MIHAI VITEAZUL, DOMN CREȘTIN ȘI EROU AL NEAMULUI ROMÂNESC. CTITORIA MITROPOLITANĂ DE LA ALBA IULIA ȘI EPOPEEA OSEMINTELOR SALE. CÂTEVA CONSIDERAȚII

Ruler Michael the Brave’s acts, followed, under various forms, by the rulers of Wallachia or even by Transylvanian principles, taken over, later on, by political or military men of the West or of the East, will mark the Romanians’ First Great Union (1600), which he realized and which will be, centuries later, the spur for the Little Union (24 January 1859), under the Ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1859-1866, † 1873), but also for their Second Great Union (1 December 1918), under King Ferdinand I (1914-1927). During the reign of Ruler Michael the Brave, considered, in truth, in the specialized literature, the hero of the Romanians’ three countries’ union, the Ortho¬dox Church of Transylvania recorded a rebirth, by the measures he undertook. These measures were part of the efforts of reorganization of the religious life and consolidation of the Orthodox faith in the face of the protestant propaganda, but also of the Roman-Catholic expansion, especially after the Union of Brest-Litovsk (1595- 1596). It ought to be reminded that neither were the Romanians among the accepted nations of the Principality, nor had their ancestral faith or law been accepted among the ‟accepted religionsˮ or ‟accepted confessionsˮ, the Romanians being granted, in exchange, the status of ‟toleratedˮ, while being not acknowledged among the ‟statesˮ of Transylvania. Thus, in this study were presented, in brief or in detail, the following aspects: 1) the honour received by Michael the Brave in the area of Dâmbovița; 2) the Romanians’ first Great Union, an event realized under Michael the Brave’s sceptre; 3) the elements of the Romanians’ unity and their relation of faith with those of other nations; 4) miracles and acts of confession of the Orthodoxy, being described the liturgical debate of Alba Iulia, according to the testimony of Saint Petru Movilă; 5) a few aspects regarding the Church policy of Ruler Mihael the Brave in Transylvania and the Metropolitan Church he founded at Alba Iulia; 6) the manifestation, by Voivode Michael the Brave, of a conscience of Christian ruler; 7) testimonies regarding Ruler Michael the Brave’s earthly remains. Concerning certain aspects of this part of the study, several keys of interpretation are given, while other aspects await clarification.