Prof. univ. dr. NICOLAE V. DURĂ Ovidius University of Constanta 1, Aleea Universitatii 900470-Constanta, Romania Date and place of birth: 9 th August 1945, Rm. Valcea, Romania Occupation: University Professor Position: Vice-rector of the Ovidius University of Constanta E-mail: nicolaedidimos@yahoo.com Tel.: +40-(0)727-514798; (0) 0769223141; Tel./Fax: +40-241-614836 University and post-university training: 1969 Graduated with High Honours, BA dissertation, major in Byzantinology, under the guidance of Academician Professor Alexandru Elian, from the Theological Institute of University Rank in Bucharest, with the average 10.00. 1969-1971 Canon Law classes, under the guidance of Professor Liviu Stan at the Theological Institute of University Rank in Bucharest. 1971-1974 BA classes at the Faculty of Law (Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia), PhD classes and documentation and research studies (Addis Ababa University Faculties of Law and Theology, and the Institute of Ethiopian Studies). 1990-2000 PhD classes: at the Sorbonne (Faculty of Philosophy and Faculty of Classical Letters); at the Faculty of Law of the Universities Paris II and Paris XI; at the Faculty of Canon Law of the Catholic University of Paris; at the Faculty of Theology and Law of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), at the Faculty of Canon Law of the Toulouse Pontifical University (France). 1981 PhD in Canon Law, at the Theological Institute of University Rank in Bucharest. 1997 Utriusque Juris Doctor (in Civil and Canon Law) at the Pontifical University of Toulouse (France). 2002 Doctor Honoris Causa the Humanist Sciences University of Ostrog (Ukraine). 1990-2000 Speciality, research and documentation studies in different University centres in Europe (Paris, Toulouse, Salamanca, Thessaloniki, Sofia, Brussels, London, Oxford etc.). Academic activity: Doctor of Theology, major in Canon Law - the Theological Institute of University Rank in Bucharest; Utriusque Juris Doctor (Civil and Canon Law) Pontifical University of Toulouse (France); Doctor Honoris Causa the Humanist Sciences University of Ostrog (Ukraine); Tenured Professor through examination in the Faculty of Law and Administrative Sciences of the Ovidius University of Constanta, teaching Canon Law and the European Institutions, The History of the Romanian state and Law and International Law. Legal Protection of Human Rights ; Associate Professor in the Faculty of Theology of the Ovidius University, teaching 1
Canon Law in all three cycles (BA, MA, PhD); PhD Coordinator in the Faculty of Theology of the University of Bucharest (since 1986), and since the 2004 / 2005 academic year, in the Faculty of Theology of the Ovidius University of Constanta; Visiting professor in the Catholic University in Paris and Toulouse and in the University of Ostrog (Ukraine); Author of books, studies and articles (on theology, canon law, law, history, ecclesiology, the history of ancient literature, philosophy etc.), amounting to thousands of pages published in Romanian, French, English, Bulgarian and Ethiopian; 2004 - present - member of the Senate of the Ovidius University of Constanta; Member of the Society of the Law of the Oriental Churches, based in Vienna; Member of the Board of Advisors of the American Biographical Institute; Member of the Romanian Jurists Union; Member of the Board of directors of the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism Bucharest; Membru în International Academic Council of University Center for Euro- Mediterranean Studies (EMUNI) (2008); Membru în Consiliul EURASHE (European Association of Institutions in Higher Education) (2008); Member of the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Milan (2009). Member of the board of editors and editor-in-chief of the Magazine of Theology St. Apostle Andrew (Faculty of Theology, the Ovidius University of Constanta); Member of the board of editors of the Magazine Ortodoxia (Republic of Moldova); Editor-in-chief of the Annals of the Ovidius University, series: Law and Administrative Sciences, accredited by CNCSIS, category C; Member in the board of the magazine Ars aequi of the Studies and Research Centre on Human Rights and Discrimination (Faculty of Law and Administrative Sciences the Ovidius University of Constanta); Editor-in-chief of the Annals of the Ovidius University, series: Theology; Editor-in-chief of the magazine Dionysiana of the Religious and Judiciary-canonical Studies and Research Centre of the three Monotheist Religions (Mosaic, Christian and Islamic) -CRM (Faculty of Theology the Ovidius University of Constanta). Founding member of the Studies and Research Centre on Human Rights and Discrimination (Faculty of Law and Administrative Sciences the Ovidius University of Constanta); Founding member of the MA Program Administrative Sciences European Governance and Public Administration, (accredited both by ARACIS and the Ministry of National Education in France), organized by the Faculty of Law and Administrative Sciences, the Ovidius University and the University in Lille (France); 2004-2008 Vice Dean (for Education and Research) Faculty of Law, Ovidius University of Constanta (elected on the 29 th January 2004); President of the University Ethics Commission ( Ovidius University of Constanta 2006-2007); Director and founding member of Religious and Judiciary-canonical Studies and Research Centre of the three Monotheist Religions (Mosaic, Christian and Islamic) - CRM (Faculty of Theology of the Ovidius University in Constanta); 2008 - Vice Rector of the Ovidius University for Inter-university Relations and Foreign Students (elected on the 12 th March 2008). 2
