Arhimandritul Eufrosin Poteca de la Mănăstirea Gura Motrului
Archimandrite Eufrosin Poteca of Gura Motrului Monastery

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to reconstruct the complex personality of Archimandrite Eufrosin Poteca, a representative figure of Romanian culture and the Romanian Orthodox Church during the first half of the 19th century. Structured in three sections, the paper traces, in the first part, Eufrosin Poteca’s biography, from his birth in the village of Nucșoara (1786) and his intellectual formation at the Greek Academy in Bucharest, through his studies at the universities of Pisa and Paris, to his teaching career at the Saint Sava National School and his retirement to Gura Motrului Monastery, where he lived as abbot until his death in 1858. The second part of the article analyzes Archimandrite Eufrosin Poteca’s cultural activity, highlighting his contribution to the development of Romanian philosophical language through translations of Western authors, philosophy courses taught at Saint Sava, and original writings that marked a significant milestone in the modernization of Romanian culture. The final section is dedicated to the administrative and ecclesiastical work Poteca undertook as abbot of Gura Motrului Monastery; there, he contributed to the restoration of the church’s frescoes, the establishment of a monastic school, and the transformation of the institution into a cultural hub for Mehedinți County, thereby continuing, in both administrative and pastoral spheres, his ideals of enlightening the people through books and education.

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