20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

838 Florin MarinescuIn 1902, Antipa Dinescu, one of the most representative Romanianmonks, who had supported the rights of his fellow Romanians for manyyears, signed a document as the president of the Society of the Colony ofthe Romanian monks at the holy mountain. It comprised ten hermitages 4 .They are 1) the hermitage Saint Gheorghe Colciu, on the land of the Vatopedmonastery. 2) The hermitage of the Birth of Saint John the Baptizer inColciu, bought by a Romanian monk from Vatoped. 3) the hermitage SaintIpatie, also on the land of the Vatoped monastery. 4) the hermitage of SaintNicolas from Iufta, on the land of the same monastery. It’s 300 years old!5) the hermitage The Saints Teodori Tiron and Stratilat, near Kutlumus,with a 200 years old church, bought by the monks from Basarabia. 6) thehermitage Adinu, near Caries, dependat on the monastery Dionisiu, ownedby Romanians since 1870. 7) the hermitage Turlutiu de la Aghiasma, onthe land of the monastery Lavra, bought by Romanians in 1867. 8) thehermitage Trei Ierarhi, on the land on the monastery Stavronichita, boughtby Romanians. 9) the hermitage The Birth of Saint John the Baptizer,bought in 1897. 10) the hermitage Saint Gheorghe, in Kapsala, boughtfrom the monastery Pantokrator in 1888. I should mention that some of thedispleased hermitages would switch societies 5 .The relations between the Romanian monks and the Greek ones.According to the documents, they were not harmonious most of thetime. Sometimes there were small chicanes, other times the asperities couldbe explained by the fact that Alexandru Cuza confiscated the fortunes ofthe monasteries, and other times the relations were disharmonious becausethese monks were…vlahs. Sometimes the Greek monks wouldn’t let theRomanian monks improve their hermitages, other times their annexes weredestroyed. Moreover, in certain moments, the Romanian monks were notallowed to build new hermitages, nor were they allowed to receive newmonks in their hermitages. Some of the monks couldn’t handle the pressureand returned to Romania. Many documents indicate unfriendly relationsbetween the hermitage Prodromu and the monastery it was dependant on,4It is important because for each of the ten hermitages a short history is given in thedocument.5Other situations with hermitage names and their total number of inhabitants whereRomanian monks were needed can be identified in the two works, from the year 1908for example, comprising more and more hermitages (and cribs) where Romanian monkslived, or from the year 1920, when the total number of the monks reached 635. See forthe last time Schools and churches, vol. II, number 12, 135. Also see the situation from1929, in the same work, number 68, 241-215, and that from 1931, in the mentioned work,number 175, 361-363.