Professor Nicolae V. Dura published books, studies and articles, notes, reviews and lectures amounting to thousands of pages, evincing the transdisciplinarity and pluridisciplinarity of his preoccupations in the field of scientific research. Prizes, distinctions, medals: For his scientific research papers, Professor Nicolae V. Dura was awarded distinctions and prizes by prestigious institutions in Romania and abroad. For his prolific scientific research activity, with inter- and pluridisciplinary character, he was awarded the reverential Sofronie Vracianski homage Patriarchal Grammata, delivered by the patriarch of the Bulgarian Church, His Holiness Maxim, on the 1 st July 1989, as order - cultural merit for his amazing discovery on the life and activity of the founder of the modern Bulgarian culture, Sofronie Vracianski. He worked for months with archives, and discovered documents regarding the activity of bishop Sofronie Vracianski, on Romanian land, where he took refuge from the persecutions of the Turks in 1803. The results of this research and archive discoveries were published in the magazines: Romanoslavica, the Magazine of the Bulgarian Academy (Sofia) and of the B.O.R. (Biserica Ortodoxa Romana - Romanian Orthodox Church). The scientific paper presented in Sofia, in 1989, which was followed by interviews for the Bulgarian radio and television, was published in specialized magazines in Bulgaria. On the same occasion, he became member of the Slavistic Association in Sofia. On the occasion of the visit of Pope John Paul the II in Romania (1999), the Professor is the only Romanian academic and cleric who receives the Pontifical Medal Ut Unum Sint, delivered to the personalities animated by the spirit of peace and unity in the Christian world. The first international recognition of the incontestable value of the scientific papers elaborated by Professor Nicolae V. Dura came from France, in 2001. The National Order of Merit (version the Legion of Honour, Cultural Merit), awarded in June 2001, by the President of France, Jacques Chirac, at the proposal of the Minister of External Affairs, for his contribution to the promotion of of the French language culture, through his book, amounting to more than 1,000 pages, Le Régime de la synodalité selon la législation canonique, conciliaire, oecuménique, du I er millénaire, published in Bucharest in 1999. Another prestigious prize was awarded by Romanian Academy: the A. D. Xenopol Award, on the 21 st December 2001, for his exceptional research activity, concretized in the paper published in French Le Régime de la synodalité selon la législation canonique, conciliaire, oecuménique, du I er millénaire. Another international recognition is the award of the prestigious title The Man of the Year, 2001, by the American Biographical Institute, New York (United States of America), for his papers, with humanist character, in the field of theology, law, history, philosophy, letters etc. The same institution also presented him with the title The Man of the Year, 2004, for his contributions in the field of scientific research with humanist character and for his contribution in the approach to social-humanitarian problems. At the proposal of some Russian Orthodox Academics, (theologians, canonists, historians, jurists), in August 2003, the Professor was decorated by the Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Russia 3
with the highest distinction offered by this Orthodox Church, namely the Order of St. Vladimir, for his papers with ecclesiological-canonical and historical contents, which brought an important contribution both to the evaluation of the ancient sources of the canon law, and to the approach of a thematic of panorthodox interest (the Orthodox Diaspora, the canon status of the Patriarch of Constantinople, the meetings of the panorthodox synod etc.). The same year, in 2003, the Professor was awarded the Order The Birth of God, by the diocese of Edinet and Briceni (Republic of Moldova) for his publishing and editing activity (to mention that the Professor is not only author of studies and articles published in the prestigious magazine of Orthodox reflection and spirituality Ortodoxia issued in Edinet but also editor). His Holiness Professor Teodosie, Archbishop of Tomis and Dean of the Faculty of Theology of the Ovidius University in Constanta, presented him with the cross of Iconom Stavrofor, on the 16 th April 2006. The Union of Jurists in Romania presented Professor Nicolae V. Dura with the Prize Mircea Manolescu for the year 2006, for his contribution in the field of legal sciences (the history of European institutions, European and institutional law, the history of law, Byzantine law, religious law and compared canon law). On the 30 th May 2007, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Union of Jurists in Romania for his contribution to the establishment of Religious and Judiciary-canonical Studies and Research Centre of the three Monotheist Religions (Mosaic, Christian and Islamic) CRM, the only one of the kind in Romania. On the 26 th October 2007, he is awarded the title of Citizen of Honour of Ramnic on the recommendation of the county Council of Ramnicu Valcea as result of his activity of promotion of the values of the Romanian culture, spirituality and traditions, including those in Valcea, in countless European university centres. All these distinctions and prizes, awarded by the French Presidency, the Romanian Academy, the Biographic Institute in the USA, the Moscow Patriarchy and the Church of the Republic of Moldova, the Pope John Paul II, the Union of Jurists in Romania etc., are an appreciation of a prolific activity of study and research, embracing an inter- and pluridisciplinary thematic (theology, law, philosophy, letters, history etc.), with a marked humanist, pan-european character. The respective distinctions emphasize, at the same time, the contribution Professor Nicolae V. Dura made in fields requiring multi-disciplinary preparation and full mastering of the scientific research instruments (method, accuracy, objectivity, languages ancient and modern) etc. These prestigious national and international scientific titles and cultural distinctions pay homage to a research activity of over 30 years, fulfilled not only through evaluations, specification, qualifying statements and additions to the scientific papers preceding him, but also through the discovery of unique documentary sources, as in the case of the nomokanon Ethiopian sources, of the sources of the nomokanon in Govora, of those regarding the life and activity of Sofronie Vracianski, of the judiciary-canonical sources in the first millennium etc. Other activities: He participated in national and international congresses and symposia (on Law, Canon Law, Theology, Philosophy and History); Organizer of the national and international symposia for the Faculty of Law and Administrative sciences and Theology of the Ovidius University of Constanta; Professor consultant for the Faculties of Law and Theology in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), and for the Faculty of Canon Law of the Pontifical University in Toulouse (France) etc.; 4
Consultant for judiciary-canonical issues and trainer of specialists in the field of Roman- Byzantine Law and Byzantine Law, of old Romanian Law, of the protection of Human rights by law and of compared religious law (Mosaic, Christian and Islamic). Foreign languages: - French, - English, - Ethiopian, - Italian, - Spanish, - Bulgarian, - Classical languages (Greek and Latin), - Slavonic, - Russian, - Neo-Greek etc. 5