| Excerpt |
The unification of the Church in the territory situated south of the Carpathian Mountains was achieved concurrently with the process of political and territorial unification of the political formations existent in the area. At the beginnings of its organization, the Church of Ungro-Wallachia had the rank of bishopric. The moment of its establishment could be dated in the times of Basarab I. At a certain date between November 1352 and 22 November 1354, during the first pontificate of Patriarch Philotheos Kokkinos, the Bishopric of Ungro- Wallachia was transformed into a Metropolitan Church. Its administration was entrusted to Yakinthos, the Metropolitan Bishop of Vicina, who settled at the court of Wallachian prince Nicholas Alexander. The political unrest that took place in Constantinople in November 1354 prevented the canonical consecration of the Metropolitan Church of Wallachia which was granted to it by the patriarchal authorities five years later, in May 1359, at the request of Wallachian Prince Nicolae Alexandru. Metropolitan Bishop Yakinthos was then appointed to the head of Ungro-Wallachia’s Metropolitan Church. |
