Victor Pânzaru

Victor Pânzaru was born on 4 February 1953 in the village of Dragoș Vodă, later renamed Iliciovca, in the Drochia district of what was then the Moldavian SSR. His family later settled in the town of Drochia, where he studied at secondary school No. 1, now the Mihai Eminescu Theoretical Lyceum. He began writing verse as a child.

He made his debut in the periodical press in 1969. Grigore Vieru, one of Moldova's best known poets, noticed the teenager and dedicated an article to him titled "The Youngest Poet" in the newspaper Tinerimea Moldovei. He went on to study at the Ion Creangă Pedagogical Institute in Chișinău and at the State University in Riga, where he specialised in Latvian philology.

Pânzaru's poems appeared in the 1975 anthology Dintre sute de catarge, and his first collection, Muzeul semințelor, was published in 1984 to interest from critics. It was followed by Distanțele sufletului in 1989, which the Writers' Union of Moldova said consolidated his lyric profile. Critic Mihai Cimpoi noted an affinity between his poetry and that of Federico García Lorca, pointing to its candour, purity of expression and sensitivity to the mysteries of nature.

He wrote extensively for children, publishing Prietenul meu, soarele (1989), Cine ascultă de bunici (1992), Dacă mă salvezi (2003) and Căpșuna (2003). A new anthology, again titled Muzeul semințelor, brought his poetry back to readers in 2017.

As a translator he introduced Latvian literature to Romanian-language readers. He also worked in journalism and publishing, as deputy director of the M. Kogălniceanu National Centre for Literary Studies and Museography and as a marketing and advertising consultant at the Știința publishing house. He was a member of the Writers' Union of Moldova and the Writers' Union of Romania.

In 2009 Pânzaru withdrew from public life and became a monk at Curchi Monastery, receiving the monastic name Irineu. The Writers' Union of Moldova described this as a new stage of his existence devoted to faith and spiritual service. He kept writing, mainly poetry on spiritual themes, including the volume Te rog, nu intra în Biserică la fel ca în muzeu. In his last years he lived in the community of the Dormition Monastery at Țigănești, in Strășeni district, and he had become a schemamonk.

Pânzaru, known as the schemamonk Irineu, died on 3 November 2026 at Țigănești Monastery, aged 73. No cause of death was made public. The monastery community and the Writers' Union of Moldova announced his death on 4 November, and the union sent condolences to his family, friends and monastic community. The funeral service was scheduled for 10 am on Thursday 5 November 2026 at Țigănești Monastery.

Pânzaru is remembered as a lyric poet of childhood and nature, championed as a teenager by Grigore Vieru, whose books for children were read across Moldova, and as one of the few translators to bring Latvian literature into Romanian. The 2017 anthology Muzeul semințelor gathered his poetry for a new generation of readers.