In this study, we present several previously unpublished documents held at the Library of the Romanian Academy in Bucharest, which supplement the information on the life and work of Saint Calinic, dating from his time as abbot at Cernica and subsequently from his time as Bishop of Râmnic. Most of the documents are originals, written on watermarked paper, authenticated by the saint’s autograph signature, as well as by two types of seals from Cernica Monastery, one of which is very rare, at least to date. In the appendices, we have transcribed the texts in full; some of them are also reproduced as facsimiles 1.
The first documents to which we refer are powers of attorney which the abbot granted to certain individuals, whether lay or religious, for the purpose of representing the monastery in various official matters. For example, on 20 February 1844 2, Saint Calinic granted full authority to the monk Elisei, the bursar, with full authority to defend the interests of that monastic community in the dispute with the steward Costache Alexandri over the Pupăza estate 3 in Ilfov County, with the aim of reaching a settlement and resolving the conflict. Elisei was granted the status of steward, and the document issued by the abbot was called a ‘vechilet’. Previously, on 10 November 1841 4, Saint Calinic had delegated Costache Ștefanopol 5, a well-known lawyer of the time, to defend the monastery before the Divan, where it had been the subject of a complaint lodged by Catinca Suslăneasca.
The link between the two cases outlined above is clarified by an interesting document, bearing the autograph signature of Saint Calinic, dated 14 May 1842 and preserved at the Holy Synod Library in Bucharest. Reading through the text, we learn that, whilst still alive, Gheorghe Știrbei, the steward, had bequeathed all his property, both movable and immovable, to the monasteries of Cernica and Pasărea in his will 6. However, following his death, his servant Catina Suslăneanca/Suslăneasca had unjustly taken possession (by means of a ‘zapt’) of all his movable property, to the detriment of the aforementioned monasteries: “But of the movable property, the monasteries could lay no claim to anything, for it had all been seized by the servant Catinca Suslăneanca, as she was in the house of the deceased”7.
As for the immovable property, the issue concerned part of the Pupăza estate, which had belonged to the steward Costache/Costandin Alexandri, but which he had sold at auction to settle a debt to Manuc Bey8 Subsequently, following several court cases, it was repurchased by the steward’s nephew, the chamberlain Gheorghe Știrbei, who was his heir (clironom) and who had cared for the steward during his illness. However, the town councillor had died, and the steward, having recovered, claimed the estate which, by will, had passed to the monastery.
The document from 1842 confirms that, in accordance with the provisions of the will, Saint Calinic had arranged for the burial of the late steward and had also held memorial services for him, using money he had borrowed, for the monastery, through the intervention of the steward, had received no money whatsoever, contrary to the terms of the will: the monastery, and indeed the care of the late steward’s grave, as well as the intercession for his soul, have been and continue to be carried out unceasingly, with money borrowed, for they did not receive even a single coin from the deceased, as is known to all 7. Furthermore, in order for the steward to leave the Pupăza estate to the monastery—that is, not to alter anything in the headman’s old will—the monastery paid him 1,000 lei annually. Thus, by the deed of 14 May 1842, Saint Calinic, setting out the full situation regarding the Pupăza estate and the problems he was having with Costache Alexandri and Catinca Suslăneasa (who were disregarding the wishes set out in the will of the mayor Gheorghe Știrbei, namely to bequeath his property to the monasteries of Cernica and Pasărea), he asked the Grand Logothete Grigorie Grădișteanu, a close associate of the steward, to intervene and advise him to cease unjustly dragging the monastery into court proceedings, but rather to be content with the money received regularly and with the prayers from which everyone benefited.
On 28 January 1845, Saint Calinic granted the monk Elisei another letter of authorisation to represent the monastery before the trustees of the late Father Antim. The delegated powers consisted, as Saint Calinic wrote, in: ‘to receive and disburse money as required, and, should the need arise, to sign any document or petition addressed to the Honourable Civil Divan, Section 1iu, being authorised by us to do so’9 On 24 September 1842, the abbot wrote to the bursar Elisei, telling him that Colonel Ioan Câmpineanu had not fulfilled his promises to the monastery, having delayed the resolution of the issue concerning the estate at Câmpina; Consequently, Saint Calinic urged Elisei to take the necessary steps to resolve the matter, lest the appointed deadline pass and the monastery’s rights be forfeited 10.
