Lainici Monastery, Centuries of Spirituality and Faith in the Gorges of the Jiu Foreword Worship and Culture As I regularly

visited, during the past fifteen years, the holy monastery of Lainici in the gorges of the Jiu, which have become a national park in the meantime, an indestructible bond of these places has been created. The same as between worship and culture. By its very existence, religion is to the human being the most wonderful and uplifting of things. Culture, in its turn, supports and fulfills the religious experience of the humans and the souls connection to the kingdom of Heaven. It has been said, for just cause, that religion is the actual spirit of culture. The history of mankind has been ever marked by the relation between worship and culture, which operated in various forms and fulfillments; this is obvious especially in the artistic realm achievements. Here, at the Lainici Monastery, I had the privilege of admiring real masterpieces of architectural and pictographic art, which had come about, from the talent of their creators, as sublime pieces of profound conception. The ones who will read this book, written from the depths of our heart, will maybe take a better look at everything that feels so authentic, soul enhancing and encompassing, in this aged place of faith and spirituality in the Jius gorges which is the holy monastery of Lainici. Photo: the Lainici Monastery, the town of Trgu Jiu, the Parng Mountains, the Vlcan Mountains, the town of Petroani.

The Lainici Monastery Centuries of Faith and Spirituality in the Gorges of the Jiu History and Geography Landmarks of the Jiu`s Gorges. What is generically known as the Gorges of the Jiu is a natural wonder. For thousands of years, the streams of the river have been carving the rocks of the Vlcan and Parng Mountains,
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restlessly sneaking among the cliffs where these mountain blocks have been born and, with the responsibility and talent of a great stone worker, they have crafted the most beautiful canyon to be found in our Carpathians. Over a length of about thirty kilometres, the Jiu River flows stormily and impatiently. The fast currents of the water are to be explained by the process of epigenesis (overlapped formation of the rocks), but also by the difference of altitude between Livezeni (556 meters high) and the sector of the Polatitea plateau in Oltenia (513 meters high). From there only, the river becomes free from the girth tight embrace of the two mountains, and calmly resumes its way towards the South. It is a winding way, with tortured turns and chained meanders, and sided by the rampage of the waters falling from the surrounding mountain blocks, a wild river which has tenaciously cut windows in the strong rocks, and has therefore managed to create this wonderful road between the mountains. The present-day version of the Jiu`s course dates back from the end of the Miocenic era, a geologic era characterized by fauna and flora which were resembling to those of today, when the current limits of the continents and main mountain chains were formed. The old geography from the times of Ptolemy (90-168 a. Chr.) was designating the two rivers binding at Surduc (straits in the ancient language) as Rhabon; the present name of Jiu firstly occurs on a map of the Romanian Principality (ara Romneasc) which had been printed at Padua, in 1700, by the High Steward Constantin Cantacuzino; the first documents that attest appearance of the humans in this canyon date back from the times of the Dacians, who managed to curve in the slopes of the rocks a pathway through which, in 102 a. Chr., the horsemen of Lucinus Quintus have sneaked in the country, in order to catch Decebal`s army unawares, as they were fighting at that time in Tapae. The 4th Roman legion Cypria, after settling in the fortress at Bumbeti (Sadu), have crossed by another road, over the Vlcan peak, as they realized that they would not have been able to make their way through the gorges. Photo: The Moorish cavalry of the Roman general Lucius Quintus, passing through the Jiu`s gorges, during the first Dacian-Roman war, years 101-102 a. Chr. After this moment from the beginning of the millennium, the road through the gorges of the Jiu has been abandoned for centuries, and the crossings between Oltenia and the Valley of the Jiu (Valea Jiului, Transylvania) were made via the old Roman road, through the Vlcan Passage.

Once the mining companies started being interested in accomplishing coal transport by a shorter way from Petroani to the Romanian Principality, the matter of building a motorway through the gorges has finally been raised again. Therefore, in 1970, the Braov Mining and Furnace Working Company began the operations for building a road which would cross the Jius Gorges from Petroani on, hoping that the Romanian side will start the same endeavour. The construction of the road went on until the year of 1890, and the opening festivities occurred on September 4, 1894, when, upon the border line station at Polatitea, a marble plate was installed, in order to celebrate the event. During the same period (1870) the constructors also envisioned the idea of building a railway and a number of measurements were made; however, the Hungarian state rejected the project. It was only in 1924 that the Romanian State started the construction of the railway from Oltenia; the government of Gheorghe Ttrescu provided a budget of 300 million lei for the project. Photo: The border line station at Polatite, between Romania (Oltenia) and Austro-Hungary (Transylvania), by the beginning of the twentieth century. The works were initiated from two locations: Meri and Livezeni, they covered a surface of 17 kilometres and involved the labour of two thousand and five hundred people. In September 1940, the work, which had already been by 40% accomplished, was abandoned. After the communist regime took over the country, the state declared it an emergency project and the The National Worksite of Youth came to being where, between March 1 and November 1, 1948, the valley resounded with the work of the more than twenty eight thousand young people who had been brought from the entire country, and the railway was opened for operation on October 31, 1948. Polatite had been a famous name all the while till 1918, as it was the border town between Transylvania and Romania; the border line point between the counties of Gorj and Hunedoara is nowadays evidenced by a basso-relievo belonging to the sculptor Ladislau Schmidt. The itinerary is fascinating; as we accompany the valley of the Jiu, with its swirling waters, towards Gorj, we pass by the Small Hook and the Large Hook, guarded by the wild peaks of the mountains called the Dlma Pleii, Dlma Viinii or Pohorta, which will escort the beholder
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to very near from Lainici. Immediately after the Large Hook, at an altitude of almost 30 meters, one of the biggest viaducts of the area juts out of the mountain. Over this mountain region, the waters of the Jiu offer a spectacular display of rapid currents. The area is full of brinks and steep slopes. Photo: The reversed hook or The Large Hook, a driving`s baptism of fire in the Jiu`s Gorges. The mountain moves backward and opens the view to a little plain, where a few buildings of the old frontier-guard settlement still stand. Then our road crosses the Jiu`s waters over through a bridge, and reaches the great Lainici meadow, where we find the well-known monastic establishment, a foundation raised during the 19th century on the location of a wooden hermitage, which had been built in the 14th century. The beauty of the surrounding scenery interweaves with pages of history, comprising moments from Tudor Vladimirescu to the Mineriads of the trade union leader Miron Cosma. Just passed the monument of the General Dragalina, hero of the First World War, the valley grows larger, the peaks from the Cioaca Gorunului, Murga, Piua or Fata Unchiaului (The Elder`s child) seem to move away from the river bed, and make way for the waters to enter peacefully the meadow of Sadu. The mountain leans over the by now quiet streams of the Jiu, and makes up a cave with smoky rock walls, filled with mystery, a place where the people from Gorj used to stay over the night on their ways across the country, with their schooner wagons, carrying away lime for selling, in order to receive corn flour in return. The Jiu continues its flowing and peacefully runs down to the South and our travel leads on to the Roman fortress in Bumbesti and farther more to the Gorj settlements at Cmpu Mare. It is a wonderful area, which was described also in the writings of the great author Alexandru Vlahuta: Nowhere have I seen such a display of great craft: within one single snapshot frame, all the three beauties of nature: the mountains, the waters and the forest, like I have in these gorges passage to Petroani

Photo: Respite in the Jiu`s Gorges during the 20`s Photo: Hunting chalet in the gorges, year 1911

Photo: The Jiu`s Gorges in 2011 Photo: ...and during the year of 2011

Time Frontiers Photo: The border line point between Transilvania and Romania, in 1916 Photo: ...And the present county border between Gorj and Hunedoara

Orthodoxy The Source of Romanian Religious Faith The tradition of the Romanian spirituality proves to have been lively and uninterrupted over the centuries. The Romanian people seems to have a very calling of soul perfecting, of fulfilling, through means offered by the local spirituality, an incorruptible human type, love for beauty in harmony with nature, with their fellow beings and with God. This is one way possible to interpret the abundance of hermitages and monasteries which were built during the centuries, and which clearly delineated the spirit of the Romanian nation. Hundreds of years of a certain manner of living created an authentically peculiar aspect of our people. The tradition of our Christianity started from the very first model, Jesus Christ. The changes occurred in culture and civilization, in mentalities and society, lead always to a historical time`s adjustment to the present, but never disconnected the present day life from our past. The Orthodox spirituality enjoyed the inexistence of rigid commandments; meditation, self knowledge or personal judgement was the scales of each believer to select. Orthodox spirituality imposed itself as being an optimistic way of seeing things, with a lot of trust in God and in the human being as such. It always opted for the natural, the stepping out of the tragic condition and the entrance in the condition of freedom. The Orthodox spirituality has never been and it is not outlined by the monks only; the Saviour Himself did nowhere mention a differentiation between the laymen and the clerics; eastern orthodox spirituality makes no
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distinction between men and women either, as it is one of the accomplished models of a live tradition, old and new, adjusted to the contemporaneousness. In Romania, our Father Confessors were such models, and they left model-deeds behind them as they lived; the real father confessors have never thought of themselves as an independent category from the ordinary church goers, as having special privileges, as they chose mutual pathways with all the Christians, equally. There can be no doubt that the eastern orthodox people organized their forms of pastoral life in their own special way, as far as humility and simplicity are concerned. One can assert that Orthodoxy and the Romanian monasticism are defined by peculiar features and have a pastoral life which has been impregnated by the balance of a right and correct judgement, and such are important virtues of a healthy pastoral life in general. It is not possible to precisely attest an exact date for the beginning of this spiritual tradition`s existence, but there are enough elements to show that it started very early in history. The discoveries in the 4th century`s Dobrudja indicate the existence of a blessed and consolidated monastic life. The monks on the territory of our country have had, from the very beginning, tight connections with the tradition of the Mount Athos. Names from the origins of the Romanian monasticism, such as Sofronie, Pimen or Silvan, in the 14th century, with whom the bis enumeration of the Neam Monastery begins, all were somehow related in living to Mount Athos. The need for contact with the Mount Athos was always felt, as that holy place proved to be like some kind of permanent and reliable school; numerous other monks have completed and valorised there the vocation of their service and reverence. Photo: The monastic compound from Mount Athos (Agion Oros) Those who spent time at Mount Athos stored everything they learned there, as the Holy Mountain is a school and a model; the monks who gathered knowledge in Mount Athos returned home and lived that experience by a typically Romanian temperament. A remarkable aspect to be mentioned is that the Romanian saints who were canonized by the people and the Church (Nicodemus from Tismana, Nicolae Oprea from Slite, Calinic from Cernica, Epiphanius from Vorone, Raphael from Agapia, Daniil the Hermit and many others) were very close to the

