| Stavropoleos Monastery | |
|---|---|
Mănăstirea Stavropoleos | |
.jpg) The monastery in April 2021 | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Eastern Orthodox |
| Patron | Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel[1] |
| Year consecrated | 2008 |
| Status | Active |
| Location | |
| Location | 4 Stavropoleos Street,Sector 3,Bucharest |
 Interactive map of Stavropoleos Monastery | |
| Coordinates | 44°25′54.56″N26°5′55.66″E / 44.4318222°N 26.0987944°E /44.4318222; 26.0987944 |
| Architecture | |
| Style | Brâncovenesc |
| Founder | Archimandrite Ioanichie Stratonikeas |
| Completed | 30 October 1724[2] |
| Materials | Stone |
Stavropoleos Monastery (Romanian:Mănăstirea Stavropoleos), also known asStavropoleos Church (Romanian:Biserica Stavropoleos) during the last century when the monastery was dissolved, is anEastern Orthodoxmonastery fornuns in centralBucharest,Romania. Itschurch is built inBrâncovenesc style. The patrons of the church (the saints to whom the church is dedicated) areSt. ArchangelsMichael andGabriel. The nameStavropoleos is the genitive case ofStavropolis (Greek, "The city of the Cross"). One of the monastery's constant interests isByzantine music, expressed through its choir and the largest collection of Byzantine music books in Romania.
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The church was built in 1724, during the reign ofNicholas Mavrocordatos (Prince ofWallachia, 1719-1730), by thearchimandrite Ioannikios Stratonikeas, a Greek monk fromPogoniani. Within the precinct of his inn, Ioannikios built the church, and amonastery which was economically sustained with the incomes from the inn (a relatively common situation in those times). In 1726 abbot Ioannikios was electedmetropolitan ofStavropolis andexarch ofCaria. Since then the monastery he built is namedStavropoleos, after the name of the old seat. On February 7, 1742 Ioannikios, aged 61, died and was buried in his church.
The inn and the monastery's annexes were demolished at the end of 19th century. Over time the church suffered from earthquakes, which caused the dome to fall. The dome's paintings were restored at the beginning of the 20th century.
All that remains from the original monastery is the church, alongside a building from the beginning of the 20th century which shelters a library, a conference room and a collection of old (early 18th century)icons and ecclesiastical objects, and parts ofwall paintings recovered from churches demolished during thecommunist regime. This new building was constructed following the plans of architectIon Mincu.
The church has been pastored since 1991 by fatherIustin Marchiș, the firsthieromonk of the church in the last century. The community living here, besides routine worship, is engaged in renovating old books, icons and sacerdotal clothes. The choir of the church sings (neo-)Byzantine music (a single voice part, sustained by a prolonged sound calledison - approx. translation: accompaniment -, or tonic note), now a rare occurrence for churches in Romania.
The monastery's library has over 8000 books of theology,byzantine music, arts and history. There arepatristic, biblical, dogmatic,liturgic, historical,homiletic, catechetic writings, classic languages dictionaries and textbooks, studies on Byzantine art and Orthodox iconography, and on the Romanian history and civilization of the 18th century. Some of the books are from the donated personal library of art historian Vasile Drăguț, former rector of theBucharest University of Arts.
There is a significant number of old books: more than 80 manuscripts and 400 printed works. There areRomanian,Greek, andChurch Slavonic books.
The Byzantine music books collection is the largest in Romania, and consists mostly of the donations of two Romanianbyzantologists, Sebastian Barbu-Bucur, and Titus Moisescu.
The monastery has started a virtual library project bydigitizing its old books.
The music sung during the offices isneo-Byzantine, based on the works of 19th century Romanian psalmodists: Macarie theHieromonk, Nectarie theHermit,Anton Pann,Dimitrie Suceveanu, Greek chants translated into Romanian, or modern compositions.
The Stavropoleos Byzantine Choir was created in 1994, and is led byarchdeacon Gabriel Constantin Oprea who officiates and chants at the Stavropoleos Church and teaches Byzantine music at theNational University of Music Bucharest. The group has performed in Romania and abroad, and they are issuing their music on CDs.
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