ROMANIA – NOVEMBER 2012 –
Nicolas CR and Oswin CR
Friday 9th As Oswin and I stepped out into the arrivals hall at Bucharest airport we saw at once the
smiling faces of Fr Daniel and Tudor waiting to greet us with hugs and enthusiasm. From then on we
were in their hands, and what generous
hands they were!
First we drove to a monastery on an island
called Snagov just outside Bucharest. It is a
beautiful place and wealthy people live
round the lake. Indeed Ceausescu had a
house there which is preserved intact. The
island is the burial place of Vlad Tepes (Vlad
the Impaler) and is sacred to his rather
unpleasant memory. The starez who is
rebuilding the church there is very
enthusiastic for his cause but evidently a bit
difficult to live with.
Then we drove on to Ploiesti where Fr Ion
Chilan was waiting to show us his church
and give us a meal. Fr Chilan has been
building this magnificent church for 15 years
and it has been exciting to watch it grow. He has also built a fine catechetical centre for children and
adults and it was here we ate our excellent lunch; it was Friday and therefore fasting, and Oswin was
delighted to discover low fat vegetarian food can be delicious, especially when washed down with
home made cherry brandy and red wine!
Fr Chilan would have kept us all night but we had to get on for the 3 hours drive to Rimnicu Vilcea
where Bishop Emilian Nica welcomed us most graciously at about 9.00 pm, showed us to
wonderfully posh rooms in the newly built guest accommodation, and then gave us another supper.
Bishop Emilian was here at Mirfield for 6 months some years ago and has become a firm friend of
CR. The diocese is an important one and very historic being once run by St Callinic of Cernica. It
contains many old and flourishing monasteries as we discovered in the next few days, but first for
Oswin and me was the wonderful opportunity at last to sleep, and to discover next day the
wonderful hot showers. One of the biggest changes in Romania over the past 20 years has been the
hot showers and flushing toilets which are now standard everywhere, at least for the Church!
Saturday 10th
By the time we emerged for breakfast Bishop Emilian had departed to dedicate a new church.
Instead his secretary Fr Mihai showed us round the diocesan complex, a large site of about 25 acres
right in the centre of town. We then set off to visit a salt mine which was interesting: it was very big
and the great galleries and shafts could have taken several buses without noticing it. The church has
1
converted one cave into a chapel and the Liturgy is offered there each Sunday. The working part is
apparently prosperous. Of course, in the past prisoners have often been used to do the mining and
some famous prisoners like Petre Tutea worked there. From there we set off to the first of our
monasteries. It needs to be said now that most of our travelling round the country was a delight
because we constantly passed by, or over, rivers, hills, mountains and forests in glorious autumn
colours, and the mostly wonderful variety of houses, some recently painted in brilliant colours. No
boring standardisation for the Romanians! The monasteries too were also in one 'Brincoveanu' style
with a free standing church in the centre of a quad. All were beautiful and recently repainted, added
on to, renovated. There is an incredible energy of church building going on in Romania.
We first went to Horez where we had an excellent lunch; then to Bistrita where we were showed
round by an apparently aged nun who bounded up the ladder like steps of the bell tower better than
any of us and then on to Arnota up a high mountain which I thought the most beautiful and
imagined coming back for a retreat in such mountain silence until Fr Dan pointed out the huge
quarry next door which operated throughout the week! By now I was exhausted and thought we
were going home. By no means. There was one monastery still to do. I said NO. Fr Dan said the
abbess was expecting us and we had to go. I prepared to sulk but Tudor patted me on the shoulder;
"Come on Father. This is Romania." In fact Dintre Lemn, where the church was carved out of a single
tree in which a large icon had been miraculously found, was my best experience, not because of the
monastery itself but because of the Abbess Emanuela who was wonderful and who talked with us
over supper over all sorts of joys and problems of the Romanian monastic life. She had come there in
1972 as the first of a new batch after the famous decree which had expelled huge numbers of monks
and nuns from here monasteries. Looking at her you would not believe she had been through such
tough times.....
Sunday 11th While everyone in England was thinking of Remembrance Day we set off with Bishop
Emilian for the blessing of a new church in the suburbs. This was wonderful fun, with crowds of
people welcoming the bishop and then packing us all into church, and processing out and round and
back in with Fr Dan dragging us through the phalanx of little old ladies who could have withstood the
toughest football crowds! The service was glorious and full of that wonderful mix between
informality and solemnity
that only the Orthodox can
do. After an hour and a half
we had finished blessing
church and altar and were
then sent on our way to the
Cathedral, where mass had
finished and then to Ostrov
monastery, a historic
monastery refounded in 1996
by Abbess Miriam. She took
one look at me and said 'I
met you at Agapia'- twenty
years ago! Clearly grey
scapulars are memorable.