ordinary people, connected to the world, and expressed through their lives the honest experience of their faith. The Romanian hermits were also great lovers of nature. This fact is proven by the erection of some monasteries in the middle of the wilderness. Some hermits in the Romanian counties isolated themselves in the bosom of nature or on mountain tops, others lived where the forest, the meadows, the waters, the whole scenery created a link to the community, which displayed a special sentiment. Since they were forever seeking for calm and serenity, a specific feature of our hermits, they could always find elements of inner balance, as the meaning of Orthodoxy would come, with them, from the very joy of communicating. We can state that Orthodoxy is almost synonym with the shared effort, shared praying and shared chanting, with shared responsibilities. Orthodoxy does not impose differentiations between laymen and monks, since their goal is mutual, and the most important required inner features are pure thought and a kind heart. These are all characteristics of the faithful orthodox, a type which builds around soul values and inmost relating. Such are, broadly described, the essential features of our Orthodox spirituality.

The Monastic Life of Ancient Times

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From the 14th to the 18th Century

Beginning with the oldest ages, there are proofs of coherent and stable monastic life on the entire Romanian territory. The religious establishments in Oltenia follow their historical course, like so many others, from all the rest of the country. The spirit of the ancient Dacians is perpetuated, as a faithful way of existing, in the newer forms of the Christianity. The ethical conscience of our people was shaped in the monotheistic mould of the Dacians, and the Christian monasticism found a strong ally in the old Dacian hermit-ways. This undeniable alliance is attested through the large number of hermitages and monasteries which were built all over the historical Romanian provinces. Banat, Transylvania and Oltenia represented a huge Dacian united

territory, where small convents could be found in villages, in addition to those on the top of the mountains; The Dacian model influenced the communes in such regions, as it became a pattern for monasteries, churches and convents. In the lands where the Jiu streams are roving, there had been a monastic, hermit way of life to be attested, back from times beyond memory; signs of it can be discovered in caves or wooden hermitages. Their tracks may have been erased by time, but the fact of their existence is recorded by many toponyms of the area: At the hermit, At Raphael`s, The cave of Nicodemus. Researchers have issued theories about the location of a cave nearby the railway station in Lainici, as well as about the foundation of the Viina establishment with the involvement of Saint Nicodemus from Tismana, who found in this area a place suitable for monasticism, and who reorganized monastic life on the same line as that of the monasteries at Mt Athos. He was the main factor which gave impetus to Orthodoxy, at the frontier moment between the fortieth and the fiftieth centuries, as a counterbalance to the Catholicism that had then been launched simultaneously, in all the provinces of Transylvania and the Romanian Principality. Thus, Saint Nicodemus from Tismana initiated the building of a chain of monasteries in that beautiful valley of silence and beauty contemplation: Viina, Surduc, Lianici. St Nicodemus from Tismana remained in people`s memory as a great organizer and defender of Romanian Orthodoxy in these countries. The very idea of creating an Orthodox worship establishment only a few kilometres away from the border line to the Catholic Austro-Hungarian Empire accounts for a lot... One could say that the Lainici Monastery emerged, in a time of great strain for the Romanian Orthodoxy, as a veritable fortress of Romanian spirituality. Foundation of the Lainici Monastery is linked to several stages in our history. Scholars suggested the idea of a traditional stage, related to St Nicodemus from Tismana; at that time, the establishment was a wood construction, built on the Dacic model, at the end of the 14th century, and which has completely disappeared.
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The first document to record the existence of such a cloister in Lainici is dated June 14, 1784, and mentions a donation by which Father Calinic gives a house in Trgu Jiu to Athanasius the Hermit and to the other monks: This is to state that I, Father Calinic, who, in my layman days, went by the name of Constantin Creu from Trgu Jiu, have placed this my deed into the hands of his Holiness Father Athanasius the Hermit and into the hands of the other monks from the Lainici Monastery, so that all may know that, as the time came for me to become a monk here in this dwelling, and I have nothing other to help the holy establishment with, I have donated my house here in the town, together with its cellar and pasture and everything else related... It is obvious from the facts recorded above that there was a monastic establishment in Lainici. We can also derive from the document the identity of a first abbot during that period, Athanasius the Hermit, also confirmed by a Steward, Constantin Blteanu, who, in 1824, spoke about a Lainici Monastery, the patron festival of which was The Blessed Virgin`s coming to the Temple; the monastery is described as a beautiful place near the Jiu river, in the realm of Vlcan, on the estate of Porceni (which was split in four shared parts, and so it is now, too); as recorded, the late Cornea Logophete, who was a registrar of the county and a wealthy man, decided that a holy cloister was to be built there. This was a wooden construction, the same as the one in the Nicodemian era (the 14 th century), built sometime around 1770; Athanasius the Hermit was its first abbot, between the years 1770 and 1794. Soon after the death of Athanasius the Hermit, around 1810-1812, the old wooden cloister was pulled down, and the monastic Lainici stepped into a new era of reconstruction from the grounds, on the basis of a new architectural concept. Photos: Facsimile documents of the original History of the Lainici Holy Cloister, written by Constantin Blteanu in 1824.

Five Years for a New Monastery 1812-1817 In order for us to keep talking about the Lainici Monastery, we need to describe the linguistic origins of this name. Lainici is a word of Greek descent which could be translated, with
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adjustments, as passage through the mountains; it can be related with the toponym of Petroani, of the same origin, deriving from the antroponym Petros - Petre, or from the word petra - peter, which gets people`s minds to the image of a stone plateau. There was one more theory envisaged, one which suggested a descent from the Dacian word lainici, which was derived from the name of a Getic-Dacian trybe, the Lais. Resuming the tale of the monastery`s new history, we have to mention that the modifications and political and economical disturbances in the Europe of the ending 18th century and the dawning 19th century gave birth to a troubled atmosphere in the Romanian territories, which encouraged a return to the Church by many a wealthy Romanian Christian. Picture: Prince Ioan Caragea, who ruled between the years of 1812 and 1818 in the Romanian Principality, and is famous for issuing the country`s first code of laws. Some of them decided to donate their fortunes to the monks in Lainici, and others even entered monastic living. Soon after the death of Athanasius the Hermit, the rich people from Gorj county decided to erect a brick monastery in Lainici and they combined their strengths, all the boyards and their ladies, for a successful completion of the holy place. The solidarity of the Gorjan Orthodox people is attested by the fact that many names were recorded to have participated in the erection works of the monastery, the (re)construction of which started in 1812, in the time of Prince Ioan Caragea`s rule; its most famous founders were Stanca Mldreasca, Rducanu Srdnescu and Nicolae Briloiu. One historical document of great importance, signed by the Steward Nicolae Blteanu, mentions the use for the monastery`s building of some 47 000 pieces of brick, 15 000 oca-s of lime (one oca equals approximately 1200 grams), money and food and other necessary things for the achievement of the work. The first constructions around the church (according to a document from 1789, confirmed in 1801) were two cloister cells, a store room and a fountain with a porch and chain and cross. In fact, the names of the founders and donors, like Stanca Poenreasa, later remarried Mldrescu, who help built the monastery, are written in an inscription tablet above the entrance door:

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In the days of our Well Enlightened Prince Ion Gheorghe Caragea with the blessing of the God Loving our Bishop Galaction and by the effort and at the expenses of these founders, to their eternal remembrance, this church has been built: Lord High Steward Rducanu SrdnescuElencu, Lord Nicolae Briloiu, Lord High Pitar Zoia, Iosif Father Frcescu Iana; Good wealth from which they gave money, lands and adornments to the convent, as written in the register: tefan Poenariu, Sister Znofia, Iordache Poenariu, Ruxandra, Dumitru Mldrescu-Marica; Lord Cup Bearer Gheorghe Bengescu-Stanca; Lord Treasurer erban Magheru-Ioana. August 1817 the painting was completed. The 19th Century The Lainici Monastery The 20th Century Mirrored by the Ages Therefore, one can say that, in the summer of 1817, the new monastery of Lainici had been accomplished. In addition to the founders which were proven by inscriptions, we have to mention that there were other numerous anonymous, who donated to the monastery land, mountain areas, forests, pastures, orchards, gardens, vineyards, cattle or food, books, ecclesiastical objects, money, all in all about 40 people. From the point of view of its history, in the 19th century, the Lainici Monastery went through several extremely interesting events. One of them concerns the Romanian revolutionary Tudor Vladimirescu, a trustworthy ally of the Orthodox Church. He had tight connections with the Tismana Monastery and he was hidden at the Lainici Monastery in the days of the abbot Josef the Confessor, sometime after the year 1812; he was disguised by the monks, because he had been searched for by the Turks, and he had fought against them during the Russian Turk war in 1806-1812. The Turks pillaged the monastery, the monks were chased away and Maxim the Hermit was beheaded, as he had been a pandur (one of Tudor Vladimirescu`s fellow revolutionaries). The Turks, however, were subsequently attacked by surprise by pandur groups led by Captain Constantin Dumitru, and the peace of the realm was restored. There were also other boyards who found shelter at the Lainici Monastery, when being oppressed by political circumstances.
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The Lainici Monastery proudly recalls the greatness of other history episodes, which occurred in difficult times, during various ages: Thus, at the time of the Independence War (1877-1878) the monk community in Lainici proved formidable spirit and commitment in caring for the wounded soldiers who were under supervision of the Red Cross in Trgu Jiu. Father Paul Gherasim and Father Serapion Minulescu were sent by the abbot Irodion Ionescu to support the medical endeavours. Undoubtedly, the First World War (1914-1918) marked the most intensely the life of the monastery in the Gorges of the Jiu, as it became a theatre of combat in the confrontation between the belligerent parties. Photos: The General Ion Dragalina, hero of the Jiu, the predestined automobile in the gorges and the monument erected in the general`s memory. Things went so far that the German soldiers who came from Petroani entered the monastery church on the back of their horses; they lighted fires in the compound and mercilessly profaned the cloister. They scratched the painting, slept inside of the church and stole all the significant adorning ecclesiastical objects, even the church bells. The events took place in 1916-1917. The grave yard was ravaged, the crosses were pulled out and trotted under feet, the archive (which was 16 meters long) was burned to the ground. Some of the monks were deported to Germany because they opposed the pillage at the cost of their lives, guarding the monastery from the infamous invaders. By that very time, the commander of the Romanian Army I, General Ion Dragalina, was faced with the critical situation of organizing the retreat of the Romanian forces through the gorges. He had been appointed in this post by Royal Order (telegram no. 2262 of October 11/24, 1916) in replacement to General Culcer. Photo: Vespers` bell ring at the Lainici Monastery Accompanied by two staff officers, the general was aboard an automobile in the Gorges of the Jiu, on the morning of October 12/25, 1916, going to inspect his troupes and encourage his despondent soldiers, and at the same time seeking to confess to Father Teodosie and to receive

