My Romanian Weekend

The outer walls of the church at the monastery were covered with painting of bible stories, saints, philosophers, martyrs, events in Romanian history... it was exquisite. This is a few of the front part of the compound.

The church in the background and a shrine to the Theotokos in front of it.

This is the little church at the university. It was transported from a village some distance from Oradea and placed on the grounds. The church itself was built in the 1700s. (I wasn't able to take pictures of the inside then, but next time perhaps.)

I had the most glorious weekend. I slept in Saturday morning (sleeping in for me is until 8:00am... the girls believe that if they are awake, I should be as well). Spent the first part of the day puttering around the house and enjoying the first perfectly sunny day I've seen yet. Then I headed out to meet up with a Romanian girl that a family friend put me in contact with). We had spoken the day before on the phone and she had invited me to attend the Saturday night service at the local monastery with her. We met, and then walked to the university because she wanted to show me their church. What an amazing (very small) building. We got there in time for vespers and it was nice to hear words and phrases that were vaguely familiar. After, I met a few of her friends here, who are part of SCORA (when translated into English, it stands for the Romanian Orthodox Students Association, or something like that). We then walked for about 30 mins to the nuns monastery just outside the centre of the city. I have never been to a place like that before. About sixty nuns live there, and the compound is about twice the size of my high school's entire property. It is encircled by large, white wall that is quite thick and about three stories high. The nun's cells are built into the wall, the set up brings to mind a motel. The railings are lined with flower boxes, and everything is painted a fresh white. The grounds of the compound hold the original church, which is so old people are no longer permitted inside expect on special occasions. There is also the new church, which they just completed. There are shrines to various saints scattered about as well. The compound is built on a hill, and we walked to the highest point and watched with sunset. We then went into the church for the service. The service itself lasted about 2 1/2 hours.... what an experience. The walls inside the church are covered with icons, both hanging and painted on the walls themselves. And yet, it doesn't look crowded. The church itself is quite large, with an intricately carved iconostasis. I don't have the words to describe the service. Standing there, listening to the nuns singing and the priest chanting, it didn't make a difference that I couldn't understand a word. I'm sorry, I really don't have the words to describe what it was like. (There was only one un-mystical experience. At the end of the service, we did a sort of circuit to venerate the icons and relics arraigned at the front of the church. I was going around, trying to venerate the correct icon at the correct time and still take in everything. Things were going very smoothly. Then I feel a tug on my headscarf just as a loud clanging noise breaks the absolutely silence of the church. My head scarf had gotten got in a candle holder that was hanging in front of one of the icons. And then I couldn't get unstuck! I stood there struggling to get untangled, clanging and banging the whole time. Finally, I was free. I struggled not to be embarrassed and to just concentrate on what I was doing. Then I reached the last icon. It was tucked into a dark corner and I didn't see that there was a plane of glass covering it. I bent to kiss it and my forehead bounced right off the glass! Luckily, it was in a dark corner so I figured no one could notice. I turned and sitting right there is an old nun looking at me with one eyebrow raised. Oops.)
We walked back with a whole group of her friends. It was so cold, but the sky was clear and beautiful. Everyone was talking and laughing and I couldn't make myself care about not understanding the language. It was just fun.

Sunday morning I got up and had to take the girls to their church, because Kathy had to go down to a high security prison to participate in a worship group who ministers to the woman there. The tram ride went without a hitch, as did the service itself. It was an Evangelical service that was almost identical to the services I've been to back home... just a little bit more reserved. There were a group of visiting Swedish bible school students and sang some songs (in English!) and did a little skit. One girl gave her testimony (with one of the Romanian parishioners translating) and I really enjoyed what she had to say. We then returned home with one of their friends, who is also from Canada. I made french toast with bananas and honey... yummy! The sun was so warm, we sat one porch in tshirts and just basked. I then ran inside, got ready, and headed out to meet up with my new Romanina friends. Every evening they read from the psalter in their little university church, so we attend that and then the whole group, myself included, walked through the city to reach the tallest hill in the area. It has stone steps built into it, with little benches for resting along the way. We hiked up to the top and had a snack while the sun set over the city. We watched a presentation on some one's laptop about their winter retreat at a monastery up in the mountains. Then they all sang Romanian folk songs, one guy recited some poetry, while I sat and looked over the city. Once it got to late and to cold to stay, we hiked back down and everyone went home. I don't have any pictures from Sunday because my camera batter was dead *sob* but I'm sure I'll be able to got back and take pictures.

P.S. Today was my first shopping expedition and we bought some amazing cheese. I'm not a big cheese eater, but this stuff is more like cream cheese. The farmers make it and bring it to the market just near the apartment. It's soooooo good!