The Vasile Pârvan Cultural Association recently discovered a charter concerning Plumbuita Monastery in Bucharest in the archives of Xeropotamou Monastery on Mount Athos.
Dated 21 October 1585, the document was issued by Wallachian Prince Mihnea II the Turned-Turk and records the dedication of the Bucharest monastery to the Athonite monastery.
According to a post on the association’s Facebook page, its members recently announced that they had obtained a colour copy of the medieval document.
The initiative began with discussions with the monks of Xeropotamou Monastery to identify documents relevant to the history of the Bucharest monastic establishment.
Charter to be made available to researchers
The significance of the discovery is that the document was known in Romanian scholarly literature through translations, but no reproduction of the original Slavonic text was available.
The new colour reproduction, together with the Slavonic text, will be made available to researchers. A black-and-white copy is held in Iași, in the history archive of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, while the association intends to deposit another copy with the National Archives of Romania in Bucharest.
“Thus, through the efforts of the association’s team, we are making available to researchers, for the first time, a colour copy of the medieval document, as well as the Slavonic text,” representatives of the Vasile Pârvan Cultural Association said.
Documents being prepared for publication
The initiative extends beyond identifying the 16th-century document. The association plans to prepare documents concerning Plumbuita Monastery for publication in a volume.
“Within a reasonable timeframe, the documents of Plumbuita Monastery will see the light of print,” representatives of the association said.
Plumbuita Monastery, one of Bucharest’s historic monastic establishments, has a history closely connected with the development of the capital and with ties between the Romanian lands and the monastic centres of Mount Athos.
Identifying and studying medieval documents contributes to a fuller historical record of the monastery.
Representatives of the Vasile Pârvan Cultural Association thanked the leadership of Xeropotamou Monastery and Plumbuita Monastery for their support in the initiative, as well as Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I.
Photo: Magnific