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the Holy Communion, together with a number of his fighters, as that would prove to be their last confession and Eucharist moment. At Lainici, the General Ion Dragalina was announced that enemy troupes had arrived somewhere between Bumbeti and Lainici, and they were firing upon the retreating wagons and people. As they were trying to avoid the dangerous location, the general`s car started swiftly on the narrow road, in an attempt of returning to Bumbeti, but the automobile was spotted by the German patrols, who started shooting and wounded his left arm. Quickly driven out and bandaged, he was carried to the hospital of the Royal Palace in Bucharest, but the very serious injury was fatal to him: he died on November 6, 1916; he had sacrificed his life on the honoured battle field, in a war fought for reuniting the country. For his commemoration, a monument in Lainici was offered to the public on October 12, 1927, by the Craiova Society for the Heroes` Graves, in the very place where he was shot. After the First World War, the Monastery of Lainici had a blossoming existence, firstly due to the intense care and total commitment of some worthy abbots at that time. Huge impetus it gathered, for instance, in 1929, when a party of six monks came from the monastery of Frsinei, together with their abbot, Father Visarion Toia. Photo: Beginning of the autumn, beginning of the 20th century at the Lainici Monastery... Photo: Image from the southern side of the monastery, the first decades of the last century. They managed to build the monastery back from ruins and to erect, at the same time, the buildings which were necessary for a monastic living in the spirit of pastoral discipline.

The Lainici Monastery Goes through Communism Also 1947 - 1990 Another sad period was to come over the Lainici Monastery during the communist years, which began in 1947-48. The dwelling had to bear the disparagement and humiliation of a regime which, for half a century, tried to destroy the historical and religious values of the Romanian
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people. Those who were to build the future railway, begun in 1924, the workers of the Bumbeti Livezeni construction site, and those who were to modernize the Trgu Jiu Petroani motorway, too, were also to pillage the monastery often times, putting it through humiliations and aggression. It was the period between 1948 and 1958, a dark decade for the monastery, when the communist new men would plunder it with no judgement through the works they initiated, abusively occupying its land and filling it with dozens of brigadiers` barracks, occurrences all of which were to last until 1957-1958. Things did not stop to that: in 1961, the Lainici Monastery was dissolved and turned into a holiday house for priests for approximately ten years until, in 1970, the doors of the monastery closed completely and service was allowed only on Sundays and on occasion of great religious festivals. The life of the monastery has flourished after the year 1975, when the Father Archimandrite Caliopie Georgescu, who had been favoured by the more indulgent breath of politics at that moment, became its abbot. Photo: Brigadiers working on the construction site Bumbeti Livezeni, the Lainici region, year 1948. After 1983, the new monastic and ascetic rules, the midnight service performance, the elimination of meat from the food regime of the community led to an improved pastoral life. Little by little, the monastery became an oasis of comfort for the religious ailing of the believers, and the Church thus regained its merit of having permanently protected the Romanian people from all evil. Photo: The mark of the communist upsurge, in the Gorges of the 40`s Photo: The Hero Monk The monk priest Iulian Drghicioiu, who was born in Bumbeti Gorj, was one of the vigorous defenders of the Lainici Monastery during the First World War. He was taken prisoner by the German troupes in the autumn of 1916 and deported to Germany, where he died in a prisoner camp, just like other martyrs for Christ did, before him. Photo: The abbot Calinic Crvan at the Lainici Monastery, in 1952

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The Monastery A Work of Art

Documents of the time did not leave many clues about the wooden church in Lainici. There is a description from back in 1874, about the location and the architectonics of the monastery from that age. It says that, on the very place of the wooden hermitage, instead of the old establishment, using the donations of those whom we have already enumerated, the modern church was erected, with its walls made of brick covered in shingles, a library of ecclesiastical books surrounded by 12 cloister cells, and a lot of walnut trees that were planted there. It is worth remembering that the architectonic aspect of the old church in Lainici stands out as a wonder of the Romanian Orthodoxy, within an exceptional natural world framework. It is impressive, although not so much monumental, if we consider it from the very moment of its foundation, on the stone bed of a mountain slope. It has got a rectangular plane basis of approximately 18 meters long and 8 meters wide, and the wall thickness is of over one meter. At the entrance, the church has a wonderful porch, supported on eight cylinder pillars, with arcades in the shape of clubs. On the inside, the church is split in three parts; the narthex is separated from the nave through a 1.15 meter thick wall, then the nave is separated from the altar through a beautiful iconostasis fashioned on the Byzantine model. The narthex has the dimensions of 2x5 and the nave of 4x5 meters. The altar was built in the shape of an irregular apsis. Photo: The abbot Calistrat Proca, together with a group of boyards from Trgu Jiu, at the monastery, in 1928. On the outside, the wall of the church is divided in two sectors, by a half circular brick belt, placed at about 3 meters from the basis. The inferior side of the belt is made of white plaster, whereas the upper side has preserved the paintings from 1817. The wood is the main material in the structure of the doors, the lectern and the arm-chairs inside the church, which are all covered by wondrous sculptures.

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The dome is in a square shape and has a four sided roof; at the top of the dome, there is a large iron cross. An unfilled window occupies each side of the dome as, during the ages, it has also served as a bell tower. We should mention that, in 2006, five different bells of various sizes were brought and installed in the new bell tower. The painting displays an important aspect of great interest. At the exterior, above the entrance on the porch, right in the middle, there is the great festival icon of the parish feast, The Blessed Virgin`s Coming to the Temple, a painting which was accomplished in the Byzantine style. Three saints are pictured on each side of the icon; at the left, there are the Archangel Michael, the Devout Paraschiva and John the Baptist, whereas at the right there are Saint Nicholas and the holy imperial Constantine and Elena. On the upper south and north sides of the porch, paintings can be seen of the faces of five devout saints and martyrs on each segment. The south wall is inhabited by the Devout Ephraim, the Devout Siluan, the Devout Daniil, the Devout Hristofor and the Martyr Castor while the north wall shelters the Devout Teofan, the Devout Alexie and three others, whose names were made unreadable by the rain and the winds. The entire sector which contours the church under the overhanging eaves is covered with the portraits of twenty four God loving philosophers, a complex painting, also in Byzantine style, as it maintains a traditional Orthodox model. The painting inside the old church is made in fresco; the house painter artist Mihail observed all the canonical rules of Byzantine iconography. The porch holds an accomplished ensemble representing the whole world and biblical history, from the creation of Adam and Eve to the Judgement Day. Centrally, on the wall up front, there is the eschatological scene of the final judgement, with the Heaven depicted on the left side of the door and the hell on the right side; the hell is painted as a wide dragon mouth blowing out a river of fire, on the waves of which the sinners flow, in agony. Above the door, we can see the dove of the Holy Spirit, accompanied by the Holy Mother of God and Saint John the Baptist, on each respective side. On the left and right segments of this scene, there are the 12 Apostles, sitting in the judgement chairs, according to the vision in the
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Apocalypse. There are then depicted the groups of those living in Heaven: the martyrs, the hierarchs, the apostles and the prophets. On the lower side, sitting on chairs, there are the patriarchs of the Old Testament: Abraham in the middle, with Jacob and Isaac at his sides. By the entrance in Heaven, the painting presents the group of the saints, in accordance with the hymns to be sung with burials or commemoration offices: the Group of the Saints, standing at the source of life, the gate of Paradise etc. The right side of the upper sector contains the apocalyptical scene: the end of the world, an angel sounding the trumpet and above him the inscription when Archangel Michael will sound the resurrection of the dead. In the same sector, the emperors Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander the Great are painted as representatives of the tyrants of people. All these scenes combine in a visual, polychromic theology, with a huge power of suggestion and beneficial Christian pedagogic influence for all those who stop and ponder over these paintings. One hundred and ninety two years after the completion of the work, following the impieties caused by the World War One, and because of the candle smoke, the painting was covered by smoke signs and was partially deteriorated. The narthex is reserved, in its lower segment, to the founders, and Al. tefulescu wrote there valuable biographical details, which were still readable when he undertook this historic research. Photo: In the year 2006, five bells of various sizes were brought here and installed in the new bell tower in 2010. Photo: The dome of the old church, which, across the ages, has sometimes served as bell tower. Photo: The painting inside the old church is made in fresco; the house painter artist Mihail observed all the canonical rules of Byzantine iconography. Photo: The front side wall of the small church, with the scene of the Judgement Day, the Heaven on the left side of the door and the Hell on the right side of it. In the centre, the Holy Mother of God and Saint John the Baptist; at the right and left parts of this scene, the 12 Apostles sitting in the judgement chairs. Underneath, sitting down, the Patriarchs of the Old Testament: Jacob, Abraham and Isaac.

