THE HOLY MONASTERY OF TISMANA
SHORT HISTORY
The Holy Monastery of Tismana is one of the
oldest, the most important and the most beautiful monasteries in Romania. This
monument, built in the middle of nature, is perfect for those who want to
gather their thoughts, to be close to God and to know the Romanian Orthodox
religion.
Settled on Starmina
Mountain, sorrounded by wooded, rocky peaks, the monastery took its name from a
coniferous tree called “tisa”, that used to grow around here long time ago.
On the occasion of some
archeological works, there were discovered the ruins of an old Daco-Roman
fortress; in the ancient language of the Dac people, the word “tismana” meant
“fortified place”.
It was founded in the 14th
by Saint Nicodim the Pious, with the financial support of the Basarab princes
Radu I (1377- 1383) and his sons Dan I (1384- 1386) and Mircea the Old (1386-
1418). Near the monastery, there was a small church made of the wood of a big
“tisa” tree. It was consacrated in August 15th, having the
dedication on the Pure Vergin’s Dormition and it is historically attested in a
charter of Leader Dan, written on October 3rd, 1385.
Saint Nicodim lets us
feel his permanent presence here, enlightening our lives with his holy gifts.
He was born at the beginning of the 14th
century at Prilep, in Macedonia, as a member of the great Basarab
family. Lazar, the leader of Serbia, was also his relative. The young Nicodim,
only sixteen, chose to leave home and become a monk in the Saint mountain
Athos, in Greece. Due to his extreme intelligence and to his strong wish to
lead a saint life, Nicodim the Pious became a very profound theologian, an
expert in Greek and Slav languages, a perfect orator, an exceptional miniature
painter. He also knew how to work with people and he was very close to all of
them. He had the full support of his contemporary leaders who helped him build
churches and monasteries that became centres of culture and of national unity,
powerful protectors of the Orthodox religion.
A perfect monk, Nicodim
the Pious came to Valachia (the southern part of Romania) and he founded
monasteries similar to those in Athos, where the monks learned how to work and
become skilful in various arts.
In 1377, the Patriarch
Philotheos of Constantinople, raised this monastery to the rank of
“archimandrie” which meant that it had the role to watch over the other small
monasteries like: Vodita, Gura Motrului, Prislop, Topolnita, and the hermitages
Teius, Mocirlita, Saint Anthony, Plostina Dragoiestilor (Hobita), Aninoasa,
Visina and others.
Saint Nicodim the Pious
lived here like a hermit, spending nights and days on end praying in a small
cave near the monastery. Saint Nicodim the Pious had the great gift of making miracles. Many sick
people would come to him every day, searching for healing. Some of them were
healed by touching his clothes, others simply by calling his name from a
distance. His holiness and his miracles became wellknown even abroad. Sigismund
of Luxembourg himself, Emperor of Austro-Hungary, visited him, in August, 13th
, 1406. He had a sick daughter, possessed by an evil spirit. Many doctors
and priests had seen her but with no
results. So, the Emperor
took his daughter and some people from his court and came to meet Saint
Nicodim.
Coming close to the
monastery, the evil spirit went away and the girl got well. Sigismund ordered
his people not to tell Saint Nicodim about this. When they reached the
monastery, all the monks were waiting for them. The Saint told him: “ Praise
God for his mercy, for healing your daughter. The guests were all astonished,
hearing his words. The Catholic priests who accompanied Sigismund became
envious, so they planned to bring shame on Saint Nicodim and his monks. They
knew that the monks did not eat meat; so they brought a covered plate with some
pork for lunch, saying that there was fish. By his holy spirit, the Saint knew
what there was on that plate, and said: “Be it fish!” When they uncovered the
plate, there was fish instead of pork. Then all the Catholic priests got frightened.
Saint Nicodim told them about the true faith and about the power of God who
makes miracles by those who love Him. Then Sigismund and many of his people
wanted to be baptized in the Orthodox religion.
Saint Nicodim the Pious died on December,
the 26th , 1406.
The architecture of
Tismana Monastery is in the Byzantine style of the 14th century,
resembling the churches in Macedonia and Athos, also showing a few Romanian
architectural elements. The actual church of the monastery is built directly on
the rock, following a triconic plan with steeples on the nave, pronaos and
porch. Along the years, it suffered many transformations.
The church was painted
in 1564 by Dobromir from Targoviste,
being financially supported by the great magistrate Nedelcu. The painting is in
the post- Byzantine style, in a polichrome fresco, applied on the initial
monochrome fresco.
In 1732, the
archimandrite Ioan restored the painting in the Saint Altar and in the naos. In
the pronaos, the fresco from 1564 was not destroyed but there was applied a new
fresco in 1766. Beginnig with 1955, the paining in the pronaos started to be
prickled and placed on the walls of the museum and on the corridors of the
hermitages. The first fresco, thje one from 1564, was restored. The porch of
the church had been demolished in Prince Bibescu’s time (1842- 1848) and it was
rebuilt in 1983, following Saint Nicodim’s plans.
In the same period, the
whole monastery and all its dependencies were restored, the coordinator of the
restauration work being the engineer Ioan Salajan, the actual bishop of Harghita and Covasna. In 1994, the porch of
the church was painted by Grigore
Popescu from Campulung Muscel, in a Byzantine style, having an
appropriate design and a discrete harmony of colours. The iconographic
presentation is also unique, as some newly discovered Daco-Roman saints were
painted for the first time.
The Monastery of Tismana
had an extraordinary treasure, now lost because of the numerous hardships that
came over the monastery during the centuries.
A great part of the
valuable objects of the monastery are now at the Art Museum in Bucharest. Among
these objects, the most valuable is The Saint Nicodim’s Gospel – a complex work
of art, valuable by the beauty of its writing and the miniatural ornaments. Its
covers are made of golden silver. This is the oldest Romanian manuscript and
the oldest silver cover. The museum also has a rich collection of mural
paintings (taken from the pronaos in 1766), old icons on
wood, religious objects,
old books and clerical robes.
Inside the church there
is a holy silver coffin, made by the visual artist Gheorghe Stoica. It contains
three pieces of holy relics of: Saint Nicodim, Saint Ignatie Theofor and Saint John the Golden Mouth,
together with the cross worn by Saint Nicodim. On the cover and inside the holy
coffin these saints are presented in medallions. On the exterior there are some
life scenes and some miracles made by Saint Nicodim.
In the porch of the
church there is Saint Nicodim’s tomb, watched by an ever burning candle.
The Holy Monastery of Tismana is a special place not only for its
wonderful position but most of all for its spiritual mission that was given to
it in the life of the Romanian people. It is a holy place where we can feel
close to God and His saints, it is a place where miracle is present every day.
It cannot be otherwise, for when Saint Nicodim was on his dying bed, he
promissed to give his love and help to all those who would come here, to
Tismana.
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