Regio: Initiativa locala Uniunea Europeana Guvernul Romaniei Ministerul Dezovoltarii Stema Instrumente Structurale

Select Language

Prislop Monastery

 

Set in a clearing, surrounded by a wonderful landscape, Prislop Monastery is located 13 km from Haţeg. For almost seven centuries, it has been one of the most important Orthodox religious settlements in Transylvania. Besides the beauty and uniqueness of the church, built through the efforts of the three great founders (Father Nicodim, Princess Zamfira and Father Arsenie Boca), the place attracts like a magnet thousands and thousands of believers from all over the country, who come here attempting to understand what it meant and still means the spirit of “The Saint of Ardeal”.

 

At Prislop, life runs its course in a complete, absolute silence. There are, however, three days per year when hustle and bustle is the watchword: on the dedication day (St. John the Theologian, celebrated on May 8 and The Elevation of the Holy Cross, celebrated on September 14) and on the 28th of November, when the mourning bells call all beings to the requiem for Father Arsenie Boca.

 

Prislop Monastery was founded by Holy Saint Nicodim between the years 1399 and 1405. In the 16th century, the monastery was restored by Princess Zamfira, daughter of the ruler Moise Vodă Basarab of Bucharest, being the second founder of the monastery. During the foundation period of Princess Zamfira, the church was adorned with a new painting.

 

One of the monks who lived here in the 16th century withdrew further up from the monastery, where he drudgingly dug a cave in the rock and lived there an ascetic life. He was canonized by the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1992; he is known by the name of Saint Pious John of Prislop and his cave, called “Holy House” is a place of pilgrimage.

 

In the fall of 1948, the Metropolitan of Transylvania, Nicolae Bălan brought to Prislop the hieromonk Arsenie Boca to revive the monastery both spiritually and materially. After 1948, all construction works and embellishment of the monastery were conducted either by Father Arsenie himself or under his guidance based on his drawings. For that reason, Father Arsenie Boca is considered the third founder of Prislop Monastery.

 

 

 

 

Prislop Monastery
Place. Silvasu Upper 335 503, jud. Hunedoara
Opening hours 8:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Free admission