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The Painting of the Founders Photo: The commemorative picture of the main founders of the monastery, the Srdnescus and the Briloius. To the right hand side of the entrance: Lord High Steward Rucanu Srdnescu, nephew of Kalistracta, founder, his lady, Elena, with their children: Cornelia, Dumitru, Dumitrana namely the first family. To the left side of the entrance Kalistracta, founder. Lord High Pitar Nicolae Briloiu, grandson of Kalistracta, founder, Zoia. Children: Constantin and Cleopatra who are the second family. On the north wall: The Prince Ioan Gheorghe Caragea; Josef, Father Superior of the Holy Monastery and Father Misail On the south wall: Galaction, by the mercy of God, Bishop of Rmnic and of the New Severin, Father Iosif Frcescu All the founders, just like the Prince Caragea, the monks, the bishop, the wives and the children are portrayed wearing long, period clothes, and the men all wear large ilics or stamboale (high fur caps), the distinctive mark of the boyards. These costumes have an actual historical value, because they remind and are representative of the boyards` clothing fashion around the year 1800. The very valuable historical fact to be noted is the direct relation of the founder erban Magheru with the General Magheru, a participant in the 1848 Revolution. erban Magheru was the son of the archpriest Ioan Magheru, who built the church at Gilort Brnzei, in 1800. In continuance of the biblical scenes` depiction, one can notice on the cap of the narthex an icon of the Holy Mother of God. The nave (the core of the church, or the Great Narthex). The cap of the nave comprises a painting of Christi Pantocrator, surrounded by a number of other scenes with the face of the Virgin Mary and of John the Baptist, followed by the unseen world: Thrones, Seraphs and groups of Angels. The pendants offer the view of the Four Evangelists, and the
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north wall of the nave includes biblical events such as: the healing of the paralyzed man at Lake Vetezda, Thomas the Doubting, the Chrism Bearer Saints at the tomb, and the Resurrection. On the south wall, we can see the Saviour and the Samaritan woman etc Photo: The Archangel Gabriel (fresco) Photo: The Annunciation Photo: Detail of the nave fresco

The Altar On the cap side of the main apsis we can see the Holy Virgin with Baby Jesus in Her arms: on both their sides there are two saints kneeling and two angels standing. Always on the cap side, in the centre, there is the face of the One Ancient of Days. In the first sector of the altar`s wall there is the scene of the Apostles receiving the first Eucharist. The face of the Saviour is represented twice.

The Iconostasis It is upheld on a one meter thick wall. As far as the painting elements are concerned, it comprises the following: in the lower sector, the Royal Icons: The Holy Mother of God and the Saviour, St Nicholas and the icon of the patron feast, on the right side. In the sector above the Royal doors, one row of icons depicts the Royal Feasts and above them there are the pictures of the 12 Apostles. All this iconographic art was displayed for admiration of the public in the two churches from the compound of the holy places at Lainici; it figuratively symbolizes the theological truth that the church is the body of Christ and His teaching was shared to the believers by the holy Apostles, who also organized, from the historical point of view, the Christian church, starting from the Pentecost.

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The House-Painters of the Church The research related to the church named Saint Nicholas, which was built in Trgu Jiu between 1810 and 1813, established that the painting of the dwelling is identical to that of the Lainici church, which was also painted by the deacon Mihail the house-painter, with the help of Constantin the house-painter, Anghel and Ioan. The work was finished in August 1817. As the older documents show, this church was painted with the support of the following founders: tefan Poenariu Zamfie, Father Iordache, Poenariu Ruxandra, Dumitru Mldrescu Marica, the Cup Bearer Gheorghe Bengescu, Stanca Poenariu etc in the time of Prince Ioan Caragea, when the monastery was rebuilt. The documents have recorded the zeal of the abbot Josef the Confessor and of the monk priest Bogoslov. At the old church in Lainici, during the years 1950 and 1952, some other painting works were performed.

Precious Ecclesiastical Objects at the Lainici Monastery The community of the Lainici Monastery, although it was isolated in the mountains, focused all their attention on the worship services and the holy sacraments, leaving to a secondary place the artistic preoccupations. However, from the inventories which were drawn up starting with year 1831 up until 1869, especially those from 1852-1856, we find out that the Lainici Monastery was in possession of worship books and objects of a great value. As such, the lists mention a founders` silver cross, ornamental clasps in golden silver, and others in simple silver, a golden silver paten, a golden silver star for the offertary. The Bible of erban Cantacuzino, Matei Basarab`s Great Codex from Trgovite, a manuscript titled Isaiah the Hermit, a Gospel covered in silver, and a large bell, made up at the expenses of abbot Irodion and of other believers, in 1899. Unfortunately none of these precious objects was preserved after the First World War, when the monastery was pillaged by the German soldiers.

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The Books
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For Life and Spirit, at the Lainici Monastery

The Lainici Monastery also possesses a library. It holds mostly worship books and theology books; there are rare copies here, first editions of triodyons, Bibles, psalm music books. Some of the pages of these books have historical events from the life of our country written on their pages; catastrophical occurrences like earthquakes and river overflows; then also events from the personal or family life of those who held these books in their hands. Such fact allows the researcher to become aware of these books` circulation and of their importance for the formation of a religious and patriotic conscience. Such notes show that the monastery was open to everyone, to all the Orthodox Christians, and the records of natural catastrophes prove that the monasteries were oases of appeasement for the soul suffering of the believers, where prayers to the Almighty were constantly raised towards the sky, in order that He may protect our country from earthquakes, famine, watersheds and natural calamities, as well as from the war between peoples of the world, and to bring peace. The Lainici Church always proclaimed the peace of Jesus Christ and kept this idea vivid in the human beings` awareness. Inside the Lainici Monastery there is a book-store with an impressive number of volumes in it (out of which could not be missing the Monograph of the Lainici Monastery), icons of various sizes and other religious purpose objects. Orthodox Christians who visit these holy places stop by in this corner of beauty, where they can pick out some book or another worship object that might remind them of the scenery of such monastic life shelters. At the Lainici Monastery, the priests and monks do not only perform holy service, but they also bring important contributions to the writing of certain religious theme books, some of which were published and distributed reaching the various regions of the country and even various parts of the world. In this sense, we may mention: The Three Great Visible and Incontestable Mysteries in the Christian Church, Moral Landmarks for a Christian Orthodox Living, The Sacrament of Confession, to Everyman`s Understanding (which is a guide for confessing, with advice and teaching) etc... The Author of these books is the Father Superior of the monastery, the Archimandrite Ioachim Prvulescu.
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The Lainici Monastery During the Last Two Decades (1990-2010) A few months after the fall of the Communist regime, in 1990, upon the feast day of the Healing`s Source, the first foundation stone was set in place for the new church, in what was to become the Lainici Monastic Compound. The church, actually an impressive cathedral of the Lainici Monastery, was designed and begun, as a building, by Ioan Selejan, abbot of the monastery at that time, currently the Archbishop of Covasna and Harghita. Upon the installing of the first foundation brick, the Right Reverend Metropolitan Nestor Vornicescu of Oltenia attended the ceremony. The new church could be regarded as most original. Its architectonical design was a tri-cone plane, actually comprising two churches, one above the other. The porch is endowed with sculpted pillars made of Vitea stone, and the narthex is separated from the nave through some other columns. The slope land on which the new church was constructed required a building manner which also contained an enormous basement floor; its physical design seems to be in tight connection with the two fundamental periods of the universal Christian Church. The first period starts from year 1 and ends year 313, when the Milano Decree was issued by the emperor Constantine the Great; it is the so called age of the Church in the Catacombs, with its millions of lives sacrificed in the name of Christ; it represents the basis of the Christian Church; the second age started in 313 and goes on to the present days; Photo: July 1991, consecration of the waters and setting up of the foundation stone on the ground floor of the new church. Therefore, the new church of the Lainici Monastery is also split in two, just like Christian history is. Its innovative aspect is also comprised in the iconographic themes; hence the space in the basement is dedicated to the Church in the Catacombs: the paintings display the life of the Christians from year 1 to the year 313 and show most of the saints and martyrdoms known from the History of Christianity and from the Holy Tradition. The paintings on the upper floors present the history of the Christian Church, with its most significant saints from all the ages; they were performed in fresco by the most famous church painter in our country, Grigore Popescu Muscel.

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It is also to be noted that, beyond the specific paintings of holy dwellings, there are to be found here more recent date paintings, authored by Jianu Costin, in the year 2006, which offer the portraits of the monastery`s most important abbots: Irodion, Visarion, Calinic and Caliopie.

Moments from the Days of Constructing the New Church The Community`s Life The Abbots of the Monastery and Their Most Important Accomplishments Back at the beginning of its history, the Lainici Monastery was a holy place for hermits (according to Father Nicolae C. Buzescu, PhD), recluses or anchorites; its very founder, in the 18th century, was Athanasius the Hermit. Recluses would come to this dwelling for holy services, then would return to their cloisters in the mountains. In 1821, the founders kept asking Father Superior Josef to gather the hermits in the monastery, after its devastation by the Turks. The monastic life in Lainici was an existence of ceaseless pastoral service and ceaseless prayer. That is why most of the time was dedicated to performing the holy services, to liturgics continuation. The two poles of the central axis of the monastic life here could be defined as follows: prayer and worship. The central role belonged to the abbots and the servicing monks. Which does not mean that the merit of the other community members was diminished. In the life of that community, they all played important parts and the body-and-soul worries of every day were shared as among brothers. The founders and the donors had provided all the necessary things for the monastery, and the works had to be performed and supervised by the monks. Sometimes, a founder whose nature would be more rapacious and who might have had domineering impulses, would exaggerate his implication and get involved in the matters of the cloister or would try to become again master of his fortunes. Thus, in a deed drawn up by the founders and sent to the Prince of the country on December 1, 1824, a sadder aspect from the monastery`s life came to evidence. Photo: Patron Feast, August 6, 1940. The abbot Visarion Toia, together with the priests` council and the participating believers.

