Sărbătorirea a 500 de ani de la sfințirea bisericii Mănăstirii Neamț (1497-1997)
The celebration of 500 years since the consecration of the ՙsister՚ of the Monastery ՙSfântul Ioan՚ from Suceava, the Church of the Neamt Monastery

Summary/Abstract: The 500th anniversary of the consecration of the church dedicated to the Holy Great Martyr George, of the “Sf. Ioan cel Nou” from Suceava Monastery, the current Archbishop's Cathedral, gives us the blessed opportunity to remind ourselves of a similar event that happened a quarter of century ago, in the year 1997, namely the completion of five centuries since the consecration of the church from the Neamț Monastery, older sister of the famous Bucovina church. I named the church from Neamț as the sister of the one from Suceava, because its first founder, Bogdan III, according to all probabilities, was a witness to the consecration of the one from Neamț, wanting to build a house for the Lord, in the seat fortress, in Suceava. The context of the building of the great church in Neamț by the Pious Stefan must be linked to the last great battle of his reign with the Ottomans, from March 6, 1486, which took place in Şcheia on Siret. In 1487, through a peace treaty favourable to both parties, the construction of the monumental church at Neamț Monastery began where Stefan predecessors had built two churches: Petru I Musat and Alexandru cel Bun, his grandfather. The church confirms the entry of local architecture into maturity, the achievement of the fusion of the Byzantine style with the Gothic style, in a brilliant synthesis that would get its own name - "the style of the era of Stephen the Great". The church in Neamț was consecrated on November 14, 1497, as it is written in the scriptures of the holy place. Center of Romanian spirituality and culture, Neamț Monastery reaching the hour of the great jubilee, 500 years since the death of His Beatitude, Father Patriarch Daniel, then Metropolitan of Moldova and Bucovina, invited high personalities from the Orthodox world: His Holiness, Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, the worthy of remembrance Teoctist Arăpaşu, the then Patriarch of Romania, together with many hierarchs from the country and abroad, among whom we mention: IPS Kalinocs de Litra, IPS Iacobos of Mytilene, IPS Alexandru of Mandinias, IPS Hrisostomos of Zakintos, IPS Ieronim of Tiva and Levadias, the present Primate of the Church in Greece. Delegate of Metropolitan Vladimir of Kyiv was present P.S. Augustine. From the Synod of our Orthodox Church were present: IPS Nestor, from Oltenia; IPS Petru of Bessarabia; IPS Bartolomeu of Cluj; IPS Pimen of Suceva and Radauti; PS Epiphany of Ruzăului; PS Eftimie of Roman; PS Joachim of the Husi, PS Timotei of Arad and Hălmagiului; PS Laurentiu of Caransebeș; PS Gherasim Putneanul and IPS Calinic, Archbishop of Suceava and Rădăuțil, then Vicar Bishop of the Archdiocese of Iasi. The festivities of the holiday began in the evening of October 11 and the next day, Sunday, October 12, was marked by special events: in the morning the church dedicated to Saint John Jacob from Neamț, built in the premises of the "Veniamin Costachi" Orthodox Theological Seminary, was consecrated ” from the Neamt Monastery. At the end of the service, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and Patriarch Teoctist Arăpașu spoke to the people who filled the inner courtyard of the monastery to the brim. Among the officials present, Mr. Victor Ciorbea, the Prime Minister of Romania, Mr. Ion Caramitru, the Minister of Culture and Mr. Ioan Hăulică, the Romanian Ambassador to UNESCO, spoke. This is how the 500th anniversary of the founding of the Stefanian church at Neamț Monastery was celebrated, a jubilee reflected not only in the young religious press, which had only started to grow in those years, but also in the secular media, which gave wide spaces to the events held on the occasion of the five centuries since the consecration of the foundation of the Good-Faithful Stephen the Great and Saint of the Neamț Monastery.

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