Rohia Monastery () is a

Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; , ), or Romanian Patriarchate, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates in the Eastern Orthodox Church. S ...

monastery. Named after

Saint Anne According to apocrypha, as well as Christianity, Christian and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary, the wife of Joachim and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the Bible's Gosp ...

, it is located in the northwestern part of

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, in Rohia, a village administered by

Târgu Lăpuș Târgu Lăpuș (; , , ) is a town in Maramureș County, northern Transylvania, Romania. It administers thirteen villages: Boiereni (''Boérfalva''), Borcut (''Borkút''), Cufoaia (''Kohópatak''), Dămăcușeni (''Domokos''), Dobricu Lăpușului ...

town in

Maramureș County Maramureș County () is a county (județ) in Romania, in the Maramureș region. The county seat is Baia Mare. Name In Hungarian language, Hungarian it is known as ''Máramaros megye'', in Ukrainian language, Ukrainian as Мараморо́щ ...

. The monastery is situated on a hillside at an altitude of some 500 meters, in the middle of a beech and oak grove. The initiative for founding it came from the priest Nicolae Gherman (1877-1959), whose daughter Ana died in late 1922 at the age of 10. Inspired to start a monastery in her memory, he began work the following year, assisted by hundreds of volunteers. Two years later, a small church and monks' residence were complete. Bishop Nicolae Ivan blessed the monastery in 1926, on the feast of the

Dormition of the Mother of God The Dormition of the Mother of God is a Great Feast of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches (except the East Syriac churches). It celebrates the "falling asleep" (death) of Mary the '' Theotokos'' ("Mother ...

, to which the establishment was dedicated. Thus, it became among the first monasteries built in the region following the

union of Transylvania with Romania The union of Transylvania with Romania was declared on by the assembly of the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in Alba Iulia. The Great Union Day (also called ''Unification Day''), celebrated on 1 December, is a Public holidays in Romani ...

, but remained a

skete A skete () is a monastic community in Eastern Christianity that allows relative isolation for monks, but also allows for communal services and the safety of shared resources and protection. It is one of four types of early monastic orders, alo ...

for many years due to its inaccessibility. It expanded after 1970, when an access road was finished and electricity introduced. The monastery is noted as the place where writer Nicolae Steinhardt lived as a monk from 1980 until his death in 1989.Dinu Gherman
"Rohia, raiul pământesc al lui Steinhardt"
in ''România Liberă'', April 11, 2007

Notes

External links

Official site
{{Coord, 47.4108, 23.8824, type:landmark_region:RO, display=title Romanian Orthodox monasteries of Transylvania Tourist attractions in Maramureș County Buildings and structures in Maramureș County Christian monasteries established in the 20th century Religious buildings and structures completed in 1923 1923 establishments in Romania Târgu Lăpuș 20th-century Romanian Orthodox monasteries