This is Fr. Daniel (last name not reported), a 29 year old Romanian Orthodox priest and the superior of Holy Trinity monastery in northeast Romania.
He’s in trouble with the authorities for killing a 23 year old nun as part of an elaborate exorcism rite.
The nun, Maricica Irina Cornici, was tied and chained to a cross and left without food and water. A rag was stuffed in her mouth to muffle sounds she might make.
Preliminary reports suggest that she died of asphyxiation.
Fr. Daniel is unrepentant, claiming that God has done a miracle for Sr. Irina and delivered her from evil.
He also says he’s getting a good lawyer.
He’ll need one. Not only is he going before earthly authorities but also, as his name means in Hebew, "God is my judge."
NOTE: What the hell is a 29-year old man doing as the superior of a monastery? Shouldn’t superiors be known for their age and wisdom? This man would have been ordained a maximum of four years if he were Catholic (CIC 1031 §1). I don’t know what the requirements are for ordination are in the Romanian Orthodox church, but in any communion, 29 is still wet-behind-the-ears fors a spiritual father. It’s better than Mormons sending out 19 year old "elders" who don’t even need to shave regularly, but the age set-up in this monastery was positively inviting trouble.
Hey, 19-year olds still do need to shave regularly. We just can’t grow anything is all 😛
Perhaps I missed it, but I didn’t see anything in the article to which you link or in the Telegraph’s article (http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/06/20/wcruc20.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/06/20/ixportal.html) indicating that Father Daniel was the superior of the monastery, which in any case is a monastery of nuns. In fact, I haven’t seen anything indicating just what was his relation to the monastery.
See the second (“MORE”) link.
What I think is the most disturbing thing is not that the guy was a total nutjob who killed her (people slip through the cracks after all), but that a male priest was in charge of a bunch of nuns and that’s apparently the norm.
Shades of Rasputin?
I hardly think that Latin Catholics should be critical of the placement of Orthodox Priests. It may have been a mistake to place this young man in charge, (if this story is true) but it’s not a mistake that will be repeated over and over again, and then covered up by the Bishops of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
Moses Fillmore
I am an Orthodox Christian and I have a serious problem with the gross inaccuracy perpetuated by your blog post.
In the future, if you wish to blog about an article relating to the Orthodox Church, you should know that Western news articles are notoriously inaccurate when it comes to reporting the details of Orthodox practice.
Monasteries for Orthodox women are headed by an Abbess, not a hieromonk. A hieromonk who lives nearby will come to celebrate the divine services for the nuns and it seems Fr. Daniel was that hieromonk for this monastery. I’ve noticed several inaccuracies in the articles that indicate that most of the details were “lost in translation”.
Also, I find it extremely strange that you complain so strongly about Fr. Daniel’s age. His problem is not his age. His problem is being a homicidal maniac.
I’ve already seen some comments slandering the Orthodox Church as a result of this confusion, so I hope this clears things up.
Thanks for pointing out the second “MORE” link—don’t know how I missed it. Still, had I read it first, it would have struck me as odd that a priest was called the superior of a monastery of nuns, and apparently this appellation was an imprecision on the part of the reporter, as Matrona suggests. “[W]estern news articles are notoriously inaccurate when it comes to reporting the details of Orthodox practice.” How many times could Catholics say the same, only substituting “Catholic” for “Orthodox?”
“I hardly think that Latin Catholics should be critical of the placement of Orthodox Priests. It may have been a mistake to place this young man in charge, (if this story is true) but it’s not a mistake that will be repeated over and over again, and then covered up by the Bishops of the Romanian Orthodox Church.”
Oh goody, lets turn this into a Catholic priests are child molestors and the Vatican doesn’t care thread! That way we can completely miss the point and poke each other in the eye some more.
“That way we can completely miss the point and poke each other in the eye some more.”
These types of things should draw us together. I feel nothing but sorrow when reading about the problems that have occurred in the Catholic church here in America. I believe the adversary is at the heart of such scandals whether in Orthdox or Catholic Churches. His delight I can only imagine would be intensified to see such tragedies become a wedge between us.
God save us from such a fate.
I certainly agree with Jimmy about Father Daniel’s age! Canon XI of the Council of Nicea: “Let not a presbyter be ordained before he is thirty years of age, even though he be in all respects a worthy man, but let him be made to wait. For our Lord Jesus Christ was baptized and began to teach in his thirtieth year”. Unfortunately, the application of this canon is uneven among the Orthodox Churches, especially in cases of extreme need–such as that of Churches coming out of several decades of communist persecution. Inexperienced and untrained candidates are often ordained simply because they’re likeable and can sing, which makes it possible for a case like this, a wholly perverse result of spiritual delusion, to occur. You will note that the local bishop suspended this maniac at once, and his excommunication (pending trial) is surely to be expected.
By the way, Jimmy, I love your blog even if it makes me cringe every so often–it reminds me of another time of my life. 🙂
Julio, would you apply that canon so strictly to St. Athanasios the Great?
This is a tragic story. And what’s worse, this is exactly the kind of thing that the secularists in our society will hold up to “justify” their claim that all religious people are fanatics.
As for the thing about this Fr. Daniel being Orthodox… I don’t think that really matters much. A nut is nut, regardless of the variety.
I spent 19 years in a monastery. I’ve seen many 29 year olds in charge. The age is not a problem. A person can be mature at 25 and ready to lead, and another can still be imature at 75. Thats my observation anyway.
I have heard from a Romanian Orthodox that this monastery does not have episcopal approval. So the fact that there is a 29-year-old abbot is actually a moot point, because he never had the appropriate approval anyway.
I will try to find independent confirmation that this monastery is not approved.
Matrona – you should not be so defensive. We Catholics know that we have many problems within our Church. It is not attacking the Orthodox to point out that your Church also has internal problems (this is just the result of sin anyway, not a structural problem in either case).
Yeah, Matrona, because that was really, really the point. 🙂
The whole affair is simply bizarre. As an American Orthodox Christian (who has the same first name–yikes!) I have been told by many other “Old World” Orthodox how different things are “over there” in contrast to how they are in the States–for good or for ill.
Matrona and others make the right point, I think, about this “Daniel”–he has problems!
I once many years ago knew an Orthodox Priest named Fr. Garvey. He told me you have to be 35 to be ordained a married Orthodox Priest in the orthodox Church.
I guess that implies you can be ordained younger if you are celebate.
This Fr. Daniel is a nut job.