Romanian Orthodox Monasteries - Days 3 & 4

On the third day of our trip, we spent the morning and afternoon at Putna Monastery.  We were able to talk to a monk there for a long time (about 3 hours!) about what it means to be a Christian and church history.  He even invited us to have lunch at the monastery.  We ate fish soup, fried fish, mashed potatoes, salad, and bread, all homemade from ingredients from the monastery grounds.  It was really cool to see where and what the monks eat.  After leaving Putna, we visited Arbore Monastery, but the church was locked and there was no one around, so we were only able to see the outside.  Jessica drove from Arbore to the city of Suceava - her first time ever driving in Romania!  That evening, we ate dinner at and toured the Suceava Citadel.

On the fourth day, we visited Dragomirna Monastery.  Dragomirna has the tallest church building of all the monasteries and is incredibly quiet and peaceful.

 

Welcome to Putna

The entrance to Putna Monastery

Inside Putna Monastery

A statue of Mircea Eliade, a famous Romanian poet, who called Putna the "Jerusalem of the Romanian people"

An image of people being cast into hell

A similar image to other monasteries, but this scale under the Holy Spirit has "Faptele Bune" (Good Works) on one side and "Faptele Rele" (Bad Works) on the other side.  This was really interesting, because the monk we talked to told us that salvation is not by works, but by grace through faith.  Then he added that we also need tradition and the saints.

An image of Noah and his family sacrificing to God after the flood

A really cool image of Eve being taken out of Adam's rib (bottom right hand corner). If you click on the image, you should be able to see it better.

The tomb of Stefan cel Mare is inside the church at Putna

An image next to Stefan cel Mare's tomb of him offering the church to Jesus

Another view of the church at Putna

From behind the monastery, you can see written "Stefan" on the hillside.  Legend says that Stefan cel Mare shot an arrow from the top of this hill to determine where the altar of the church would be built.

A close-up

We saw a lot of storks along the road.

Arbore Monastery

Cameron looking at the church at Arbore

The side away from the road at Arbore is better preserved.

Another really cool image of Eve being created out of Adam's rib

Jessica at the entrance to Arbore

The cemetery across from Arbore.  You can also see the style of gates in the Bucovina region.

Jessica driving for the first time in Romania!  She drove for about 45 minutes, through several villages and into the city of Suceava.

A view of Suceava from our hotel

We had dinner (mici) at the Suceava Citadel.

Suceava Citadel

Cameron inside the Suceava Citadel

It was so beautiful to watch the sunset from the citadel.

 

 Day 4: Dragomirna

Dragomirna Monastery

The entrance to Dragomirna

The courtyard - it was so peaceful.

  

The entrance to the church.  It was really interesting that the first two rooms inside the church were not painted (the walls were white), but the third room with the altar was painted.

Beautiful flowers in the courtyard

Dragomirna has the tallest church of the monasteries.

Romanian Orthodox Monasteries - Day 2

On the second day of touring the Romanian Orthodox monasteries, we got to see three beautiful monasteries with churches painted on the outside and inside.  Since photos are not allowed inside most churches, these pictures represent a lot of what we saw because these churches were also painted on the outside.  We visited Voronet Monastery, called the "Sistine Chapel of the East," famous for its special shade of blue "Voronet blue," which cannot be recreated.  After Voronet, we also visited Moldovita and Sucevita.  We were surprised at how similarly they were painted, but if you look closely, you will notice some minor differences.  We were also amazed at how many pictures there were (mostly inside the churches) of martyrs.  Imagine hundreds of pictures of people being beheaded, crucified, burned alive, etc. for their faith.  Also, at Sucevita we really enjoyed a whole section of pictures from the book of Revelation.

The cemetery at Voronet Monastery

Voronet

The "Tree of Jesse," which interestingly also contains Aristotle and Plato.  This is the world-famous color "Voronet blue."

 

This scene depicts the Final Judgment from Revelation.

A close-up from the picture above showing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Below the Holy Spirit is a scale with angels pulling down on one side and demons pulling down on the other side.

The paint on the other side of the church at Voronet is more faded.

That's a lot of hay!

Jessica with the sign at the entrance to Moldovita Monastery.

Cameron with Moldovita Monastery

The beautifully painted church inside Moldovita

All the monasteries also had a well inside the grounds.

The picture at the bottom depicts the siege of Constantinople from the medieval period, but instead of Persians they painted Turks because this church was built after a successful battle against the Turks.

The Three Wise Men offering Jesus gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

The entrance to the church

Near the church entrance, in the corner of the grounds is the tomb of Petru Rares, the son of Stefan cel Mare.

Like Voronet, the paintings on other side of the church are more faded.

The road from Moldovita to Sucevita was snowy, curvy, and steep, but really beautiful.

Sucevita Monastery

Cameron at the entrance to Sucevita (with the sheep)

The church in Sucevita

A close-up of the "Ladder to Paradise"

A scene from Revelation depicting a dragon with seven heads

Another scene from Revelation depicting angels pouring out seven bowls of wrath

Angels with seven trumpets

A frightening picture of the angel of death riding on a white horse

The lower picture depicts Jesus with a sword coming out of His mouth

An image of martyrs being beheaded

The courtyard at Sucevita