Another type of document presented in this study is a copy of a letter from the abbot of Cernica to Neofit II, Metropolitan of Ungrovlahia (1840–1849), dated 28 July 1846 11, in which the hierarch was informed that Moise the Jew, who had been sent to the monastery for catechism with a view to his reception into Orthodoxy, whilst ill, had been baptised by the confessor Joseph, with the monk Gelasius acting as his godfather 12 and receiving the Christian name George; after the sacrament had been performed, the newly baptised man had regained his health. I have previously noted other instances where people of other faiths—Turks or Jews—wishing to convert to Orthodoxy were directed by the hierarchs, for catechism, particularly to Cernica Monastery, during the ministry of Saint Calinic 13. For there, through Saint Calinic’s zeal and way of life, there was an atmosphere of prayer which helped people to feel the Grace of the Holy Spirit far more convincingly than any spiritual readings, although they also benefited from these, for the monastery’s library was full of books and manuscripts of spiritual benefit, and the monks taught the truth of the faith to those who sought it, for a period of about 40 days. After converting to Orthodoxy, some of the newly baptised no longer wished to leave the monastery, continuing to live at Cernica as brothers or monks. For example, the register of the deceased at Cernica Monastery—which recorded the date of death of the monks in that community and, briefly, some information about their lineage and their duties within that community—noted that: ‘On 27 December 1837, the monk Nichita, of Jewish origin, baptised as 14, died; on 24 April 1842, the monk Nicolae, of Jewish origin, baptised, aged about 55, 15, passed away; and on 22 November 1846, Costandin, a brother, a baptised Jew, aged about 75, 16, passed away; On 15 March 1857, Father Iezechil Monah, a baptised German, aged about 58, passed away [...]; On 30 March 1859, Naum, a monk and a baptised German, aged about 45, passed away [...]; On 22 April 1861, Father Ghimnasie Shimonah, a German by birth, aged about 73, passed away17”.
In the documents from 1841, 1844 and 1845 presented above, we note the use of two types of seals 18 belonging to Cernica Monastery. The first, and best known, which I have often encountered on printed works and manuscripts from the monastery’s old library (often alongside the autograph signature of Saint Calinic, the archimandrite and abbot of Cernica at that time), bears the date 1819, whilst the second bears the date 1842. Both are round, with a diameter of 4 cm (of which the exergue, left and right, measures 0.5 cm each, and the field 3 cm), applied in smoke, and feature at their centre an icon of Saint Nicholas the Hierarch19 (the patron saint of that community), depicted standing, in episcopal vestments (sticharion, sakos, omophorion, bedernitsa), holding the Holy Gospel in his left hand and giving the sign of blessing with his right. The hierarch is not wearing a mitre, but is depicted with a halo around his head. The exergue reads: 1819, the seal of the community of Cernichi Hermitage, and respectively: 1842, the seal of the community of Cernichi Monastery. In the first case, two places of worship are depicted to the left and right of the saint, whilst in the 1842 seal, to the right of the saint—that is, to the viewer’s left—there is a taller church, and on the opposite side, the natural landscape.
We believe that the first seal was made immediately after Saint Calinic became abbot of Cernichi (having been elected to this position on 14 December 1818), whilst the second was probably created to mark the year in which certain construction and repair works at the monastery were completed. For, between 1839 and 1842, the Church of St George ‘20’ on the island, which had been damaged by the 1838 earthquake, was rebuilt; work on the cells and the abbot’s quarters had been completed, and in 1842 the bell tower 21 had also been erected. Indeed, the architecture of the places of worship depicted on the two types of seals differs. Meanwhile, between 1819 and 1842, thanks to the abbot’s care, the community had grown, evolving from a hermitage into a monastery, as was noted on the seal itself. The second model, which was used less frequently, also appears on a printed work from the monastery’s old library, namely a prayer book in Greek, published in Bucharest in 1749 22, a copy which is also distinctive in that it contains, bound together with the Greek text, several leaves from a Romanian edition of the Paraclisul Maicii Domnului. This second type of seal also appears on folio 3 of duplicate 2 of the printed work Alegere din toată psaltirea (Selections from the Entire Psalter), Bucharest, 1769 23.
