Nicolae Popea

His colleagues included Avram Iancu and Alexandru Papiu-Ilarian; together with the latter, Popea edited a weekly publication they distributed to the city's Romanian students.

He took part in the May assembly at Câmpia Libertății, was elected to the delegation that intended to present the resulting petitions to the Transylvanian Diet and was a captain in the Brașov-based Romanian guards.

[2] In late 1854, Andrei Șaguna, the Orthodox Metropolitan of Transylvania, summoned Popea to work at the archdiocesan administration in Sibiu, initially as secretary.

He taught church history, morals and canon law; his pupils included Zaharia Boiu, Nicolae Cristea, Ilarion Pușcariu, Dimitrie Comșa and Daniil Popovici-Barcianu.

This oppositional faction sought to uphold Șaguna's program of national development by safeguarding the church's autonomy, fostering education and ensuring good administration and merit-based promotion within the archdiocese.

Together with other hierarchs, both Orthodox and Greek-Catholic, he called for the Romanian character of the confessional schools to be preserved; this was in danger from a series of laws approved by the Diet of Hungary.

[9] Popea published several articles on history and speeches in Foaia and in Telegraful Român, as well as in the Vienna-based Die Zukunft, Wanderer and Ost und West.

[9] His first book of history was Vechea Mitropolie ortodoxă română a Transilvaniei, suprimarea și restaurarea ei, which began appearing in serial form in 1868 before being published in 1870.

The author then moves on to criticize the founding of the Greek-Catholic Church before discussing the restored metropolis, including a series of acts and documents that remain relevant.

He also suffered due to the Magyarization policy promoted by Education Minister Albert Apponyi and the forceful intervention of the authorities in the affairs of the theological institute.

In 1908, shortly before the bishop's death, the government fired four professors, among them Ilie Minea and Enea Hodoș, for their political activity.

Popea was buried in the cemetery of Caransebeș' Saint John the Baptist Church; an appreciative obituary from Nicolae Iorga followed.