The Secu Monastery
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The Secu Monastery is a hearth of spiritual life whose age is almost 500 years. On the feudal domain of the Neamț Citadel, on the valley of the Secu river, around the year 1500, a group of hermits settled who, in time, founded in 1530 under the leadership of Hieroschimonach Zosima, a monk from the Neamț Monastery, the hermitage with the same name: Zosima's Hermitage .
Ruler Petru Rareș built the church of the Zosima Hermitage on the site of the current church of the monastery cemetery. The hermitage was fenced with a stone wall in 1550 by Elena, the voivode's wife, and her sons, a small part of which is still preserved at the entrance to the monastery, next to the current church of the cemetery, where the entrance gate to the hermitage was and its bell tower.
The same ruler Petru Rares, in his first reign, strengthened his control over the lands that belonged to the estate of the Neamț Fortress, donating these lands for the use of the monks from the valley of the Secu river. Bishop Melchisedec Ștefănescu, speaking about the beginnings of the Secu Monastery, recalls that until 1910 there was on the wall of the monastery bell tower, in the niche where there is now a fresco of St. John the Baptist, the original painting from the church built by Voivode Petru Rares, painting which was damaged by grinding due to the harshness of the times.
During the time of voivodes Alexandru Lăpușneanul (1552-1561 and 1564-1568), Petru Șchiopu (1574-1579) and Aron Tiranul (1591-1595), the Zosima Hermitage received some donations for the use and maintenance of the hermit monks from these places.
Towards the end of the 16th century, the Hermitage of Zosima experienced a special development, especially from an economic point of view: private grants are now supplemented with royal grants and confirmations, and the name of Abbot Dosoftei, one of Zosima's disciples, is often mentioned in the reasons for being close to the oldest and most powerful monks from the Neamț Monastery.
Ruler Petru Rareș built the church of the Zosima Hermitage on the site of the current church of the monastery cemetery. The hermitage was fenced with a stone wall in 1550 by Elena, the voivode's wife, and her sons, a small part of which is still preserved at the entrance to the monastery, next to the current church of the cemetery, where the entrance gate to the hermitage was and its bell tower.
The same ruler Petru Rares, in his first reign, strengthened his control over the lands that belonged to the estate of the Neamț Fortress, donating these lands for the use of the monks from the valley of the Secu river. Bishop Melchisedec Ștefănescu, speaking about the beginnings of the Secu Monastery, recalls that until 1910 there was on the wall of the monastery bell tower, in the niche where there is now a fresco of St. John the Baptist, the original painting from the church built by Voivode Petru Rares, painting which was damaged by grinding due to the harshness of the times.
During the time of voivodes Alexandru Lăpușneanul (1552-1561 and 1564-1568), Petru Șchiopu (1574-1579) and Aron Tiranul (1591-1595), the Zosima Hermitage received some donations for the use and maintenance of the hermit monks from these places.
Towards the end of the 16th century, the Hermitage of Zosima experienced a special development, especially from an economic point of view: private grants are now supplemented with royal grants and confirmations, and the name of Abbot Dosoftei, one of Zosima's disciples, is often mentioned in the reasons for being close to the oldest and most powerful monks from the Neamț Monastery.