MIRCEA-GHEORGHE ABRUDAN, Metropolitan Andrei Saguna’s correspondence with the Orthodox
deanery of Bistrita
In 2005 a team of historians from Cluj, coordinated by Professor Nicolae Bocşan, started, under the
auspices of the Institute of Ecclesiastical History from “Babes-Bolyai” University of Cluj-Napoca, a large project whose aim is to publish the correspondence of Metropolitan Andrei, Baron of Saguna,
seeing this endeavor as a duty towards the one that was the worthy representative of his era in the
history of Transylvania and of the Romanian Orthodox Church. This epistolary exchange depicts
the bishop, the politician, the theologian, the manager, the editor and many other facets of his life,
including his relationships with personalities of the time and the world that surrounded him. In
the present study we make an analytical X-ray of the şagunian epistolary corpus exchanged with
the orthodox deanery of Bistrita, highlighting the most important themes, hoping that, by doing
so, we will bring to the attention of priests, theologians, historians and scholars from Bistrita, all
concerned about their religious, cultural, social and national past, a fragment of the past life of their
predecessors, the people and the places in the valley of Bârgău and the surroundings of Bistrita, on
which the dust of oblivion has fallen. Although located in the north-eastern part of the diocese at
the greatest distance from the diocesan residence, Andrei Saguna’s correspondence with the deanery
of Bistrita demonstrate that this deanery was by no means neglected by the bishop, but rather
enjoyed, like the other deaneries, the attention and care of the bishop who, through a rich exchange
of letters, was concerned by and actively involved in the ecclesiastical, educational, social political
and national life of the Orthodox Romanians from Bistrita.
KEYWORDS: Andrei Şaguna, Terente Bogat, Teodor Buzdug, orthodox deanery of Bistriţa,
correspondence

Mircea Gheorghe Abrudan