Bocancea Monastery in Moldova
Monasteries of Moldova
- Capriana
- Butuceni
- Tiganesti
- Cosauti
- Harbovat
- Harjauca
- Dobrusa
- Curchi
The history of this monastic settlement is reportedly connected with the working of Harjauca Monastery. The National Archive of Moldova has a “historical record about Harjauca Monastery” which dates back to 1874 and which says the following: “In 1865 and 1868, four hundred tithes from all the forest surface of the monastery were sold with the permission of the governmental Saint Synod, and with the money gained other 1032 tithes of the inhabited land, part of the Ciuciuieni estate, Iasi district, were bought from the owner Leon Bocancea under the guidance of archbishop of Chisinau, Antonie; the purpose was that the villagers from Harjauca, who lived nearby the monastery, to move in here. But, the villagers refused to move there and archibishop Antonie was forced to fund on this estate a household for monks, which was named Antonovca for a long period of time. In 1869 on this land, in the middle of Harjauca Monastery, the construction of a church from stone began, but in 1872 the construction works ended up and the building was hallowed by His Holiness Pavel, Bishop of Chisinau and Hotin, in the name of Saint Apostles Petru and Pavel on June 29 of the same year.”
Archimandrite Melchisedec Dimitriu tells the following about the destiny of this hermitage:” Being situated far away from Harjauca Monastery and having no land because of the expropriation in 1917, this hermitage remained almost uninhabited and abandoned. That is the reason why in 1920 the exarch of the Basarabia monasteries, archimandrite Visarion Puiu, asked the Chisinau Archiepiscopate to separate the hermitage from Harjauca and to give it to an own abbot, who will manage at least to take care of the house he had gained, naming it Bocancea in the name of former Moldovan estate’s owner.”
After being separated from Harjauca, the hermitage had the following abbots: Superior Singhel Gurie Grosu (1920-1923); Superior Singhel Gherasim Chisca, 1923-1924; Superior Singhel Dionisie Haraz – since December 1st, 1924.
During the communist domination, the place was devastated and the last Superior of the monastery, abbot Esanu, was forced to go away to the other side of the Prut River. The church, with the celebration of the Saint Apostles Petru and Pavel festival, was turned into a storehouse for grains, afterwards - into a tobacco dryer. The priory was used by the tractor workers. A kindergarten for the children from the village was running in the cells next to the church.
In 1991 the Bocancea hermitage is re-established by hieromonk Bartolomeu, as layman Victor Sarbu.
The saint place is of rectangular shape having no lateral apsis. Instead, at the altar’s apsis, which has a semicircular shape, the diaconicon and the anaphora are highlighted to the exterior by two annex-rooms. The church has a small pre-nave delimitated from the nave by two pillars of square shape. The inside painting is simple. Above the pre-nave, the spire of the belfry raises up. In the West side of the church a body of houses is annexed that includes the refectory, the kitchen and some cells.
Hancu Monastery sponsored this hermitage until 1997, but in 1998 the Bocancea hermitage gained the title of monastery.
Translated from Romanian by Leca Olga, Moldova.ORG