POMELNICUL MĂNĂSTIRII PÂNGĂRAȚI
The diptych of the monastery of Pângărați

Summary/Abstract: The scholarship on the monastery of Pângărați, the mid-16th century foundation of Alexandru Lăpușneanu, focused so far on its beginnings, while largely neglecting its subsequent evolution. Most surprisingly, the extant diptych of the monastery written by “Hagi Gherasim, hieromonk Putneanu, former abbot of Agapia” was never used. One might also add to the sources referring to the monastery of Pângărați many other documents scattered throughout different collections and archival fonds. All these sources will give us new insights into the history of this monastic foundation situated in the Bistrița valley (Neamț County). In this article, I will edit and analyse the diptych of the monastery, a “historical” writing dating from 1793. This diptych translated and adjusted an older, Slavonic, one, most probably written during the last years of Alexandru Lăpușneanu’s life. Based on this diptych, to which newer donations were added, one can recover the history of the monastery from mid-16th century to the mid-19th one (the last note dates from 1859). Most importantly, a close reading of the diptych preamble, translated by Gherasim Putneanu (or by someone else), reveals that the original Slavonic text was dating indeed from the times of Alexandru Lăpușneanu. The conclusive evidence is to be found in a comparison with the most famous Moldavian diptych preamble, that of Bistrița. Thus, several new pages can be added to the corpus of 16th century Slavonic Moldavian literature.

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