[1][2] According to Nicolae Iorga, he was the son of a boyar and seemingly related to the princely family, given his extensive involvement in state affairs.
Iorga too theorized Teoctist's ties to Neamț, a leading center of learning and a refuge for the Slavonic milieu, which the Ottoman conquest had repressed in Bulgaria and Serbia.
[3] Elected Metropolitan of Moldavia in 1453, during the reign of Prince Alexăndrel, he was ordained at Peć by Serbian Patriarch Nikodim II.
Moreover, relations with Constantinople were strained because the previous occupant, Ioachim, sent by that church, was favorable to the Union of Florence, and had been forced to flee his throne.
[7] Over the ensuing three centuries, Teoctist appears in histories by a number of authors: the Chronicle of Putna, as well as works by Grigore Ureche, Nicolae Costin and Vartolomei Măzăreanu.