DOSOFTEI (DOSOFHEIU). - Metropolitan of Moldavia, the first Romanian writer of literary verse. Born around 1624, perhaps Macedonian-Romanian, he was first a monk, then bishop of Nusi (1658) and of Roman (1659) and metropolitan of Iasi (1671). From 1673 to 1686 he had to take refuge in Poland, where he had done his studies and where he died in 1694.

Author of translations and liturgical books, he obtained printing type from the patriarch of Moscow. D. is above all important for his translation of the psalter, Psaltirea in Versuri (1673), inspired by that of the great Polish poet G. Kochanowski (1577), which is still sung by Polish Catholics. D.'s work is rather that of a scholar: he knew Polish, Greek, Latin and Slavonic. Nevertheless some of his psalms, written in short verses, have incontestable qualities and have remained popular. They are sung by children in the colinde (kalendae) of Christmas.

Bibliography

BIBL.: P. Hanes, Histoire de la littérature roumaine, Paris 1034, pp. 17-18.

Federico Tailliez

@incollection{ec4_dosoftei_dosofheiu, author = {Tailliez, Federico}, title = {Dosoftei (Dosofheiu)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IV}, pages = {1891--1892}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/dosoftei-dosofheiu} }

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