Cornetu Monastery

Cornetu Monastery is located on Olt River Valley, Călineşti village (now part of Brezoi town), Vâlcea County, Wallachia, Romania. Initially a skeet for monks, it was transformed in a convent for nuns. The dedication day of the monastery is The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, 29 of August. In Romanian, Cornetu signifies a forest of European Cornel (Cornus mas) trees.

The monastery has a characteristic, probably unique in the world: the railway passes under it! When the railway was built through the Olt Gorges in the late 19th century, because of the narrow space it was decided to construct the embankments under the church.

The hermitage was built by marele vornic Mareş Băjescu and his wife Maria, great feudal close to the Cantacuzino (or Cantacuzène) family. He choose the place carefully, on one hand near his domains, on other hand near Transylvania, thus providing an ideal refuge for the founder and his family in harsh times to come. According to the original dedication inscription (Romanian: pisanie) carved in stone, the works were finished on August 29, 1666, during the reign of Radu Leon (1664-1669). Mareş Băjescu transferred to the hermitage the possession of Copăceni village, Saşa and Cornetu mountains, as well as some terrains in Pripoare, Titeşti, Ostrov villages.

In 1761, during the reign of Constantin Mavrocordat, a certain Alecse căpitan za Lovişte ordered to recover the altar painting, work done by painters Mihai, Iordache and Radu - as is said in another inscription located in the southeast corner of the nave. Another important moment in the history of the worship place is the 1808 fire, which almost completely destroyed the church and the cells, for a period the monastic life being interrupted. Only in 1835 the new abbot Irimah recovered the buildings and murals. During 1864-1949, the church was administered by Eforia Spitalelor Civile of Bucharest, which in 1885 financed the construction of the oak iconostasis, and a year later the painting of the wooden icons. Between 1923-1925, in cooperation with the Department of Monuments, were restored the dome of the tower and the shrine destroyed by shells during WWI (the fights of 1916).

In 1898, when it was dug the tunnel under the walls of the monastery site, the Department of Railways demolished a part of the old wall and the annex cells, building later the present ones. Were preserved the watchtower, the tower and the walls on north and east sides. The last major renovation was in 1960, under the patronage of Directorate of Historic Monuments, when was restored the mural painting.

The complex is surrounded by a square stone; on three corners of the enclosure rises polygonal towers and on the southeast corner is a pavilion. In the middle of the enclosure is the church, the only that kept its original form. Built on a three-lobed plan, it has a bell tower with eight sides over the narthex and the 'Pantocrator' tower with ten sides and narrow windows over the nave. The wall is from horizontal rows of visible bricks between plaster panels, divided by a double belt of rounded brick, that surrounds the niche of the icon of dedication on the western facade. The cornice is made of brick arranged in the shape of saw teeth, with a row of buttons below it and a frieze of glazed tiles framed by bricks set on edge. The pedestal is made of boulders in brick boxes.

Important architectural monument of 17th century, the monastery is considered by scholar N. Ghika-Budeşti as "one of the most interesting and the most picturesque of the time, as architecture".

Râmeţ Monastery

Râmeț Monastery is one of the oldest and most renowned worship places in Romania. It is located in Alba County, Transylvania, in Trascău Mountains (Western Carpathians).

Râmeţ Monastery

It seems that the monastery was founded by two monks, father Ghenadie and father Romulus, in 1214. The great scholar Nicolae Iorga showed that the name "Râmeț" is derived from "eremite" (lonely monk). The painting of the old church is a real chronicle of it's history: the first layer is from 1300, and the second layer from 1310. The third layer, on which a text that dates back to 1377 can be deciphered, was laid on the surface of the arch that is situated between the nave and the pronaos; the fourth layer dates from 1450, the fifth layer from 1600, the sixth layer from 1741, and the seventh layer from 1809. The church was painted again by Grigore Popescu between 1987 and 1988.

The old church

Since 1506, the monastery was protected by ruling prince of Wallachia, Radu the Great. During the reign of Michael the Brave, it was restored by princely craftsmen an painters, as Petre the Armenian, Mina and Nicolae from Crete. The holy establishment was abandoned for one hundred years. On 20th August 1762, the monastery was destroyed by cannons on the orders of General Bukow, because it was one of the most celebrated Orthodox places of worship, as well as one of the most powerful centers of Orthodox spirituality in Transylvania. The monastery ran a school which was also devasted in 1762. During the following years, Râmeţ Monastery underwent extensive repairs and restoration works. Nevertheless, it was again destroyed by the Austrian imperial army on December 23, 1785.

The new church

In 1826, the monastery was transformed into a parish church and in 1932 it became a monastery all over again. The newly acquired monastic status was owed to the persevering efforts of a monk, father Evloghie Ota. In 1955, it was transformed into a female monastic community, but in 1960, it was closed down and turned into a touring chalet. In 1982, the monastery received once again official approval from the local state authorities to resume the religious activities that are regularly carried out in a monastic establishment; yet, the outbuildings designed for monastic domestic uses were still occupied by lay lodgers. In order to regain possession of these outbuildings, father confessor Dometie Manolache, Mother Superior Ierusalima Ghibu and the dedicated monastic residents set about constructing a touring chalet outside the monastery grounds. In 1969 the monastery set up a museum to exhibit icons on wood, icons on glass, old books, and an important numismatic collection. The personalities relating to the existence of the museum include: Nicolae Iorga, Vasile Drăguț and Virgil Vătășianu.

Saint Ghelasie

The need of the believers required the building of a new and larger church. The architecture of this church represents a synthesis of the Moldavian and Wallachian architectural styles. Its construction began in 1982 and was finished ten years later, when the church was consecrated on June 29, 1992, and dedicated to the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. Saint Ghelasie of Râmeţ was father superior of the monastery and the archbishop of Transylvania in the second half of the 14th century, and was canonized the same day. The monastery houses some 95 nuns and sisters who pray and work according to the holy canons of the Orthodox monasteries.

Mucenicii

In the Orthodox calendar, the day of March 9 is dedicated to the Holy 40 Martyrs of Sevastia. It is said that in Emperor Lichinie times in Sevastia, Armenia, lived voivoda Agricolae that has 40 soldiers, all Christians. Hearing about that, forced them to deny their faith and to worship idols. Because they refused to renounce Christianity, were terribly tortured and eventually was burned at the stake. Mucenici or măcinici (Romanian for martyrs) are named also the spirits of ancestors, celebrated on this day.

In the popular calendar, Mucenicii, Moşii de Mărţişor (approx. The Elders from March), Sfinţişorii (The Little Saints) or Sâmbra plugului (untranslatable) (the name varies from one area to another) - means the end of winter, the beginning of spring and and of the agricultural year. On this day, in the rural areas there are a number of rituals in which people still believe: all those who do not have names of saints are celebrating this day their name day; all trash and debris collected over winter are set in fire in the yard or garden, and if the smoke goes straight up into the sky, it is said that in the next 40 days will be good weather to work the land; people give a sort of eight-shaped pretzels, made from pannetone dough, baked in the oven, then smeared with honey and sprinkled with crushed nuts and sugar; people drink 40 glasses of wine (or if they don't support this... treatment, 40 tablespoons of wine); the entire household is sprayed with holy water and incensed, three times, from east to west, as to banish evil, people and animals to be good all year, and the household to prosper.