Cristea, following Moisescu's progress, sent him (upon the recommendation of the University of Athens and of the Romanian Embassy in Greece) to continue his advanced studies at the Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology at the Université des Sciences Humaines in Strasbourg. After two years in France (1934–36), having obtained material for his doctoral thesis, he returned to Athens in 1936. The following year he obtained his doctorate with the Greek-language thesis “Evagrius Ponticus. Life, writings and teachings”, which received an award from the Athens Academy of Sciences. He then took equivalence examinations at the University of Bucharest’s Faculty of Theology.