The need for reform. Orthodox confessional education in Transylvania during the period of 1849-1867

The beginnings of education in Transylvania are owed to villages, priests and monks, thus being lost in the mists of time. Although there were official concerns for educating the faithful since medieval times, the first Romanian schools in southwestern Transylvania appear only in the eighteenth century. However, the Orthodox religious education is linked, unquestionably, with the name of great patriot and scholar Andrei Șaguna, general vicar (1846-1848), then bishop (1848-1864), archbishop and metropolitan (1864-1873) of the Greek-Eastern Romanian Diocese not united with Rome of Transylvania. In fact, the activity of the metropolitan stands out not only in the educational field, but obviously also in the spiritual, cultural and charitable field.