Astra Salvensis (Jul 2020)
Archimandrite Filaret Jocu – a Life Between Serving God and Espionage
Abstract
Archimandrite Filaret Jocu was one of the most controversial figures of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the first decades of the 20th century. The controversies are not related to his theological education or his moral quality, which were both remarkable, but to the role he played in a few important issues regarding the Church. While studying in Athens, Filaret Jocu managed to position himself within the influential circles of the Church of Greece and make several connections which would prove extremely important over the years. He was one of the clerics who officiated the religious wedding between Carol, Crown Prince of Romania, and Princess Helen of Greece. After Princess Helen’s arrival in our country, Filaret Jocu was one of the closest people in her entourage. Being sent as a secret agent to Greece, he had the mission to examine the Greek people’s attitude towards monarchy compared to the republicanism of Eleftherios Venizelos. A few years later, in 1929, Patriarch Miron Cristea and the Romanian Government entrusted Archimandrite Jocu with undertaking a tour in the Patriarchates of Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria in order to understand their attitudes in terms of the calendar change, while the official purpose of his visit was searching for carpets for the Romanian Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest. After having served for several years at the Patriarchal Cathedral, in 1941 he was elected Bishop of Argeş, an election which was later revoked due to tensions within the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church and several political interests. Our paper, by means of original archive sources, aims at presenting the main aspects of Archimandrite Filaret Jocu’s life, a servant of the altar and a spy in the benefit of the Romanian Orthodox Church and Romania.
