Iustin Moisescu (; March 5, 1910 – July 31, 1986) was Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church from 1977 to 1986. Biography Theological preparation Moisescu was born in Cândești, Argeș County. He studied at the war orphans’ seminary in Câmpulung-Muscel from 1922 to 1930, finishing with top honours. Patriarch Miron Cristea selected him alone, of all 1930 seminary graduates, to receive a scholarship and take his licentiate in theology at the University of Athens. In 1934, he returned to Romania, having received a degree “arista” (magna cum laude). Cristea, following Moisescu's progress, sent him (upon the recommendation of the University of Athens and of the Romanian Embassy in Greece) to continue his advanced studies at the Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology at the Université des Sciences Humaines in Strasbourg. After two years in France (1934–36), having obtained material for his doctoral thesis, he returned to Athens in 1936. The following year he obtained his doctorate with the Greek-language thesis “Evagrius Ponticus. Life, writings and teachings”, which received an award from the Athens Academy of Sciences. He then took equivalence examinations at the University of Bucharest’s Faculty of Theology. There followed a quick succession of professorates, with rapid promotion: Professor of Latin at Bucharest’s Nifon Seminary (1937–38); New Testament Professor at the University of Warsaw’s Faculty of Orthodox Theology (1938–39), where he replaced the celebrated professor Nicolae Arseniev. In Warsaw, he established the following Polish-language courses: “General and specific introduction to the holy books of the New Testament”; “Exegesis of Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians”; and “Exegesis of the prologue to the Gospel of John”. These courses were examined by professors Milan Șesan and Vladimir Prelipceanu, who “determined their scientific and didactic value, as well as their full harmony with the teachings of the Orthodox Church”. During this time, he was also a member of the Iron Guard. In 1940, he was named associate professor. In 1942, after an examination, he was named Professor of New Testament Exegesis at the Cernăuţi-Suceava Faculty of Theology. At Cernăuți and Suceava he created three more courses: “Introduction to the holy books of the New Testament”, “Exegesis” and “Biblical hermeneutics”. About his Romanian-language writings, the same report notes that “The author’s form of expression in Romanian is distinguished by conciseness and clarity”. In 1946 he was transferred as professor to the same department at the Faculty of Theology in Bucharest; in 1948, he began