Old Church of Sinaia Monastery Re-consecrated after a period of 320 years

August 2015

After 320 years since its building by spatharus Mihail Cantacuzino, the old church of Sinaia Monastery was re-consecrated today, 15 August 2016, on the feast of the Falling Asleep of the Mother of God. The place of worship has recently been restored and consolidated, with the painting of the church renovated too.

The Patriarch of Romania has celebrated the re-consecration service

The re-consecration service of the historical place of worship was celebrated by His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of Romania assisted by a group of priests and deacons. His Grace Timotei Prahoveanul, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Bucharest concelebrated together with His Beatitude.

The re-consecration service was preceded by the Divine Liturgy celebrated His Grace Timotei Prahoveanul, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Bucharest.

The Mother of God is the living Church

The Patriarch of Romanian delivered a sermon in which he emphasised the fact that Saint Mary is the model of living for every Christian.

“The Mother of God is the living Church which bears Christ inside her and then after giving birth to Him and growing Him up, she shows Him to the world saying her shortest sermon at the wedding of Cana Galilee: “Do whatever He tells you to”. She has no other sermon, not other Gospel, no other teaching than the teaching of Jesus Christ, our Lord, her Son, the Saviour of the world. This is why the Mother of God is called in our chants “the consecrated Church”, she is the Christophor humankind, bearer of Christ, and this is why she becomes the model and icon of the living of every Christian. The Mother of God has been given nine feasts during the church year, some of them written in red letters in the calendar. The Mother of God represents the Church and through the mystery of her falling asleep, she represents the Church of Christ as the one who moves us from the earthly life to the heavenly life. This is why, the feast of the Falling Asleep of the Mother of God was scheduled in the last month of the church year, in August, which fact symbolises the last things at the end of the world”, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel said, according to Trinitas Radio station.

The reasons why spatharus Mihail Cantacuzino built the old church of Sinaia Monastery

The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church has also shown in his sermon that spatharus Mihail Cantacuzino built this church as a sign of gratitude because certain monks helped him to save his life and in the memory of the visit he had paid to the Holy Land.

“This church has a special history, because it was founded by spatharus Mihail Cantacuzino who visited the Holy Land, together with his mother Helen and his sister Stanca, in 1681. They have also visited the church of Saint Catherine of Sinai, and when they came back home they wanted to build a church dedicated to the Mother of God. This church was built here from 1690 – 1695, not only because he, spatharus Mihail Cantacuzino together with his mother and sister visited the Holy Land and Saint Catherine Monastery of Sinai, but also because certain monks from Bucegi Mountains saved his life when killers paid by Prince Gheorghe Duca should have killed him not to be a candidate to reign. He learned that one night somebody heard angels singing chants to Mother of God. The Metropolitan of Wallachia heard about that and urged Mihail Cantacuzino to build a church not far from the skete of Saint Nicholas where the angelic chants addressed to the Mother of God had been heard. Thus, this church was built as a sign of gratitude to the monks who helped him to save his life and in the memory of the visit to the Holy Land”, the Patriarch of Romania said.

The faithful present at the holy service could venerate the holy relics of Saint Hierarch Grigorie Dascalul brought from Caldarusani Monastery.

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The restoration of the interior painting and the consolidation of the church outside began in 1994, with the blessing of the worthy remembering patriarch Teoctist. The interior painting was restored with the help of restorer Ioan Chiriac, and the porch columns were extracted and consolidated in a laboratory of Alba Iulia. At the same time with the works executed at the holy place of worship, with the blessing of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, important works were done at the west block of the precincts situated in front of the church.

Sinaia Monastery situated at the foot of the Bucegi Mountains was built from 1690 -1695, by spatharus Mihail Cantacuzino.

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