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After the beginnings of the monastery community life are described, when the hermits started to gather one by one, for whom a wooden dwelling was built, then, after they became more numerous and the brick church was erected, at the expenses of Stanca Mldreasca (Mother Kalistracta), her nephew, the Lord High Steward Rducanu Srdnescu made himself master of the monastery: But the devil who, in all manners, fights against goodness, turned the work and the achievements in a different way; that the Lord High Steward Srdnescu, on the one hand hath built the church with help from other people and on the other hand, after the death of the abbot, taking the deeds of the old cloister, not only for the donations that his aunt had made but also for the donation of the others, even for the refugees that the monastery shelters by the mercy of the Prince, hath made deed for them and hath taken their money and earnings, just as if they had belonged to him. Not only did he not share a thing with the holy monastery and the poor monks, but also, from free that the Fathers were before the brick wall holy church was built, they are now under the will of the High Steward, as though he had been an abbot himself. Because he receives the ones that he wants; and whomever he does not want, he chases away and persecutes. The monks now suffer from great scarcity and misery and live only by whatever other Christian believers find it in their heart to give them, and they carry such given gifts with a lot of hardship and tiredness all along a day`s road, over the stone hills which are as big as the mountains, on their so very weakened backs, through tears and sweat sheds, so that they may be able to tie one full day to the other in that wilderness of theirs, and so that they may feed also the powerless hermits, who are sick and old and cannot go out to receive charity The letter goes on to saying how the Lord High Steward Srdnescu averted also the investigations which had been initiated by the regional deputy of the Prince and concludes with: And we, our most merciful Lord, much saddened upon seeing the disorder of the holy cloister and the scarcity into which dwell the powerless monks and being worried lest the holy monastery should remain waste, since those who live there are only half in number of them who had been there before, and for the holy sacrifice that is offered there for the living and deceased founders and for all the Christian believers, we run to the throne of your highness, kindly asking you to send enlightened order to the lord deputy boyards of the county, so that they remove the Steward Srdnescu from the ruling upon the poor monks, and that they prevent him from further dealing in any way with the matters of the cloister, and so the monastery may remain in peace, by just
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organization, as it was before, since nobody made him ruler and chief of the monks or organizer of the holy place`s life. And because, since the passing away of the abbot, the monastery has been without good order and the monks have done whatever they felt like, just as the sheep without a shepherd, we also kindly ask that you release enlightened order for a new abbot, that he be chosen from among those monks who are considered most devout, so that he may rule and manage all the matters of the holy cloister as they should be managed. And your highness will be forever remembered for so doing! The Prince Grigore Dimitrie Ghica instructs the kaimakam of Craiova, the hetman Dimitrie Ralet, and his counsel to investigate the situation and report back to him. They reported on December 18, 1825, that the complaint of the founders was totally justified and asked the Prince to make a decision. This sad episode here retold is in accordance with the same story occurred in the history documents of the monastery and with another letter written by the abbot Isidor, dated September 25, 1829, in which distressing details are given about the mingling of the Srdnescus in the cloister`s dealings, about their aggressive and offensive attitude towards the monks` community. The kaimakam of Craiova at that time, Constantin Ghica hetman, who was aware of the situation, ordered that the High Steward Srdnescu be forbidden all interference with the administration of the monastery and be requested to return all its documents, making him account for all the money gains of the cloister, ever since 1824. The tyrannical intervention of this founder was stopped and the monastic life resumed its normal course. Oscillating between the caring for the soul and the caring for everyday life, the monks have lived in harmony among each other, exercising full obedience to their abbot and fulfilling all the duties of their rank. The monastery sheltered the largest number of souls up until 1821, when, in midsummer, they were chased in all directions by the Turks: their number had reached 30 for a long while then. When, in the autumn of the same year, the abbot Iosif gathered back to the monastery the people who had been scared off, only 13 of them returned. For all they had suffered from the Turks and for their courage of not having renounced the angel-like living that they had chosen for themselves, they deserve to have their names remembered in history: 1. Monk priest Bogoslov, 2) Anchorite Teodosie, 3) Housekeeper monk Vartolomeu from Curtioara, 4) Monk Dosohtei from Porceni, 5) Monk Damaschin from Cartiu, 6) Monk Pimen
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from Curtioara, 7) Monk Dionisie from Porceni, 8) Monk Manolie from Porceni, 9) Monk Ilarion, 10) Monk Pintilie from Pumoneti, 11) Monk Filimon, 12) Monk Sava, 13) Monk Neofit. Photo: Abbot Visarion Toia, in 1940, together with the Brothers and Fathers in the monastery. Afterwards, in a century and a half of together living in the Lainici Monastery, the biggest number of monks ever reached was of 38, when in the other large monasteries of the Prince in Oltenia the number of monks and nuns was not very large. Difficult times and then, again, times of being sent away from home, once more befell the monastery after 1864, when the secularization of monastery fortunes occurred. And also from 1916 up till January 1, 1919, when the monastery remained prey to the Hungarian and German armies. From January 1919 until 1929, a deserving Transylvanian abbot from Rnov, who had started his apprenticeship at the Sinaia Monastery in Prahova county, came to rule the holly dwelling which was almost in ruins and whose living places were almost destroyed, and restored it partially during one decade, so that it resumed its normal existence. The well schooled and honour worthy Bishop of the Rmnic at that time, Bartolomeu Stnescu PhD, made life in Lainici vibrant again in 1929, when he sent here a number of monk priests and brothers, at the head of whom there was the future abbot, Visarion Toia, who was born in Moldova, SecuieniBacu. For 22 years (1929-1951) while he was an abbot, he had exceptional domestic life and soul enhancing activities. Due to his tenacious character and his qualities as a builder, he managed to bring back the old, long lost appearance of the monastery. He erected other ancillary constructions to the compound as follows: between 1930 and 1935, he built the beautiful house in front of the church, then a trellis, half-timber kitchen, a log house, behind the church, to the east side, a barn, in 1935, a guest house, up on the Little Chair Hill, to the west side of the monastery, in 1938; the guest house had numerous rooms built up of laths. The same abbot built up mountain, at the little convent of Locurele, the house in front of the church, in 1934, a log barn, in 1934, and a reconstructed kitchen. Afterwards he bought from a lawyer some 80 acres of land, and he built a brick house in Trgu Jiu (guest house of the monastery). Photo: The Lainici Monastery in 1899

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During such time, the monastery was at the peak of its blooming. According to the confessions of Father Calinic Crvan, who was a close apprentice of Abbot Visarion Toia, the number of people living in the monastery had reached 38 monk priests and monks, given the improvement of the economical situation of the monastery, which had received as its property, in 1937, 100 hectares of forest and 14 hectares of tillable land. The cultural life of the dwelling had also been given great impetus. Young monks such as Nicodemus Schelarie, Gherontie Genoiu and others were sent to continue their studies at the Monastic Seminary in Cernica, then to the Theology College in Bucharest, where they got their degrees. Both the monk priest Nicodemus Sachelarie and Gherontie Ghernoiu received the higher post of archimandrite in the hierarchy of the monastic rank and became professors and principals in the seminar teaching setting. In two centuries of existence, the Lainici Monastery was managed by 30 abbots. Photo: The Lainici Monastery in the first half of the 20th century.

The Lainici Monastery 30 abbots in more than 230 years

1. Athanasius the Hermit, 1770-1794 2. Father Josef the Confessor, 1794-1823

3. Monk Priest Bogoslov, 1825-1827 4. Monk Priest Isidor, 1827-1831 5. Monk Priest Dometie, 1831-1834, 1835-1838 6. Monk Priest Dumitru, 1834-1835 7. Monk Priest Ioanicihie Stolojanu, 1838-1839
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8. Monk Priest Elisei, 1839-1844 9. Monk Priest Filaret, 1844-1847 10. Monk Priest Daniil 1847-1851 11. Monk Priest Gavriil 1851-1852
12. Monk Priest Maxim, 1852-1853 13. Monk Priest Chiril, 1852-1854 14. Vicar General Irodion Ionescu, 1854-1855 15. Monk Priest Dorotei, 1855-1856 16. Monk Priest Marcel, 1856-1857

14. b) Vicar General Irodion Ionescu, 1857-1858

17. Monk Priest Luca, 1858-1859

14. c) Vicar General Irodion Ionescu, 1859-1863

18. Monk Priest Ilarion, 1863-1865

14 d) Vicar General Irodion Ionescu, 1865-1870

19. Father Iordache, 1870-1872 20. Monk Priest Nifon, 1872-1873

14. e) Vicar General Irodion Ionescu, 1873-1900

21. Monk Priest Ioanichie Ionescu, 1900-1907 22. Archimandrite Teodosie Popescu, 1907-1919 23. Vicar General Calistrat Proca, 1919-1929 24. Vicar General Visarion Toia, 1929-1951

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25. Vicar General Calinic Crvan, 1951-1974 26. Archimandrite Caliopie Georgescu, 1974-1985 27. Archimandrite Policarp Sidor, 1985-1988 28. Vicar General Serafim Vescan, 1988-1990 29. Vicar General Ioan Selejan, 1990-1994 30. Archimandrite Ioachim Prvulescu, 1994-present days

