 That year, he published in Râmnicu Vâlcea a brochure in which he outlined his defense (and which he signed as "Gerasim Saffirinu").An archimandrite from 1888, Safirin was vicar of Râmnic from 1889 to 1890.For the next four years, already in his forties, he studied at the theology faculty of the National University of Athens, Greece, obtaining an undergraduate degree.