Moses Măcinic of Sibiel

Holy Priest and Confessor Moses Măcinic of Sibiel was a Romanian of Transylvania who, in the eighteenth century, defended the Orthodox faith against union with Rome and paid with his freedom and, according to tradition, with his life. He is regarded as a confessor and martyr of Transylvanian Orthodoxy.

He was ordained a priest in Bucharest about 1746 and worked against the Union. Because of this he was arrested and held for seventeen months in Sibiu. He was released on condition that he stop serving as a priest and live as a simple peasant. In 1752 he was chosen to go to Vienna, together with Saint Oprea Nicolae of Săliște, to present to Empress Maria Theresa a petition asking for the rights of the Orthodox Church of Transylvania to be recognised. The empress received them, but then sent them to the Kufstein prison in the Tyrolean mountains. Although representatives of Transylvania asked several times for their release, the Habsburg authorities denied any knowledge of them.

The Romanian Orthodox Church glorified him as a martyr in 1992. He is honoured together with Saint John of Galeș, the two being regarded as priest confessors, and is commemorated on 21 October (new style).