Some Abbots with an Intensely Spiritual Living Athanasius the Hermit (1770-1894) was the actual founder of the Lainici Monastery. He created the cloister, following a number of very sad occurrences which took place within the Orthodox Church of Transylvania, to which he ascribed the role of a heart that will pulsate a new and united life, Romanian and Orthodox, to the souls of the Oltenians and Transylvanians who had been separated for thousands of years through artificial border lines, reforming the spiritual and ethnic unity on the area of the Dacian Empire. His hermit life was the symbol of this indestructible unison. Father Josef the Confessor (1794-1823); although he was mentioned as one of the founders, he saved Tudor Vladimirescu in 1812-1813 from the hands of the Turks, by giving him the clothes of a monk and protecting him, within the Lainici Monastery, thus proving himself to be a good patriot as well as an Orthodox. He was one of the most competent organizers of the monastic life here, at the beginning of monastic life, as he managed to gather, together with the Hermit Athanasius the largest number of monks, namely 30 souls. He was laudatorily appreciated by the Bishops of Rmnic, Galaction and Neofit, and always presented as an example of commitment to the monastery. The Monk Priest Bogoslov (1825-1827); he came to Lainici towards the end of the 18 th century from the Tismana Monastery, maybe even from the Ciclovina de Sus, drawn by the brilliant worship living of the Hermit Athanasius, and he became noticed for his special theological and
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monastic culture, for exemplary priestly and venerating service. As he appreciated his qualities as a scholar, organizer and bursar of the monastery`s fortunes, as well as his attachment to the healthy ordering of life (performed by the abbot Josef, with whom he genuinely collaborated), the Bishop Neofit elected him to be a proestos (highest ranking monk). Photo: Abbot Irodion, head of the monastery for 41 years. Vicar General Irodion Ionescu: After the chance discovery of a document in the State Archives form Trgu Jiu, the enigma of abbot Irodion`s parent-cloister was solved too: he had come to Lainici from the Cernica Monastery in Ilfov, probably around 1851-1852, some time after the instauration of Bishop Calinic from Cernica (Saint Calinic) in 1850. From 1854 until 1900, when he died, he became the abbot of Lainici 5 times, and the last time, between 1873 and 1900, he ruled for 27 years without interruption. In total, he was the abbot of the Lainici Monastery for 41 years. He may be rightly considered, in the biblical sense, the Patriarch of Lainici. The Saint Calinic will choose him as his confessor. The Vicar General Calistrat Proca: (1919-1929); in the autumn of 1916, a part of the Romanian Army, led by General Dragalina, entered Transylvania through the gorges of the Jiu and was greeted by the monastic ranks here with their celebration clothing, carrying crosses and church banners, as for a great feast, and saying prayers for victory. After the reversal of the battle fronts, the monastery was occupied by the enemies and it was left behind almost in ruins: without bells, without ecclesiastical adornments, with its houses destroyed. On January 1, 1919, Calistrat Proca, a vicar general who was born in Rnov, the county of Braov, came to rule the dwelling and, together with only four monks, he started works of reconstruction of whatever could yet be rebuilt. In a report which he submitted to the Eparchy of Rmnic, he showed that this cloister was not inhabited by any monk for three years during the war; it was pillaged by the enemy occupation army; when I took it over, I found nothing but the walls and the land. He worked with Transylvanian zeal on the reconstruction and he partially accomplished it. In this difficult endeavour, under the very hard economical circumstances the country was enduring after the disaster of the war; starting with 1925, I received help from other monks also. Photo: Abbot Visarion, who organized the monastery during very difficult times.
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The vicar general Visarion Toia, 1929-1951 his activity for two decades was exceptionally fruitful, both in the domestic field as well as in the worship field. Abbot Visarion Toia can be regarded with justice as the third founder of the Lainici Monastery. Like Abbot Irodion, he had an intense way of worshipping, as he interwove the prayer with the theological interests. He reintroduced in the monastery the old rules of together living: reading from the biographies of the saints, the knowledge and the study of the works written by John Climacus and Theodore the Studite as well as of the Lives of the Fathers, where holiness is known by experience, through the lives or feelings of the great recluses and hermits. He organized the library and enlarged the number of the books, leaving after him a monastery dwelling where the worshipping activities interwove with the domestic ones, to the supreme end of being well liked by God and useful to the believers. Photo: Calinic, a ruler full of kindness, great pastoral sentiment and wisdom, abbot for 22 years. Vicar General Calinic Crvan, 1952-1974 he was a Gorjan from the village of Vladimiri and he genuinely and committedly dedicated all of his peasant and monk energies to working and inserting pastoral life more and more in the hearts of the Orthodox believers. His Devoutness continued the work of his predecessor, accomplishing repairs of the Locurele convent and of the Lainici Monastery Church. His living among the Brothers and the believers excelled in kindness and wisdom. He practiced to a huge extent utterance of the Prayer of Jesus. He had known Ioan Kulghin, the spiritual mentor of the Rugul aprins movement (Burning Bramble) from the Antim Monastery in Bucharest, from whom he learnt the secret of this kind of praying. His profound experience and worship living constitute to this day a source of inspiration for the inhabitants of the cloister and of beneficial influence upon the believers who come to the monastery. Archimandrite Caliopie Georgescu (1974-1985) he was born in Olt County and he is the most famous monastic personality of this monastery. He had a rich theological culture and a degree from the Theological Institute in Cluj Napoca. He was at first a spiritual, then a teacher at the Seminary Nifon in Bucharest. He lived among and he knew many of the great prelates of our Church. He had theological and literary preoccupation relations with eminent professors of Theology, such as the archimandrite Iulius Scriban and Father Gala Galaction; afterwards he was an abbot at the Ostrov Monastery in Climneti, at Govora, then, in 1952, he arrived at the
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Mitropolitan Seat of Oltenia and was ordained Father Superior of the Lainici Monastery, where he settled his home as an exarch. His activity developed on the entire area of the monasteries in the eparchy of Craiova then focused on the Lainici Monastery and the Locurele convent. He was well-known and respected all over the plateau of Petroani, across the Gorges of the Jiu, as well as in the monastic circles of Oltenia. An eminent preacher and priest, he undertook all efforts to maintain the traditional spirit of the monastic worship life, as he brought peace everywhere he went and helped everyone to preserve Jesus` face imprinted in their hearts. Photo: Caliopie, Abbot of the Monastery in the gorges for 14 years. The Archimandrite Ioan Selejan, 1990-1994; He was born in Bihor County on November 16, 1951 and he started his monastic living in 1980 at the Lainici Monastery; he was ordained as deacon in 1990; he accomplished his high studies at the Biblical Institute in Jerusalem where he got his PhD diploma. He became abbot of the Lainici Monastery in 1990 and he preserved this post until 1994. During the four years when he was head of the monastery, he has the merit of having been the main supporter of the new church`s building, the foundation of which was laid in 1990. He coordinated the site works up until the brick construction was accomplished. The works were continued until their completion (that occurred in 2010) by the current administration. On the 9th of July, he was named Bishop of Covasna and Harghita. On the 25th of September, during the same year, he settled in his seat from Miercurea Ciuc. In June 2009, the Holy Synod granted him the title of honorific Archbishop. Photo: Ioan Selejan, the abbot who had the foundation laid for the new monastery church. The Archimandrite Ioachim Prvulescu, 1994 present day. He came to the Lainici Monastery in 1984 and he became a monk in 1988, then was ordained as monk priest during the same year. In 1992 he was consecrated as vicar general and afterwards he was named archimandrite by the Right Reverend Nestor Vornicescu, the Metropolitan of Oltenia. In 2009 he also became exarch of the Craiova Eparchy. In 1992 he actually took over the responsibilities of the monastery, in a period when the abbot back then was having the role of an archimandrite and Father Superior of the Romanian establishments in Jerusalem. After Ioan Selejan was named Bishop of Covasna and Harghita, on September 25, 1994, Ioachim Prvulescu became abbot of the Lainici Monastery. From this post, he continued with a lot of zeal the work for construction of the new
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church. At the same time, he supervised other works of utmost importance: restoration of the old church, which was an art monument, between 1999-2009, construction of a 500 meter long support wall on the bank of the Jiu, a 300 meter long surrounding fence, by the side of the motorway, the construction of the new cloister of cells, of the new refectory, of the bell tower, of the guest house and of other buildings which played an important part in the life of the community. He was the initiator of and a participant in some events of historical importance in the monastery`s life, like the bringing of the Quick to Aid Virgin`s icon, in 2006 and the discovery of Saint Irodion`s relics their third retrieval and their displaying on the shrine for reverence, inside of the church. The Life of the Saint Our Right Reverent Father Irodion Ionescu (who passed away on May 3, 1900). He was abbot of the Lainici Monastery between 1854 and 1900 (according to the words of the current abbot, the archimandrite Ioachim Prvulescu). He was born in 1821 in Bucharest and he received the Christian name of Ioan. When he was 20, he went to live at the Cernica Monastery. He was drawn to the worship life that was led there, under the protection of Abbot Calinic; in 1846 he became a monk and received the name of Irodion. The young monk afterwards came to be aware of the great vocation he had been called to, and started living in strict self suppression conditions; he loved his brethren greatly and he would never discredit anyone; he would suffer deeply from any bad words he heard, he would fast enormously, he would only sleep three or four hours a night and he would prosternate hundreds of times a day. Through such self suppression, he became immensely loved by the whole community and he gained the respect and approval of his abbot. In September 1850, Abbot Calinic was assigned Bishop of Rmnicu Vlcea. In Rmnicu Vlcea he brought with him a number of apprentices who were meant to help him rebuilt the abovementioned eparchy seat, which was in a sensible state of decay. Among those apprentices was also the monk Irodion, whom he would send, by the end of 1851, to the Lainici Convent in the Jiu`s valley and whom he would ordain deacon, then, subsequently priest, in 1853, assigning him an ecclesiarch. Photo: The Icon of the Saint Right Reverent Father Irodion at the Monastery of Lainici.