We now present further documents dating from the time when Saint Calinic was Bishop of Râmnic. In terms of genre, these are letters addressed by the hierarch to the abbots of Cernica Monastery: Nicandru (who held this office from 1 November 1850 to 27 July 1854 24) and Diomid (28 July 1854–17 March 1864), which demonstrate the care and love the bishop continued to show for his monastery, even after his departure for Vâlcea. For example, on 2 March 1854, Saint Calinic wrote to Archimandrite Nicandru that he was sending, via Protosinghel Pafnutie, “the ark that has now been remade, as well as the coffin containing the Holy Relics, to be placed on the Holy Table in the Church of Saint George, where they shall remain for ever”25 Athanasie Mironescu, in The History of Cernica Monastery, lists, amongst the relics of the Church of St George, a silver ark (tabernacle) on the Holy Altar, bearing the following inscription: “This arkwas made by His Holiness the Bishop of Râmnic, D. D. Calinic, and was donated to the holy church of Cernica, known as St George’s and dedicated to the Transfiguration, 1854’26 On 20 October 1855, Saint Calinic wrote to Abbot Diomid stating that he was unable to visit the monastery in person, but that he had raised some funds, which he was sending to the monastery via Archimandrite Augustin: “so that we may not be regarded as strangers to the holy house, as we are its spiritual sons, we have each contributed from our labours, to the extent that we were able, and the sum of money set out in the attached list has been collected; this money has been entrusted to the most reverend Archimandrite Augustin to bring it there, and we trust you will be kind enough to accept it’10
On 17 September 1862, the Saint sent books to the monasteries of Cernica and Pasărea: three volumes of Istoria Bisericească (Church History), four Minee for January 27 and five Liturgies, printed at his own press 28.
A letter sent by Saint Calinic to Diomid in the spring of 1858 reveals a difficult period the hierarch went through, having been unjustly suspected unjustly, of having travelled to Râmnic with a Gospel which he himself had commissioned from the craftsman Teodosie for Cernica. The document reveals that a bishop, whose name is not mentioned, had noticed that a particularly fine Gospel, crafted by Hagi Teodosie, was no longer in the church. Having learnt this information from Diomid, Saint Calinic stated that that particular Gospel had been used in the church on the feast day of Saint Nicholas and that the bishop had indeed seen it during the procession; and subsequently, when he left for Râmnic, he had taken nothing with him. The saint emphasised that he had always taken care to procure for Cernica liturgical books, sacred vessels and other sacred objects, all of which were recorded in the inventory, and that he had not parted with anything. Consequently, Saint Calinic urged the abbot not to pay heed to those unfounded rumours and to ensure that all the monastery’s possessions were well preserved, rather than lost or damaged: ‘We were greatly surprised by the question regarding the Holy Gospel which His Grace asked, for it is not the one 29 that was crafted by Master Theodosius. On the feast day of Saint Nicholas, whilst I was in the church, when you came out with the procession 30, carrying the Holy Gospel, His Grace saw it there in the choir and asked me about it. I told him that it was the one 31 that we had made, and that Hagi Teodosie had crafted it for us [...] As for the items we have made—Gospels, sacred vessels, crosses and other sacred objects, as well as the ‘ecareturi’ 32, which are not found in any other monastery—we have left them all there, with a detailed inventory. We have neither damaged, nor alienated, nor stolen them. When I come, I bring things, but I do not take anything! [...] May the Merciful God and Saint Nicholas the Hierarch help you to keep them in the condition in which I left them33”.
Other letters sent by Saint Calinic to Diomid reflect the care that the hierarch took for Cernica and, more generally, for church life at that time. For example, on 8 March 1859, the hierarch informed Diomid that he had read a news report in the press concerning the burial, in a cemetery belonging to a monastery near Bucharest, of a woman who had merely fainted, rather than dead. The hierarch asked the abbot to investigate the case and provide him with a detailed report on his findings, noting that it might also be a case of slander against the church fathers 34. Indeed, even the editors, with a touch of irony, stated that they were not certain of the veracity of the account and could not vouch for it: ‘We publish the following fact without<> guaranteeing it. If it is not true, the slanderers will be strangled; if it is true, we are certain that from now on at least the competent authorities will take all measures to put an end, here too, to the evils arising from the hasty burial of the dead’35.
