Dosoftei

Who was Dosoftei?

Dimitrie Barilă, better known under his monastical name Dosoftei, was a Moldavian Metropolitan, scholar, poet and translator.

Born in Suceava, he attended the school of the "Trei Ierarhi" Monastery of Iaşi and then at the Orthodox Brotherhood school in Lviv, where he studied humanities and learned several languages.

In 1648 he became a monk at Probota Monastery, and was later bishop of Huşi and Roman to become Metropolitan bishop of Moldavia. In 1686 he moved to Poland where he stayed for the rest of his life.

He was one of the most important ethnic Romanian scholars of the 17th century, the very first important Romanian language poet and the first translator into Romanian of epics, works on history, as well as religious scriptures Moldavia had. His most famous work is the Romanian psalter in verse.

The Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church canonized Dosoftei in July 2005, a fact that was proclaimed on October 14, 2005. His feast day is December 13.