The Metropolitan of Moldavia and Bukovina on Sunday blessed a monastic house dedicated to Elders Paisie Olaru and Cleopa Ilie at Coșula Monastery in Botosani County. The hierarch awarded the abbot and the benefactors church awards.
The service was attended by many faithful from Botosani, local and county officials. Metropolitan Teofan was joined in the Divine Liturgy by abbots and clergy in the area: Archimandrite Ioan Harpa, Abbot of Popăuți Monastery and exarch of the monasteries in Botoșani, Archim. Teodosie Pleşca, Abbot of Zosin Monastery, Fr Daniel Dascălu, director of St George Theological Seminary in Botoșani, and Archim. Calinic Chirvase, Abbot of Coșula Monastery.
In his sermon after the proclamation of the Gospel, the Metropolitan said that at the Universal Judgment, man would be held accountable for both bad and good deeds that he could have done and did not do.
“We will be responsible, thirdly, for the harm that others have done to us, and fourthly for the harm that others would have done if they had not been hindered by us,” he said.
During the service, Metropolitan Teofan called for prayer and almsgiving, urging the faithful to come to the aid of Ukrainian refugees and to support them through the fundraiser organized in the churches of the Archdiocese of Iasi.
After the liturgy, the clerics officiated the blessing service of the new monastic house “Elders Paisie and Cleopa”, followed by a short ceremony in which His Eminence Metropolitan Teofan bestowed “Moldavian Cross” to the abbot of Coşula Monastery.
Both Elders Cleopa and Paisie are known and venerated throughout the entire Orthodox Church and have been proposed for canonization by the Romanian Church in 2025. Late last year, Elder Cleopa’s renovated cell in the mountains where he hid from the communist authorities was consecrated.
The church of Coșula Monastery. Photo: Doxologia.ro / Flavius Popa
Coșula Monastery was founded in 1535, and blossomed into an important spiritual and cultural centre by the 17th-18th centuries, with over 1,000 monks. In 1908, the monastic complex was abandoned and converted into a parish church, but it was reestablished in 1991. The architectural ensemble is included in the list of historical monuments.
Photography courtesy of Doxologia.ro / Flavius Popa
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