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Visarion Puiu (born Victor Puiu on 27 February 1879, Paşcani, Romania - 10 August 1964, Viels...

Visarion Puiu (born Victor Puiu on 27 February 1879, Paşcani, Romania - 10 August 1964, Viels-Maisons, France) was a metropolitan bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church. After attending primary school in his native town, Puiu studied at seminaries in Roman (1893-1896) and Iaşi (1896-1900), and later at the Bucharest Faculty of Theology, where he received a licentiate in 1905. On 22 December 1905, he became a monk at Roman, being ordained a deacon three days later. From January 1907 to July 1908, he studied at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. From 1905 to 1908, he was, as a deacon, attached to the Cathedral of the Holy Voievods, Roman, while in 1908 he was transferred to the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas, Galaţi. There, on 6 December 1908, he was ordained a priest, being elevated to the dignity of Archimandrite on 1 January 1909. Three months later, he was named director of the Galaţi Theological Seminary and Vicar of the Archbishopric of the Lower Danube. On 1 September 1918, he became director of the Chişinău Theological Seminary, being named Exarch of Bessarabia's monasteries two months later (soon after that province united with the Kingdom of Romania). On 17 March 1921, Puiu was elected