The Archdiocese of Suceava and Rădăuți has reestablished a hermitage that goes back to the times of St. Stephen the Great, the 15th-century ruler of Moldavia and one of the most beloved saints of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
The Suceava and Rădăuți Archdiocesan Council made the decision on August 11.
The hermitage is situated in the Udești township’s village of Mănăstioara (Suceava County) and it will be under the auspices of St. John the New Monastery in Suceava, the diocese reports.
According to tradition, the wooden church that developed into the hermitage was built by order of St. Stephen the Great after the tragedy of his father’s murder.
In October 1451, St. Stephen and his father Bogdan II were at a wedding in the village of Reuseni, Suceava, when Bogdan’s brother Petru Aron, who ruled Moldavia at that time, stormed in and decapitated Bogdan. St. Stephen fled and hid in the hollow of a nearby oak tree, thus saving his life.
In 1457, St. Stephen managed to take over the throne from Petru Aron and ordered a church to be built from the oak tree in which he had hidden.
The current wooden Church of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple dates back to 1762, if not earlier.
It has been included on the list of historical monuments in Suceava County since 2015.
Photography courtesy of the Archdiocese of Suceava and Rădăuți
Translated by Orthochristian
