Nicanor Lemne

Father Nicanor Lemne
Born	(1915-12-27)27 December 1915 Drepcăuți, Bessarabia Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	September 15, 2017(2017-09-15) (aged 101) Siliștea Snagovului, Ilfov County, Romania
Nationality	Romanian
Education	Dorohoi Seminary Chișinău Seminary
Alma mater	Cernăuți Faculty of Theology
Occupation(s)	Priest, theologist, monk
Years active	1942–2017
Employer	Romanian Orthodox Church
Known for	Longevity, rebuilding and maintaining the Turbați Monastery
Spouse	Olga Dimitriu
Children	2
Awards	Patriarchal Cross of Romania

Nicanor Lemne (27 December 1915 – 15 September 2017) was a Romanian priest, theologist and monk who was known for his longevity. He served at the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God, a place of worship repaired and maintained by the father himself, in the footsteps of the former Turbați Monastery in Siliștea Snagovului. He was a disciple of Arsenie Boca.

Early life

Father Nicanor Lemne was born on 27 December 1915, in the town of Drepcăuți in the then Russian Bessarabia Governorate, in a large Romanian family with a priestly tradition, being one of the ten children of the family of priest Nicon and priestess Maria Lemne. Wanting from childhood to embrace priestly servanthood, he acquired a solid theological formation at the Theological Seminary of Dorohoi until 1933, then at the Theological Seminary in Chișinău until 1937 and finally at the renowned Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Cernăuți, which he graduated in 1941.

Ordination and departure from Bessarabia

In 1942, he was ordained as a priest in Bălți County, at a parish in the commune of Mihăileni, where he served until 25 March 1944, when the Soviet Union reoccupied Bessarabia. From that moment began a difficult period for the father's family, who fled to Romania, living for a few months in the municipality of Râmnicu Vâlcea, after which he was appointed priest at the Turbați Parish in Siliștea Snagovului, Ilfov, in the Ilfov Nord Protoiery.