Historic insight<\/p>\n
Monasticism appears in the Romanian history as early as the 4th century when the first archaeological evidences have revealed an organized monastic life. The first monks known in this century seemed to have come from a Christian population that was dislocated in Cappadocia by the Goths. Some are believed to have been disciples of Basil the Great, whose Regulations they were observing, in South-Eastern Romania, which was called Scythia Minor (present Dobruja). They were proclaiming the Gospel among pagan dacians. There are caves in Dobruja where Christian symbols were found on the walls. One should also mention the \u201cpsalm singing\u201d of which a martyr of the 4th century, Sava the Goth, was accused by prosecutors. From the very beginning they were organized in monastic communities, and not as solitary individuals, sharing all in common, according to the apostolic tradition.<\/p>\n
Monasticism developed throughout history in an uninterrupted succession to the present days. Today monasticism is flourishing given the new context of freedom. The number of monks and nuns number is decreasing and the commitment to the real asceticism is harder to assume individually, as the monasteries are becoming places of interest for tourists or even retreats, where people are bringing with them influences of the modern secularized world.<\/p>\n
Profession into monasticism<\/p>\n
A candidate to monasticism must first and foremost apply to enter a monastery out of a real vocation to serve God with absolute commitment. The vocation for monasticism is the key point and weights when the decision to be accepted must be taken by the superior of a monastery. It is for this particular reason that a candidate is first questioned about the reasons to join in that community, then follows a period of tests. This includes: three months of \u201ctemptation\u201d, followed by the blessing to start practicing the obedience which normally takes 3 years; it can be extended if necessary. This period is followed by a period of training in theology, in a monastic seminary, ending with the monastic tonsure, or the profession into monasticism, which is a life lasting decision. During this testing period, the novice should have daily talks with his\/her confessor, and must practice piety, obedience and faith.<\/p>\n
The service of profession itself is similar to both: a wedding and a burial. First because the candidate is engaged with the community and takes over the entire stewardship of Christ and His Church. Second because he\/she dies to the world in order to be born again into a new life. It is the reason for which the name is changed. Being dressed up, after the vow, he\/she receives every piece of clothing with a special meaning and symbolism for the future monastic life, which should never be abandoned.<\/p>\n
Every person professed into monasticism should observe the three vows for the rest of his\/her life:<\/p>\n
1.\tUnlimited obedience
\n2.\tAbsolute chastity
\n3.\tComplete poverty<\/p>\n
Ora et Labora<\/p>\n
Similarly to monastic life of other parts of the Christian world, the monk\/nun should have certain preoccupations and so called \u201cobediences\u201d in the monastery. Among the most important, it is worth mentioning:<\/p>\n
1.\tPrayer. Monastic community prayer in Romania follows the pattern of the ancient Byzantine style. Offices are ordered in such a way that the whole day and night must be marked by prayer and meditation, fragmenting the normal activity in order to avoid passion for a particular activity. It is the reason for which the \u201cobediences\u201d are often rotating from a member to another to avoid routine or hobby. The only passion of the monastic should be prayer for himself\/herself and for those in the world who do not have time to pray and meditate. An Orthodox religious will spend between 7 and 8 hours in church every day.<\/p>\n
Private prayer plays an equally important role and aims at directing his\/her solitude to the personal dialogue with God. The normal personal office of a monk takes about one hour every morning and evening. Additionally, they must read psalms, various literature on piety and meditation.<\/p>\n
2.\tWork. Almost every monastery in Romania has an agrarian piece of land on which vegetables and crops are growing for the community needs. Consequently, all members are expected, to work in the field or practice other activities, for two reasons: to keep busy and avoid dissipation in worldly thought, and to earn their living. Other activities include: wood carving, painting, tapestry, embroidery, carpet weaving, icon painting etc. Today there have developed other activities such as computing, publishing, translating, social programs etc.<\/p>\n
3.\tDiet. A normal day in a monastery include two light meals. There is no breakfast at all. An important role in the monastic life plays the strict continence from animal products and strict fasting. Fasting is o observed every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, as well as the four fasting periods of the year: Lent, Advent, Dormition and Saint Apostle Peter and Paul\u2019s fast.<\/p>\n
Organisation<\/p>\n
The monastic life is organized in three ways:<\/p>\n
1.\tCenobitic – a monastery where everything is shared and is lead by an abbot or egoumenos.
