine Liturgy Service and Formal Canonization under the Fourth First Hierarch Metropolitan Vlasie Mogârzan. Saint Glicherie Tănase of Slătioara's Feast Day takes place every June 15th (28th of June New Style) and today the Romanian Old Calendar Orthodox Church devoutly reveres and remembers Saint Glicherie as a Great and ever Enduring Cleric of the Church who led her through troubling and chaotic times in order to continue the Traditional Romanian Orthodox Church as opposed to the Romanian Patriarchate (BOR).