2
She came on her own in 1996 and in sixteen years has built up a thriving monastery. Again we had a
wonderful meal with a long discussion with the abbess about monastic life. She was very firm on the
matter of absolute obedience...in which she is probably right but one wouldn't dare try it in the
West. After that we came back to home via Turnu and Cozia monasteries, both for men. Both have a
goodly number of monks but we were only able to meet one in each place. Sadly we never got much
of a chance to attend the various liturgies. That evening we were able to sit and chat for an hour
with the Bishop who spoke of his own appreciation of his time at Mirfield where he loved the quiet,
the regularity of the programme and the relaxed relationship with the brethren. He is a wonderful
Bishop, very hard working, and very open to the world outside Romania, which most are not.
Monday 12th
On Monday after breakfast with the Bishop we set off to the seminary where we met with about 45
boys in their mid to late teens. Oswin and I spoke to them about The Church of England, Zimbabwe,
and CR, with Tudor translating and they asked various questions, sometimes in good English. It was
good to find they were not frightened to ask questions and they seem to be quite intellectually alive.
Then we set off on a long drive through the mountains, round Sibiu, to lunch at Sighisoara
mon
astery and then on up into Moldavia before going on to Neamt monastery where the Abbot was
waiting to greet us at 10.30 with another meal, tsuica and wine and conversation till nearly
midnight.
Tuesday 13th Oswin and I, both feeling rather jaded from the past day's adventures and meals (even
a hobbit would have been proud of us for managing four!) went to the liturgy celebrated by rather a
small company of monks. Then after breakfast with Abbot Benedict we were taken by Fr Callinic, the
3
leader of one of the monastery's schits, to see monasteries: first Sihla, high up the mountain (I last
went there on foot through pouring rain! This was easier) and then we walked round the foot path
through the woods that took us to Sr Theodora's cave (another story). Then to Sihastria where Fr
Cleopa lived. Here they have built a huge and beautiful church in a stunning
location
Then back for a brief visit to Secu
where Paisie Velichkovsky began his
great work of publishing the Philokalia,
and on to another schit and the
seminary church, before we got to
lunch with the Abbot. We then
managed 30 minutes rest before Fr
Kallinic took us off again, this time to
Agapia where we heard evensong by
sung by a small group of sisters, and
then visited an old friend, Sr Filoteia, in
her house; then briefly to Varatec, and
back to the monastery where we had
supper just with young Fr Efraim as the
Abbot was busy. He proved to be delightful and informative about the monastic life at Neamt. That
night we managed a good long sleep before being collected by Fr Kallinic to visit his schit, which was
about 7 kms away; it was very beautiful and we attended the whole liturgy before being taken
through the rain to breakfast, then back to Neamt, where we soon found another breakfast offered
to us by the abbot. Abbot Benedict and Fr Kallinic were incredibly generous to us with time, food,
and transport and they completed their generosity by Fr Kallinic taking us on the two hour car
journey to Iasi.
Wednesday 14th We were accommodated in the priests' hostel by the Metropolitan cathedral in
quite comfortable rooms slightly disturbed by building works on Oswin's side and renovation works
on mine. That afternoon we had to ourselves until Tudor turned up to take us on a short walk round
town and then to the opera, where his mother works, making costumes. That was a wonderful
experience though as it was a dress rehearsal the singers were saving their voices and only sang at
4
half volume. But there were about 140 dancers and singers and the costumes were stunningly
beautiful, as was the dancing. However, at half time we had to leave to go to dinner with Fr Dan
Sandu, our main host in Iasi. He has built himself a lovely house on the edge of Iasi and it was
delightful to meet his wife Creina and his two very pleasant teen age children whom I had last seen
as toddlers! We got home about midnight.
Thursday 15th and met Dan the next day at 8.00 to talk with an MA class about the problems of
teaching religion to young people. They responded very well to that and we had an excellent
discussion. Then we met the Dean of the faculty who is delighted to have us on their exchange
programme and this was followed by lunch and another 2 hour teaching slot, this time on dogmatics
in which Dan really wanted us to disabuse his students of the idea that dogmatics are fixed and
unchanging. Some took well to a degree of flexibility. Others made it clear by their faces that they
did not! The day ended wonderfully and uproariously with supper in Tudor's grandparents' house
with his parents and several uncles and aunts who just came to look.