\n2.\tIdiorithmic \u2013 life around a monastery, organized in smaller communities which provide their own living, but share in the liturgical life of the community and submit a superior.
\n3.\tHeremitic \u2013 the solitaries that abandon the world and live an austere life in wilderness, especially in the caves of the mountains. Their only concern is prayer but they keep a regular link with the nearest monastery where they take the Holy Communion.<\/p>\n
Monastic life in Moldavia<\/p>\n
This kind of monastic life has grown everywhere, but especially from the 14th century on it developed rapidly. Stories speak about the \u201chermits that were abundantly populating the Mountains of Neamtz\u201d. Due to innumerable invasions, earthquakes and poor quality in construction, the ancient monastic settlements have disappeared, were pulled down or burnt. Other churches and monasteries fortress-like monasteries were being erected on hardly accessible places, in order to protect against invasions; many last to these days. The monasteries with the outside frescoes or the monasteries in Neamtz region are a proof of the new development.<\/p>\n
The 18th century was the very important up-raise e of the monastic spirituality in Moldavia caused by the movement initiated by Paisius Velicikovsky in Dragomirna, Secu and Neamtz monastery which came to know the most important part of their history: the monastery reached an incredible number of 900 disciples, translations from Greek and Slavonic were made, liturgical books were printed with great impact on the Romanian society and the neighboring countries.<\/p>\n
A dramatic year was 1959 when the communist authorities have forcibly expelled more than 3000 monks and nuns from the monasteries. They had to give up their vocation, monasteries were demolished or abandoned, and the difficult time for monasticism began. There were times when young people were banned to enter the monastic communities, when older monks had to hide in the forests, when censure and control from the authorities was imposed to monasteries.<\/p>\n
The new monasteries that are now being built are not new enterprises, but a re-construction of what had existed before.<\/p>\n
Relation with the parish<\/p>\n
The Romanian Orthodoxy ordains two categories of priests:
\n1.\tParish priests that must necessarily be married before they are ordained
\n2.\tHieromonks or the priests of the monastery, who must be professed into monasticism before ordination.<\/p>\n
One could thus speak of tho kind of communities: the parish community and the monastic community. They are in a interdependent connection, supporting one another: the traditional family offers the monasteries material donations, and future candidates to monastic life. In the opposite sense, the monastics have always been militant supporters of the family values such as love, understanding, tolerance, children birth. History has proved that when the family was strong, the monastic life was flourishing and the opposite.<\/p>\n
The priests are come to the monastery often with groups of pilgrim people regularly to strengthen their faith. The faithful are saying regularly their confession in monasteries, organize pilgrimages, or simply go to visit and have retreats. When a parish comes to temporary vacancy, the priest\u2019s responsibilities are taken over by the hieromonks of the nearest monastery.<\/p>\n
Authority in a monastery<\/p>\n
According to the monastic regulations, a monastic community is based on an authority which is freely accepted. Beyond the authority of God who is the key concern for the monastic\u2019s sense of life, there is a freely accepted authority of the Spiritual Father and the Abbot. This authority is based on love of both sides.
\nThe Spiritual Father is always an experienced monk who guides a few novices individually. He is invested with an authority which is not dictated. Every novice can choose his confessor, and can change him if he does not feel a satisfactory spiritual progress. The Confessor is only concerned with the individual life of the novice which sould be guided to live the Gospel in the personal life.<\/p>\n
The Abbot\/Staretz is the administrative responsible for all members of a monastic community, and he is given full obedience, in his quality of the \u201cParent\u201d of the community. He will always be called \u201cFather\u201d and given a priority as the one who cares and works for the spiritual welfare of his spiritual disciples, novices or monks\/nuns.<\/p>\n
Very often, authority in a monastery is also given by the ordination to priesthood. They all have to observe the Regulations valid for all monasteries and aim continuously to the service of God and personal salvation.<\/p>\n
DS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Historic insight Monasticism appears in the Romanian history as early as the 4th century when the first archaeological evidences have revealed an organized monastic life. The first monks known in this century seemed to have come from a Christian population that was dislocated in Cappadocia by the Goths. Some are believed to have been disciples […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articole"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dansandu.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dansandu.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dansandu.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dansandu.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dansandu.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/dansandu.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204,"href":"http:\/\/dansandu.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions\/204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dansandu.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dansandu.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dansandu.ro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}