Origins and Greek-Catholic priesthood Born into a family of
Greek-Catholic peasants in
Arcalia village,
Beszterce-Naszód County,
Austria-Hungary, he attended primary school in
Lemniu. From 1920 to 1921, after the
union of Transylvania with Romania, he studied at
Andrei Mureșanu High School in
Dej, and from 1921 to 1928 at George Barițiu High School in
Cluj. From 1928 to 1931, Herineanu attended the Greek-Catholic Theological Academy in Cluj. After graduating, he went to the Catholic Theology Faculty at the
University of Paris (1931-1932), leaving due to lack of funds. Subsequently, Herineanu served as a lay priest for seventeen years, in the poor, isolated village parishes of
Ceaba,
Băbuțiu and
Panticeu, part of the
Cluj-Gherla Diocese. He published articles, sermons and meditations. His first contacts with
Romanian Orthodox priests date to this time, when he supported the
Army of the Lord movement. He converted to Orthodoxy, In part, the political leadership wished to show former Greek-Catholics that they would have equal rights within the Orthodox Church; it also mistakenly calculated that Herineanu would be a pliant hierarch who would sabotage the institution from within.
Patriarch Justinian Marina reinforced Herineanu's position by attending his enthronement a week later and congratulating him in the name of the Holy Synod. Privately, Justinian was irate at the zeal with which the authorities insisted that the ex-Catholic must be made a bishop. Herineanu was in fact a compromise candidate; the communists initially preferred
Valerian Zaharia for the post.
As bishop Roman Herineanu remained at
Roman for eight and a half years. During this time, which he called his “apprenticeship in Orthodoxy”, Herineanu was viewed with suspicion by the authorities and kept under close surveillance. He viewed their recommendations as unacceptable infringements on church autonomy and kept as close advisers only his mother and several trusted priests. His missionary activity, which included the printing of prayer books in large numbers, caused somewhat of a liturgical and spiritual revival, again provoking official hostility. While the laity became attached to him, the state believed he had been contaminated by a “sickly mysticism”.
Cluj When
Nicolae Colan became
Metropolitan of Transylvania, the see of
Vad, Feleac and Cluj became vacant. Herineanu was elected and enthroned in December 1957. Another accusation was that he hired unconverted Greek-Catholic priests in the diocesan administration, periodically sending them special bread and wine so they could secretly hold liturgies at home. He sheltered clerics freed from prison, including
Arsenie Papacioc and
Nicolae Steinhardt. Herineanu believed in the need to
catechize children. As such, he asked two priests to compose a religion textbook in 1958. The authors were arrested, one of them dying in prison, and the bishop was further isolated. Pressure continued in the 1960s, with the authorities especially concerned by the rising popularity of the annual pilgrimage to
Nicula Monastery. He was raised to the rank of archbishop in 1973. Herineanu lived nearly three years after the
Romanian Revolution, using his declining powers to try and mediate conflicts within the archdiocese and with the newly legalized Greek-Catholic Church, as well as to press for the reopening of a university-level theological seminary in Cluj-Napoca. Upon his death in 1992, he was buried in the crypt of the
Dormition Cathedral. ==Notes==