The table groaned with food as grandmother is an excellent cook and his father is a chef. After much
labour of eating we sang Romanian songs together and I taught them Ilkley Moor which seemed a
fair exchange of culture.
Friday 16th I woke with one of the sorest throats I have ever had. After contemplating death for a
while I suggested I went to a doctor. Dan of course had a friend, an ENT specialist lady who was
young, beautiful, very efficient, diagnosed a severe viral infection and treated me on the spot. I felt
better enough then to pay a formal visit to the Metropolitan Teofan, who was indeed one of our
main reasons for coming to Iasi. He turned out to be most gracious and friendly and after explaining
some of the difficulties ecumenism has in his diocese promised to support us. Then while Oswin was
5
taken round Iasi by Tudor I went back to bed and slept for 5 hours, waking to find my sore throat
more or less gone. Blessed lady doctor and the Mother of Our Lord too! so I felt strong enough to go
out to supper with a lovely young abbess, Sr Maria Magdalena. We talked Romania, monastic life
and Shakespeare, for whom she has a passion.
Saturday 17th soon after 8.00 a nun from Abbess Maria's convent arrived with their car and the
faithful Tudor set off with us for the three hour drive to Tirgu Ocna where we were to meet Fr Dan
Nichita for the final part of our adventure. Here of course, the first thing we did was sit down to a
magnificent meal prepared by his churchwarden's wife,
Maria.
Then after farewell to Sr Simeona, Fr Dan drove us 3 hours up into the mountains to the monastery
of Durau where we met Dan Sandu's sister, a nun, Sr Parascheva. She showed us this historic
monastery and then fed us a lovely meal (of course!) at the end of which their Spiritual Father,
Father Chariton came and talked with us for a while about the problems and joys of hearing
confessions. He was richly profound and blessed with that depth and humility that makes real
spiritual fathers so attractive. Then we drove the several hours back home and fell into bed.
Sunday 18th We shared in the Holy Liturgy which Fr Dan celebrated in his small, ancient and
beautiful wooden church, packed with parishioners. It was, I think the loveliest service of our whole
stay. Then of course we had another wonderful meal cooked by a parishioner, and set off to a
nearby monastery, Magura, which is also very historic. By now the fog was thick and the monastery
was seen in swirling mist. Here again the highlight was a long conversation with the spiritual father,
Fr Epifanie who was 84 and both spiritual and humorous. As soon as he heard of my sore throat he
produced delicious plum brandy. (Sr Maria before had said they never used pills in their convent.
Tsuica cured everything). Tudor by now had left us for another engagement and so Fr Dan was able
to show off his translating skills, which were great. 6 months ago he didn't speak a word of English so
his achievement has been impressive. Supper that evening was with Fr Dan's lovely family: wife
Christi, 15 year old daughter Theodora who spoke excellent English, and 8 year old Peter who talked
6
soccer non stop with Oswin, when he wasn't watching
it.
Monday 19th We began quietly with breakfast followed by a visit to the Mayor, a Roman Catholic but
great friend of Fr Dan's. Then we paid a delightful visit to a nursery school and small orphanage run
by some very good RC sisters; it was funded from Italy so very high quality. Lunch – 5 courses of it
followed and then we set off for the long journey to Crasna monastery, our last stop. This took us
back into Transilvania for a while and then over the Carpathian mountains. The last 3 kms of road to
Crasna are very bad and so we were met with a 4 wheeled drive. When we arrived at this beautiful
and fervent monastery, which has produced 7 bishops we were met by the delightful young (32)
abbot Nectarie who was thrilled to see us as he is coming to Mirfield next year to learn English. He
has been a monk since he was 16 and is a good advert for taking them young! Once again there was
a splendid meal with the usual wine and tsuica and then a fairly early bed.
Tuesday 20th We began with the Holy Liturgy, very well celebrated and then to a magnificent
breakfast during which we met the spiritual father Nikodim of the monastery who also more or less
refounded it. Despite being a man of small education himself he has got his monks doing further
degrees (Fr Nectarie has just finished his doctorate in Paris) and is himself amazingly open to the
wider world. He is not frightened of other Christians and cares deeply for unity. Then our last two
hour drive took place, down through Ploiesti to Bucharest airport. As we arrived Tudor phoned to
say good bye which was lovely. Fr Dan and Tudor had really made this visit for us and it was sad to
bid them farewell but good to know we leave such wonderful friends behind.
7
8