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In 1854, monk Irodion was assigned abbot of the Lainici Monastery. Between 1854 and 1900, Abbot Irodion ruled the convent for 40 years, with 5 small interruptions; he was the longest to administrate the monastery in its entire history; after the death of his Father Confessor, Saint Calinic decides that his apprentice, Irodion, abbot of Lainici, would be his new Confessor; therefore the apprentice became Father Confessor of his Elder. Soon afterwards, being thrilled by his godliness, Saint Calinic would name him The Morning Star from Lainici. He would feel great relief and would have special trust in and uncommon admiration for the Abbot Irodion. Saint Calinic would often come to Lainici for counsel and confession; it is known that, near the end of his life, he would feel greatly for this triad of monasteries: Cernica, Frsinei and Lainici, of which he was deeply fond, and which he supported with his prayers. The Right Reverend Irodion, like all the grand saints had a lot of ordeals and temptations from his brethren. But, as he had been forged in the ceaselessly praying spirit of Cernica, he would love with humility and patience; the more he grew virtuous, the more numerous became the temptations, and he was made strong by them, as the gold in the fire. Such is the paradox of holiness: suffering. Soon he was famous in Oltenia as well as on the other side of the Carpathians, in Transylvania. He had become a living miracle worker. He had the power to chase away the evil ghosts in people. He would x-ray them from the first look, telling them about their sins and those of their ancestors, too. A woman who used to live in these mountains brought him one day the gift of a vessel filled with milk. The Right Reverent refused to receive it, and told her that the milk was not coming from her goat. But, Father, it does come from my goat! I just milked it and the milk is fresh! No, woman, I will not accept it, because it no longer truly is from your goat! You sent the goat to the devil last night and you have the habit of so often doing! Because you gave the goat to the devil, the milk now belongs to the devil, too. Please forgive me, but I will not accept it! As the woman had her sin revealed, she returned to her home with the milk, asked for forgiveness and promised never to curse again. Photo: The Right Reverend Irodion prophesising the destruction of the monastery which was to come in the First World War.

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We can therefore say that Abbot Irodion was a Seer in Spirit; a lot of people would find healing and comfort from him. On May 3, 1900, the Right Reverent Irodion passed away; seven years later, the abbot Teodosie Popescu, upon insistence of Right Reverend Irodion`s apprentice, monk priest Iulian Drgicioiu, asked from the Bishop of Rmnic the blessing for his disinterment, as this is a very old monastic tradition, which has been kept alive till the present days, especially in Mount Athos: seven years from the death of the monk, the body is exhumed and the burial service is performed again. This is also what happened to the body of the Right Reverend Irodion. He was disinterred and people all remained surprised as the body was whole and had not decomposed. They reported the occurrence to the bishop and the bishop is said to have exclaimed: Is this that you were, Irodion! (Thus you really are a saint!) But they did the burial service again, and they put him back into the tomb, because the Lainici Monastery did not have an ossuary, like other larger monasteries had, where the body might have been kept. The Right reverend Irodion, when he was still alive, had prophesised that, a few years from his passing away, the Lainici Monastery would be laid waste, which is exactly what happened during the First World War. My sons, know that, little after I am gone, this dwelling will be ravaged and it will remain waste for many years! But you bury my body near the altar, and don`t forget the vows you have made to Christ! (Ioanichie Blan, Patericul Romnesc, (The Lives of the Romanian Fathers)) During this world war, the apprentice of Reverend Irodion, the monk priest Iulian Drghicioiu, was made prisoner by the German armies and deported to Germany, where he died as a martyr, in a prisoners` camp. The photograph of Father Iulian was given to us in 2008 by a greatgranddaughter of his, as she had felt this discovery was a great secret that wanted to be unveiled. Photo: The Right Reverend Irodion grants the last pardon. At the tomb of the Reverend Irodion miracles worked, demon-possessed people would be cured and evil ghosts were cast out of humans. People would come from the Kingdom as well as from Transylvania to appease their pains and suffering at the grave of the Right Reverend Irodion. In 1929, Father Visarion Toia was named abbot of the Lainici Monastery, who came here together with a group of seven monks from Frsinei. Among the monks who had come together with Father Visarion there were Calinic Crvan, the following Isihast abbot (1952-1975), Father
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Nicodemus Sachelarie, Father Gherontie Ghenoiu and many others. At the grave of the Reverend Irodion many miracles have been performed; the devil enemy from under the guise of piety urged various people (probably hermits, too) to open the tomb and steal parts of the Reverend`s relics. That is why Father Visarion, finding that this state of facts was intolerable, disinterred the body for the second time, around 1939 (the first opening had been in 1907); we could consider this a second discovery of Saint Irodion`s relics. He placed them into another smaller coffin and he buried them at a depth of 2.5 meters. At the bottom of this two meter depth hole, he dug another smaller hole, of 1.2x0.7 meters, he placed the holy relics into that smaller space, he put normal soil above them and, at the normal depth of a burial hole, which is 1.5 meters, he placed other bones, of another monk, in order to confuse all the potential relics seekers. He did all of this in great secret. We don`t know if the following abbot, Calinic Crvan, was aware of these actions, but the abbot that followed to Father Calinic, Father Caliopie (1975-1985) ordered digging for the exhumation of the holy relics, in 1983. He had two meters dug, the depth of a normal hole, and the workers found the bones that had been set there for confusion. As he was disappointed, he covered the grave back and closed the story. After 1990, those who had remained were suspected and accused by various pious people of not wanting to dig out and display the holy relics. It was known that Father Caliopie had tried in 1983, but the truth could not be known because that would have caused confusion and crises of faith. The insults were borne without murmur and, in prayer, the right time was waited for. The mitropolitans of Oltenia from after the year 1990, the Right Reverend Nestor and the Right Reverend Teofan, wanted to canonize the Reverend Irodion, and they therefore studied his life filled with holiness. But the number of prayers had probably not reached its full. Photo: Wake at the bed of the Reverend Irodion, year 1900. The new mitropolitan of Oltenia after 2008, the Right Reverend Irineu, as he had special piety for Saint Calinic and thus for the Reverend Irodion, his Father Confessor, initiated the stages of the canonization process (historical research and opening of the grave). On the eve of Saint Calinic`s feast, on April 10, 2009, after a few days` fasting and intense prayer, the mitropolitan Irineu himself and the community of the monastery participated in the exhumation. When the digging reached 2 meters deep, the unknown bones were found. It was a really hard test, they were all overwhelmed by disappointment because they had not found what they were looking
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for. The Right Reverend ordered that the digging continue in the grave towards the west, although there was grass there, and to everyone`s surprise, an entire skeleton was found. Initially they all believed that that was it, but they were in for another disappointment. That was another monk, as it was written on the brick underneath his head: Mitrofan the Anchorite, 1864 Photo: Drawing of the Right Reverend Calinic, deploring the death of Abbot Nicanor from Cernica, at the Locurele Convent. The Right Reverend Mitropolitan Irineu ordered that they dig on the opposite side of the grave, to the east. At the depth of two meters, other older bones were found, which looked like they had been moved before, as the words inscribed on the brick were bearly visible anymore: Atanasie the Monk. Despair and disappointment overwhelmed them all. They had already dug in three graves in a row; a huge hole had been made and it was 6 meters long, 2 meters deep and 1.5 meters wide. They were all praying as they knew and as they could. All hope seemed to have been lost. At the bottom of the central hole, the soil was softer, so this is where they started getting it out. To their surprise, the contour of another smaller hole became visible. Some clues started showing; at 2.1 meters deep, the heel of a boot was found, and afterwards a number of nails which were almost decomposed with rust. The first positive impact occurred when the first part of the relics was visible. They were brownorange in colour. Besides, they were unnaturally light, like a straw, like a paper, a whole lot lighter than the remains of the other unburied bodies. Thirdly, they started exhaling a pleasant smell. Photo: Drawing of the Right Reverend Irodion, rebuking the woman for having cursed the milk. Eventually, they also found the brick which had been placed under saint Irodion`s head. It is so that people found the great treasure that had been intentionally hidden around the year 1930 at 2.5 meters depth. The formidable secret of the Morning Star in Lainici was partially discovered. After 109, the saint Irodion allowed that he be discovered for the third time. We could call it the third finding of Saint Irodion`s relics, from April 10, 2009. And that time, they were placed in a shrine for the reverence of the believers and for the spiritual benefit of all who wanted to see
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them and those who esteemed the saints in heaven. The fact is staggering, especially given that, one year before, the saint had shown himself in a vision to a nun who had great piety for the Right Reverend Irodion and had told her: Next year, the Father Superior will have new clothes made for me! which is exactly what happened, namely the finding and the putting in the shrine of the relics, for reverence in the church. Saint Calinic had called the Reverent Irodion The Morning Star in Lainici because he had truly been a brilliant star, a great bringer of light and a man with the gift of prayer. Saint Irodion is the last circle in the chain of Romanian Isihast monks in the 19 th century. The Romanian Neoisihasm started around the end of the 18th century with Vasile from Poiana Mrului, Saint Paisie Velicikovschi, the Abbot of Neam, the Right Reverend Gheorghe from Cernica, Saint Grigorie Dasclul, Saint Calinic from Cernica and it was closed with the Right Reverend Irodion, the Abbot of Lainici. We thank the Saint our Right Reverend Father Irodion because he accepted to be found by us, the unworthy, and we kindly ask him, from the depths of our hearts, to intercede for us before the Holy Trinity! Amin. Photo: Drawing of the Saint Calinic sitting and talking in private with the Reverend Irodion, at the Lainici Monastery. Photo: Drawing of the Lainici Monastery in the times of Abbot Irodion, by the middle of the 19th century. Significant Moments during the 21st Century 1990-2010 Two Decades for the New Church-Cathedral The massive return of the Christians to the Church immediately after 1989, the growth in the number of believers who would flow towards Lainici, from both sides, Oltenia and the Jiu`s Valley, gave new impetus to the idea of creating a new monastic space for hosting the parishioners who came there in good conditions.

