The Toplița Monastery () is a

Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; , ), or Romanian Patriarchate, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates in the Eastern Orthodox Church. S ...

monastery located at 68-70 Ștefan cel Mare Street in

Toplița Toplița (; , ) is a Municipiu, city in Harghita County, Transylvania, Romania. The settlement has had multiple name changes: ''Taplócza'', ''Toplicza'', ''Gyergyó-Toplicza'', from February 3, 1861 ''Oláh-Toplicza'', or "Romanian Toplița", ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. It is dedicated to the Prophet

Elijah Elijah ( ) or Elias was a prophet and miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BC), according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah defended the worsh ...

. Situated along the banks of a stream within the city limits, the monastery has uncertain origins. It owns a 1677 icon, possibly from the nearby Moglănești Monastery. A monk is recorded as living there in 1763, a year before it was shut down.Rusu, pp. 270-71 The wooden church, with a cross-shaped plan and a polygonal western end, features a portico open toward the south, above which a bell tower was placed. Its style features strong influences from

Western Moldavia Western Moldavia (, ''Moldova de Apus'', or , also known as Moldavia, is the core historic and geographical part of the former Principality of Moldavia situated in eastern and north-eastern Romania. Until its union with Wallachia in 1878, the P ...

. It is dated 1847 and reportedly comes from

Stânceni Stânceni (, Hungarian pronunciation: ) is a commune in Mureș County, Transylvania, Romania that is composed of three villages: Ciobotani (''Csobotány''), Meștera (''Mesterháza'') and Stânceni. It has a population of 1,547: 82% Romanians, 17% ...

. The church was brought to its current site in 1910. This is considered the date of the monastery's re-founding, by

Miron Cristea Miron Cristea (; monastic name of Elie Cristea ; 20 July 1868 – 6 March 1939) was a Romanian cleric and politician. A bishop in Hungarian-ruled Transylvania, Cristea was elected Metropolitan-Primate of the Orthodox Church of the newly unifie ...

. The ''

starets A starets ( ; ''fem.'' ) is an elder of an Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholic monastery or convent who functions as venerated adviser and teacher. ''Elders'' or ''spiritual fathers'' are charism ...

''’ residence dates to 1928. Early on, the monastery was directly subordinate to the

Patriarch of All Romania The Patriarch of All Romania (; ) is the title of the head of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The Patriarch is officially styled as ''Archbishop of Archdiocese of Bucharest, Bucharest, Metropolitan of Metropolis of Muntenia and Dobruja, Muntenia an ...

; it later passed to the dioceses of, respectively,

Cluj Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

and Covasna and Harghita. Repairs and additions were carried out in 1975-1976 and 1985–1990. A museum was established in 1994; it houses church art, old books and Cristea's personal effects. The wooden church is listed as a

historic monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

by Romania's Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs.Lista Monumentelor Istorice 2010: Județul Harghita

Notes

References

* Adrian Andrei Rusu, ''Dicționarul mănăstirilor din Transilvania, Banat, Crișana și Maramureș''. Cluj-Napoca: Presa Universitară Clujeană, 2000, ISBN 973-8095-70-0 Historic monuments in Harghita County Romanian Orthodox monasteries of Transylvania Churches completed in 1847 1910 establishments in Austria-Hungary Christian monasteries established in the 20th century Wooden churches in Harghita County Toplița 20th-century Romanian Orthodox monasteries {{Orthodox-monastery-stub