Historical Context
After the Habsburg conquest of Transylvania in 1687, Metropolitan Atanasie Anghel led the Romanian Orthodox Church into communion with Rome through the Act of Union of 1698, formalized by synod on September 4, 1700. This union was promoted during the Counter-Reformation period and met with grassroots resistance from Orthodox believers who refused to abandon their tradition.
Oprea, together with the Serbian monk Visarion (Bessarion) Sarai, led Orthodox movements opposing the union. These leaders advocated for freedom of worship for the entire Transylvanian population, representing popular opposition to the forced ecclesiastical reorganization imposed by the Habsburg authorities.
Imprisonment and Martyrdom
In 1752, Oprea traveled to Vienna together with Saint Moses Macinic to seek freedom of religion for the Orthodox of Arad. For his activities defending Orthodoxy against the Uniate union, he was condemned to lifetime hard labor at Kufstein prison in Austria.
On 24 July 1784, his wife Stana petitioned Emperor Joseph II for the release of her husband, who had by then been imprisoned for thirty-two years. The prison records returned showing 'no convict of his name,' indicating that he had already died in confinement. It appears he died before 1784, having received the crown of martyrdom. The Church accounts hold that he died for his confession of the Orthodox faith.
The sources do not provide a specific date for Oprea's own glorification. By way of context, his fellow confessors were formally numbered among the saints at different times: Bessarion Sarai was glorified by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church on February 28, 1950; Sophronius of Cioara in 1955; and Moses Macinic and John of Galesh were glorified as martyrs by the Orthodox Church of Romania in 1992.
Commemoration
Oprea is commemorated on October 21 alongside other martyrs and confessors of Transylvania, including Saint John of Galesh and Martyr Moses (Macinic) the Confessor. The group is celebrated collectively as the 'Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Romania Persecuted by Roman Catholics: Bessarion, Sophronius, Oprea, Moses and John.'
