His Beatitude Tikhon, Archbishop of Washington and Metropolitan of All America and Canada (Orthodox Church in America), visited Putna Monastery on June 4-5, 2024.

Archim. Melchisedec Velnic, the abbot of the Romanian monastery, and the fathers welcomed him with honours on Tuesday. They led him into the monastery church, where the abbot briefly presented the history of the monastery and the saints who lived there.

The Archimandrite’s speech was not limited to the history of the monastic community but also referred to the monastery’s crucial role in better defining and preserving the national identity of Romanians from all over the world and to the support currently offered to Romanians from historical communities now outside the current borders of Romania.

“In 1775, the land between Suceava and the Dniester River was annexed to the Austrian Empire and most of the monasteries were closed. Putna remained open and, in addition to monastic life, played a symbolic role in the identity of the Romanians from the occupied territory, named Bukovina,” said Archim. Melchisedec Velnic.

“In 1871, the monastery hosted the first Celebration of Romanians from All over the World, at a time when Putna was outside Romania and two-thirds of Romanians lived outside the country’s borders.”

“After World War I, Bukovina was reunited with its mother country. After World War II, Romania’s border was reset to a few kilometres away from the monastery, with hundreds of thousands of Romanians remaining beyond the new border, in the Soviet Union – today’s Ukraine. There are more than 125 Romanian villages with Romanian priests over the border,” added the abbot of Putna.

Monastery, the place to learn humility

On Wednesday, Metropolitan Tikhon celebrated the Divine Liturgy.

“I want to express my gratitude to His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church for the blessing and invitation to serve the Divine Liturgy here, at this sacred Monastery of Putna”, said the guest after the service.

“And it is truly a blessing that I will bring back with me to my faithful of America, to share with them the love and hospitality of the Romanian Orthodox Church and especially of this holy monastery.”

“The monastery is the place above all where one learns humility,” added Metropolitan Tikhon.

“Abba Dorotheus of Gaza gives us a story of a man who’s swimming in the ocean and the waves of the sea are pushing against him. Abba Dorotheus says a bad swimmer tries to swim over the waves. And, when he does that, the waves are simply pushing (him) backwards. This is not the correct way, he says. A humble man is one who sinks under the waves and so, by going under the waves, he makes forward progress. This, I believe, is our life in a monastery.”

“We have many temptations that come against us like the waves of the sea, but the only way to move forward is to go down in humility. We do this in imitation of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who descended from heaven to earth, Who descended into the grave and then ascended up into heaven. So, if we wish to ascend on high, we must follow our Lord in His descent,” His Beatitude explained.

As a sign of gratitude, the guest offered an epigonation to Archim. Melchisedec Velnic.

“We thank you and we hope that humility may become the foundation of our life, as you told to the fathers of this monastery and to me personally,” said Archim. Melchisedec Velnic.

After the liturgy, the American metropolitan visited the Putna Monastery Museum.

Metropolitan Tikhon’s visit was part of a wider trip to strengthen ties with the Orthodox Churches in Ukraine, Romania, and Constantinople, according to the website of the Orthodox Church in America.

Photo credit: Putna Monastery