Romanian Region

Romania participated for the first time at an IEF conference in 1993, in Salamanca, Spain, as a result of an invitation made by José Sanchez Vaquero, professor of ecumenism at the University of Salamanca.

During his journey in Romania he met Nicolae Buda, student in theology in Cluj Napoca, and invited him and a team of other students to participate at the annual meeting of IEF with the purpose of giving a presentation on Orthodox Church music.

Since then, Romania’s contacts with IEF developed as follows:

Durham (Great Britain, 1994): Nineteen Romanians attended the conference, among them, Vasile Fizeşan, Orthodox priest in Floreşti (Cluj), Gheorghe Funar, mayor of Cluj Napoca and his wife, the choral group Axios (students in theology); it was the first time that an Orthodox liturgy was celebrated.

Cieszyn (1995): Six persons attended the conference, among them Nicolae Buda, Vasile Fizeşan and Teofil Stan.

Strasbourg (1996): There was a Romanian participation, too.

1997 was a year of regional conferences: Vasile Fizeşan hosted a group of nine IEF members, for an ecumenical week.

Friedrichroda (Germany, 1998): The Romanian group was led by Ioan Chirilă, from the Faculty of Theology, Cluj Napoca, who gave a lecture on orthodoxy. Among the participants were Teofil Stan, Vasile Lazăr, Dumitru Cobzaru; as well as a reformed priest, Fazekas Zsolt, and Balogh Éva Emese, a professor of reformed theology.

Avila (Spain, 2000): Romania was represented by a reformed pastor, Balogh Béla and his wife, Balogh Emese.

Praha (Czech Republic, 2001): Romania was represented by a group of fifteen participants, among them Vasile Fizeşan, Dorin Micu, Teofil Stan, Mihai Maghiar, Mihaela Munteanu, Natalia Marc, Titus Fizeşan (all Orthodox); as well as Dobri András and Balogh Béla. An Orthodox vesper was celebrated on this occasion.

Swanwick (Great Britain, 2002), the conference was attended by a large group of twenty-eight persons, among them Vasile Fizeşan, Teofil Stan, Ştefan Georgescu, Vasile Lazar, Mariana Stan, Aurelia Varga, Mihaela Munteanu, Florina Băcan and Titus Fizeşan.

In the presence of IEF International President, Adelbert Denaux, and IEF International Secretary, Marc Vierin, the first officers were elected to represent the future Romanian IEF Region (Teofil Stan, president; Vasile Lazăr, secretary; Vasile Fizeşan, International Council representative).

At the Council meeting in October, Romania, represented by Teofil Stan and Vasile Fizeşan, was recognized as an IEF region.

Budapest (Hungary, 2003): the first conference, where Romania took part as a region, with its own banner (designed by Maria Ştiru). Among the participants were Teofil Stan, Ştefan Georgescu, Vasile Lazar, Balogh Béla, Abram Samu, Aurelia Varga, Mihaela Munteanu, Eusebiu Borca, Florina Băcan. An Orthodox vesper was celebrated.

In the same year, in 2003, Balogh Béla and Abram Samu participated at the General Assembly of the Magyar Region.

In 2004 there were regional conferences: Romania hosted fourteen participants in an event which was called Getting in Touch with Romanian spirituality: Pilgrimage to the Moldovian Monasteries (nine international IEF members, Ioan Bizău, Vasile Lazăr, English teacher Dana Rus and Stan Teofil with his wife Mariana.

Bratislava (Slovakia, 2005): Romania was represented by Balogh Béla and his family.

Trier (Germany, 2006): A group of thirty-seven Romanians attended the conference. The Orthodox service was celebrated by Ioan Bizău, Teofil Stan and Peter Zontag, assisted by the theology students’ choir.

Pisek (Czech Republic, 2007): The forty years of IEF’s existence was celebrated. Ioan Bizău and Teofil Stan celebrated the ceremony of water blessing.

2008 was a year of regional conferences.

Cluj Napoca (Romania, 2009): The IEF international conference will take place for the first time in Romania.