A peek into Moldovita monastery, located in fantastic pine mountains, where the air smells fresh and pine-y and wild all the time. I was "almost" converted here when explaining to a young nun that I was doing research about the Moldavian monasteries and medieval church and she asked me if I was Orthodox. Upon hearing that I was (gasp) 'Catholic,' she informed me that the Orthodox church is the only true church of God on earth. (Funny, I think I've heard that from a few other places as well...) In attempting to explain why I might not necessarily want to give up everything to live in a remote Moldavian monastery, I thought about asking her her thoughts on the fact that a man can be a priest, marry, have children, and live in the world while still having a role in the Church, while a woman can only give up everything in the world and live in a hierarchical monastery. Hmm.... but I chose against bringing this up.In any case, to live in that area, I would consider possibly consider the trade-offs....
Here is the fantastic overlook from the windy pass that connects Sucevita to Moldovita. It was extremely coniferous with small, weathered homesteads, lone cows, rich pastures, and extremely scenic.
Sucevita monastery. The gorgeous (never touched up, never officially preserved) frescoes are unfortunately marred in the exo-narthex/porch area where late 20th century and Austrian graffiti carved over images mar the general scheme.
Outside Sucevita's walls. Getting here involved bartering with swindling taxi drivers, a late night desperate search for a pensiune, and a long walk, but it was well worth it.
Sucevita's fortified grounds from the outside. They needed protection from the Poles, Turks, etc...
A little tree in the woods...
So the guide book said it was an easy three hour hike from Putna to Sucevita, just follow the trail marked with blue crosses. Here I am in a forest, 4 hours outside of Putna, devoid of any signs whatsoever. Alas.
It was a long walk. We got hungry.
Here is the skete of Daniel the Hermit around Putna monastery, a monk who, according to legend, inspired Prince Stefan cel Mare to build Voronet monastery.
The 'oldest wooden church in Europe,' it was apparently founded by Dragos, the legendary founder of the Moldavian state, in Maramures, then transported by Stefan cel Mare to its current location outside of Putna. That would date it from the 1350s.
2 comments:
all very interesting. I recognize the church. Probably from a copy of National Geographic. Perhaps you might show a picture of the graffiti. That could be interesting too.
I remember that path from Putna to Sucevita, having ridden it in both directions. Even having a good sense of direction and a certain intuition, it was tricky. The harder direction was southbound from Putna, as one had to guess just where to turn left off the forest road. Some parts basically were through open beech woods with no real trail. In some cases the last time that trail markings were renewed was back in the 1980s.
I also rode a horse around Putna in 2004 to mark the 500th anniversary of the repose of Stefan cel Mare - quite interesting with the only horse in a crowd of many tens of thousands. It was "authorised" by an official-looking letter stamped by some acquaitances in various town halls, enough anyway that the bored policemen guarding the perimeter assumed that I must be some line of official delegation!
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