“Unfortunately there are no theologians in my country.”
Mihai was not exaggerating. He was simply stating a fact. There are none. That is one of the legacies from Ceausescu’s reign of terror in Romania. Nor will there be any tomorrow. Nor the next day. But, maybe the day after.…
Like the hope for prosperity and benefits of their newfound freedom, nothing is going to come quickly to Romania. Yet I am convinced that one day soon there will be not just one but many theologians in Romania. And Mihai Ciopasie may well be one of them.
Mihai was one of the 82 pastors who attended the week-long Vienna Pastors Conference cosponsored by Ligonier Ministries and Eastern European Seminary. His zeal to learn was immediately apparent; in his own words he writes:
“Six years ago I lost my job because of the secret police. Many times they came to my house searching for Christian literature.
“They never realized that by taking away our Bibles and Christian books, they were making us all the more hungry for the Word of God! We are hungry to go deeper into the Bible. And we must. The greatest danger in Romania right now is false teaching cults: New Age, Mormonism, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Liberal theology is dangerous for us. That is why we are obligated to have sound theology. That is why we are committed to growing in knowledge of our wonderful God. Unfortunately, there are no theologians in our country.
“God has given me much enthusiasm to learn theology. I know that it is the same enthusiasm that inspired me to learn English. Four years ago I taught myself English by writing the Bible. Then I transcribed the verses that I wrote into Romanian. It wasn’t the best way to learn English but soon I knew the language. I then taught myself Greek and now can transcribe the entire New Testament into Greek.”
While Mihai has not yet acquired the knowledge of the Latin phrase Coram Deo—living all of life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, and to the glory of God—somehow I have the distinct impression this future theologian already lives out the concept.
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