cecan was born among the romanians of novoselitsa ("noua suliță" or "novoselytsia") or beleuța village, hotin county. both were located in the northern tip of the bessarabia governorate, russia (now in chernivtsi oblast, ukraine). his native area had been split from ancient moldavia; western moldavia remained in romania, whereas the moldavian sub-region of bukovina, just west of novoselitsa, was administered by austria-hungary. ieremia teodor's original surname was "ciocan" ("hammer"), which was approximated into russian as "chekan", then mutated back into romanian as "cecan". he went on to study in kishinev ("chișinău"), training at the theological seminary (in 1889) and then being assigned the central bessarabian parish of nișcani. later on, he furthered his studies in theology at kiev academy. he became a passionate reader and follower of vladimir solovyov, as well as a speaker for the reunification of orthodoxy and catholicism. in his later articles on the subject, cecan favored leniency toward the use of "filioque" in the nicene creed and accepted the doctrine of papal infallibility.