BISERICANI MONASTERY

Sunday, 2 May 2010 Posted by bogdan
BISERICANI Monastery
Alexandru cel Bun (Viisoara) commune, Neamt county. Convent for monks.
Dedication day: “Feat of the Annunciation”, 25 March.

To the beginning of the 15th century, on this location there was a wooden skete founded by Alexandru the Good Voivode, who had granted large sums of money to it.

His descendants, Stephen the Great Voivode, Stefanita Voivode, Petru Rares Voivode and Alexandru Lapusneanu Voivode founded also many holy establishments to which they donated large sums of money, and tried to maintain the existing monasteries.
The church was erected of brick during the reign of Stefanita Voivode in the 16th century. The skete flourished in the 17th century, and it was transformed into a monastery.
The enclosure walls, the holy-water font, the porch and the refectory were constructed at that time, too.

In the 18th century, in 1786, the church was substantially enlarged: several monastic cells were built (of stone); the chapel and the abbot's houses were raised.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a sanatorium was accommodated in one of the outbuildings that surrounded the holy establishment. It was located on Mount Pietrosu in a lovely woodsy area, at an altitude of 650 meters.
For a while, the skete was subordinated to the Bistrita Monastery, whereas in 1991, it was transformed into a monastery.
In the 16th century, the hermits placed a small icon of the Theodokos into an oak-tree trunk and, as soon as the icon was discovered, a small church (called "The Little Icon") was raised in order to venerate it.
Now, all worship activities are performed in this small church, because the old monastery houses the sanatorium.

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