Between his 1820 graduation and 1821, when effects of the Wallachian uprising led to the School ceasing its activities, he was kept as Lazăr's assistant teacher, tutoring in arithmetics and geometry. It was during those years that he adopted the surname "Heliade" (also rendered "Heliad", "Eliad" or "Eliade"), which, he later explained, was a Greek version of his patronymic, in turn stemming from the Romanian version of "Elijah".