The abbot of the Athonite Monastery of Simonopetra, Archimandrite Elisaios Raptis, said that his monastic community reveres Prince Michael the Brave as a saint.
Michael the Brave was Prince of Wallachia (1593-1601), Prince of Moldova (1600) and de facto ruler of Transylvania (1599-1600). He is considered one of Romania’s most significant national heroes and the first to unite all principalities inhabited by Romanians under the same ruler. Several efforts were made for his canonisation.
“Michael Voivode is one of those who are remembered every Sunday, at every vigil, in every circumstance and at every memorial service. We have this awareness that he is the benefactor of the monastery and the man whom, thanks to his life as a confessor and defender of Orthodoxy, we consider a saint.”
“We, the fathers at Simonopetra, are waiting for the initiative of the Romanian Orthodox Church about his inclusion in the synaxarion to properly honour him here on the Holy Mount Athos,” Archim. Elisaios said in an interview published by the Lumina Newspaper.
In the interview, the abbot emphasises the benefits brought to the Holy Mountain by Michael the Brave in particular, but also Romanian princes in general. He said that Romanian rulers founded 50-60% of the buildings on Mount Athos:
“This is not highlighted enough, but it is an undeniable truth that all the central churches, the Catholicons, have as benefactors the Romanian voivodes, those who helped the Holy Mountain. And I say this sincerely, we must emphasise and recognise this contribution.”
The fact that the portrait of the Romanian ruler was painted by the monks at Simonopetra in two places in the main church of the monastery, as well as in the refectory, in the guest house (archondariki), is a testimony to the devotion they have to Michael the Brave.
Photo source: Lumina Newspaper
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