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Therefore, in July 1990, during the times of Abbot Ioan Selejan, the first stone of construction was laid for the new cathedral, in presence of the Lord Right Reverend Mitropolitan Nestor Vornicescu of Oltenia; the church was to be built based on the designs of the abbot back then, who was an engineer (subsequently, in 1994, the vicar general Ioan Selejan was to become Bishop of Harghita and Covasna). 2006 The Bringing to Lainici of the Holy Mother of God`s Icon the Quick to Aid Consequent to a number of pleads addressed by the Archimandrite Ioachim Prvulescu, the abbot of the Lainici Monastery, to the Father Archimandrite Grigorie, the abbot of the Dohiariu Monastery, he made the decision of getting made a copy of the Holy Mother of God`s Icon the Quick to Aid (Gorgoipikoos) which was painted during Lent and covered with a protective layer of golden silver made in Athens. It is the only icon of such kind in Romania; there are other two copies in Greece, one in Bulgaria and one in Georgia. The necessary steps were facilitated for the accomplishment of this goal by the Greek language translator, Father Professor Calist Clinoiu, who is a member of the Lainici Monastery community, and the prayer and divine service of the icon were translated from Paleoslavonic by Father Iustin Covaliu, always from the Lainici Monastery. Photo: Dohiariu Monastery from Mount Athos On July 23, 2006, the monastery received a blessing from the Mother of God. From Mount Athos, monastery Dohiariu, the copy was brought of the miracle worker icon Gorgoipikoos the Quick to Aid. It had been painted especially for the Lainici monastery and it was the fifth copy made in the entire world over the last century. One might say that it is a flower coming from Mount Athos the Garden of the Holy Virgin brought to Lainici as a sign of the great blessing bestowed upon the monastic dwelling in the heart of the mountains. At first, the copy of the icon had been placed for 40 days in the chapel of the original icon, thus sharing the gift of the latter, of the miracle worker icon of the Quick to Aid Holy Mother of God. It then left, in a specific procession, the Dohiariu Monastery in Mt Athos, on July 21, 2006 and was embarked, from the Greek monastery`s shore, aboard a ship carrying it to port Uranopolis.
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On July 2006, at Lainici, the icon was expected by a council of priests and a crowd of believers who had come to greet it with flowers and burning candles. The first procession with the icon of the Quick to Aid Mother of God at the Lainici Monastery took place on October 1, 2006, the day of the icon`s celebration. Photo: Lainici Monastery (the new church) from the Jiu`s Gorges.

The History of the Miracle Working Icon of the Quick to Aid Holy Mother of God, from the Monastery Dohiariu, Mount Athos

In 1664, a monk who went by the name of Nil and was a worker at the refectory of the Dohiariu Monastery in Mt Athos, used to carry in his hand, in order to light up the refectory, a torch which gave off a lot of smoke. Near the entrance of the refectory there was the icon of the Holy Mother of God which, because of the smoke that came from the torch, had become somewhat darkened. Once, the man heard a voice telling him Stop spilling smoke all over my icon, monk!. As he thought somebody was playing a prank on him, the monk went on doing the same as before, carrying the torch around and letting it blow off all that smoke which covered the icon, until again, a voice admonishing like thunder shouted at him: You unfeeling monk, how long will you still treat my icon with such carelessness?! At that very moment, the monk went blind. Afterwards, becoming aware of his carelessness and lack of consideration, the monk repented greatly, cried a river of tears before the icon of the Holy Virgin and kindly asked the other monks in the monastery to pray for him, so that the Mother of God may forgive him and give his sight back to him. Eventually he received his pardon and the Holy Virgin showed herself in his vision and told him with motherly love and in a kind voice: Your prayers have been accepted. You are forgiven and you will be able to see again. Tell the Brothers and Fathers who live in this dwelling that I am the Mother of God the Word, second to God Himself, the protector of this holy monastery of the Archangels and of Saint Nicholas. Let them come to me for every need and I will listen to their prayers and those of any Orthodox Christian who will come to me in piety because I am the quick to aid! Afterwards, the monks placed the icon of the Mother of
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God into an iconostasis and built a chapel to its honour. Ever since, from the 17 th century till today, the icon of the Quick to Aid Mother of God has made and is making a lot of miracles. The Mother of God is by excellence the one who helps in great hurry, when we call Her with tears and ask a favour of Her. As we are living in this century which is by definition a century of speed, of haste and unease, the icon of the Quick to Aid Mother of God seems to be very suited to the contemporary ways. The most important thing is that we feel piousness towards Her, that we know how to implore Her, that we are honest and persistent in prayer. The tears which are shed in front of this icon will turn into great joy, blessing and miracles. In the 19th century, two more copies of this icon were made, one of which went to Russia and the other to Bulgaria. At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st there were five more copies made, three in Greece, one in Georgia (it was painted in 2005) and the last is the one in Lainici, Romania (2006). This copy is the only one in our country. Mount Athos the Garden of the Holy Mother of God is filled with miracle working icons, and this icon in Lainici is a flower brought from that very garden. It`s only left for us, the ones who have it, to take good care of it, so it does not fade away, and that it keeps sharing with us its spiritual perfume. The prayer uttered before the icon of the Quick to Aid Mother of God can have spiritual effects on the one who utters it. When we are in front of the icon, let us ask the Mother of God from the depths of our hearts that She help us in our wishes. Let us not have any doubt, let us believe with all our being that what we ask will be fulfilled. Let us run to Her as if She were our last and only hope and She will quickly help us, as She is the empress of the Heaven and Earth. Archimandrite Ioachim Prvulescu Photo: The original icon of the Quick to Aid Mother of God (Gorgoipikoos) from Mt Athos Photo: The copy icon of the Quick to Aid Mother of God from the Lainici Monastery.

The Path of the Miracle Working Icon from the Dohiariu Monastery, Mt Athos, and the Arrival of the Icon at the Lainici Monastery

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The Finding of Saint Irodion`s Relics The date of April 10, 2009, will certainly remain one of the greatest importance in the life of the monastery from the Gorges of the Jiu. The one who had been named the Morning Star in Lainici, the one who had been considered the most conscientious abbot of the monastery`s history, Irodion Ionescu, came to the holy dwelling, at the age of 30 years old, in 1851, brought as an apprentice by Abbot Calinic. He was to become an abbot himself in 1854 and he managed the monastery for 41 years, with 5 small interruptions, as he was the longest to live abbot of the Lainici Monastery in all ages. He was one of those who became strong form troubles and suffering, considering all those trials as blessings sent by God. On May 3, 1900, when he was 79 years old, the Right Reverend Irodion passed away. According to an old tradition from Mt Athos, seven years from a monk`s death, the body was exhumed and washed in wine, the burial service was performed again and the body was to be placed in the ossuary (if an ossuary existed). On May 5, 1907, exactly seven years from the burial of the abbot Irodion, Father Iulian Drghicioiu, with a lot of piety, exhumed the remains. There is no detailed evidence of the event, we only know that the relics had not been decomposed. They were placed back inside of the tomb (there was no ossuary in Lainici) and their story was veiled in a great mystery. In between the two World Wars, more precisely in 1929, there is a hypothesis that the relics were disinterred during the rule of Abbot Visarion Toia. In 2008, the Lord Right Reverend Irineu, Metropolitan of Oltenia, started the process of canonization of the Reverend Irodion, after a number of procedures and official steps. Photo: The brick which was found under the head of Saint Irodion Photo: Archimandrite Ioachim, abbot of the Lainici Monastery, watching in emotion the event of the relics` discovery Therefore, the disinterment of the relics during Lent was decided. After a few postponements, the date of April 11, 2009, was chosen, as it was the feast of Saint Calinic. After some unsuccessful attempts (in a small area, other graves were found) eventually the miracle occurred, the prayers were accepted. The tears were our hidden joy. Afterwards, we took out of that mud, piece by piece, the relics of the Right Reverend

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Photo: The shrine with the relics of Saint Irodion. Photo: The tomb of Saint Irodion before the exhumation of the relics. Eventually, this discovery was confirmed by the finding of the brick at the head of the Saint which said: Vicar General Irodion Ionescu, 1821-1900, abbot of the Lainici Monastery... and another few words which cannot really be deciphered. The wood out of which that small coffin had been made had become rotten, no piece of it had been found intact. But its shape had remained imprinted in the soil of the hole. The same of the nails that had been fixed in the coffin wood: they were rusty to the point of disintegration, everything had decomposed inside of that small grave, everything except the holy relics, which had not suffer from time influence: the bones were still whole. Photo: The stone cover from the empty grave of Saint Irodion.

The Second Consecration of the Old Church The old small church of the Lainici Monastery, which had as patron feast the Holy Virgin`s Coming to the Temple (November 21), was completed on August 1, 1817, after five years since the works for its construction had begun. It was an exceptional work, accomplished during the times of the Romanian Principality`s Prince Ioan Gheorghe Caragea and of the Rmnic and New Severin`s Bishop Galaction, by effort of some founders, boyards` families (Mldrescu, Srdnescu and Briloiu), having Father Josef the Confessor as its abbot. After one hundred years of serene life, the First World War (1914-1918) was to leave deep wounds, from the barbaric way in which the German and Austro-Hungarian troops had transformed the dwelling in a barn and had profaned its graves. After 1919 some restoration works were performed and the church was again consecrated and given back for the worship practices. The painting however suffered from the degradation of time; thus, between 1956 and 1958, the restoring painter Gheorghe Ciobanu intensely worked on the repairs; the church was consecrated for the second time by the Lord Right Reverend Firmilian, the Metropolitan of Oltenia; after some longer period of time, the church again started to suffer from degradation, as humidity and candle smoke had affected it, both on the inside and on the outside.
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Therefore, after 1990, a number of other works for painting restoration were necessary, the changing of the floor tiles as well as large works for consolidation and restoration. Photo: The Re-consecration Deed of the Lainici Church Therefore, between 1998 and 2010, on the day of feasting the Holy Virgin`s coming to the Temple, this worship establishment was consecrated again by the Lord Right Reverend Irineu, the Archbishop of Craiova and Metropolitan of Oltenia, together with the Right Reverend Bishop Nicodemus of Severin and Strehaia, with Siluan, the Right Reverend Bishop of the Romanians in Hungary and the Right Reverend Emilian Loviteanu, Vicar Bishop of Rmnic. The Lainici Monastery in Images of the 21st Century

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