Mănăstirea Tismana și statutul său de lavră
Tismana Monastery and Its Status as a "Lavra"

Summary/Abstract: Consecrated in 1378, only four years after Vodița, Tismana Monastery became, from the very beginning, the most important monastic center of Oltenia. Regardless of the number of foundations that tradition attributes to Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite, the one in the Tismana Mountains stands foremost, for it is the place where the shepherd and spiritual leader of all these communities chose to dwell. Its official designation as a lavra was made by Voivode Matei Basarab who, as we have already noted, during the first process of secularizing the monastic establishments of Wallachia — a necessary measure meant to stop the deceitful dedication of monasteries by certain lay or clerical dignitaries of Greek origin — issued the charter of 27 November 1640, in which he divided the monasteries into three categories according to their importance and to the status they acquired in relation to the issue at hand. Although its status as a lavra was officially declared two and a half centuries after its construction, it had been evident throughout this entire period through the donations it received from Romanian rulers, without exception. As we have seen, these donations extended even beyond the borders of Wallachia.

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