On 27 June 1860 36, Saint Calinic gave some advice to Abbot Diomid 37 regarding the use of timber from the forest, the text revealing the pressure that the authorities had begun to exert on the monasteries, which, shortly afterwards, in 1863, through the secularisation of their assets, were to be deprived of the necessary financial support 38. One final document we mention here dates from 17 September 1862, when the Bishop of Râmnic wrote joyfully to the same Diomid that work on the Frăsinei Hermitage had been completed and that it was to be consecrated very soon. The hierarch wished for Father Marchel of Cernica to be appointed there, with the abbots of Cernica acting as his guardians: ‘may you all rejoice that our Cernica continues to bear holy fruit and produce places of salvation’28
The documents are also valuable from a philological point of view, as they contain numerous archaisms, with Greek, Slavonic or Turkish etymologies, which must be correctly understood in order to decipher the exact message of the texts. Thus, we encounter terms of Greek/Modern Greek origin: clironom – heir; a pliroforisi – to inform; anafora – document, report; catalipsie – fainting; diastimă – interval of time; naht – cash; icosar – old Turkish silver coin (irmilik in Turkish). The term ‘pogrebanie’ – ‘burial’ – comes from Church Slavonic; whilst the following words are of Turkish origin: ‘rubia’ – ‘gold coin’; ‘acaret’ – ‘buildings and objects pertaining to a property’; ‘mezat’ – ‘auction’; vechil – trustee, administrator; vechilet – the status, authority or power of a vechil; zapt – plunder, looting39
Finally, it should be noted that there is also a lithograph depicting Cernica Monastery and a portrait of Saint Calinic, preserved in the Nicolae Iorga correspondence collection at the Library of the Romanian Academy in Bucharest 40. This is a print, produced at the Schulhoff Lithographic Works in Bucharest by Major Dimitrie Papazoglu, a close associate of Saint Calinic, with whom he had conversations on spiritual, ecclesiastical matters and art 41, a lover of heritage artefacts, for which he organised a Museum of Antiquities. The lithograph depicts the Holy Monastery of Cernica, a monastic community, showing on the left the Church of St George (which is reached via a bridge, on which a monk can be seen), whilst on the right is the Church of St Nicholas, with the nearby lake. At the top, four medallions depict, from left to right: Calinic of Râmnic (which indicates that the illustration was produced after 1850, when St Calinic was elected bishop), Lady Chiajna, her husband, the Grand Steward Cernica Știrbei, the monastery’s founders, and Archimandrite Gheorghe Cernicanul, who revitalised spiritual life within that monastic community. Above, in an oval medallion with a double border, the figure appears to be Nifon Rusăilă, the Metropolitan of Wallachia at that time, wearing an omophorion and a mitre.
- 1
We would like to thank Mr Mihai Agafiței, Doctor of Theology, for digitising the images.
- 2
The Library of the Romanian Academy in Bucharest (hereinafter BAR), Manuscripts and Rare Books, Historical Documents, MMII/105.
- 3
Melentina Bâzgan, Index of Medieval Settlements in Wallachia up to 1831, Bucharest, Cartea Universitară, 2004, p. 83: Pupăza, a village in Ilfov County, in Frăsinet, Ilfov County.
- 4
BAR, Manuscripts – Rare Books, Historical Documents, MMII/102. The case was not resolved at that time, but only later; the matter is also mentioned in a document dated 16 May 1843, signed by Saint Calinic, which referred to an agreement between Costache Cătuneanu, son of the steward Ioan Cătuneanu, and the servant Catinca Suslăneasca, for the sum of 270 galbeni. The document was published by Archimandrite Dr Policarp Chițulescu, ‘Unpublished Donations and Several New Documents from Saint Calinic of Cernica’, in The Spiritual and Cultural Work of Saint Calinic of Cernica, Bishop of Râmnic, ed. Rev. Dr Ștefan Zară, Râmnicu-Vâlcea, Praxis Publishing House of the Archdiocese of Râmnic, 2015, pp. 22–23.
- 5
Other documents also attest to Saint Calinic’s collaboration with Costache Ștefanopol; for example, in November 1843, the abbot addressed him, referring to him as “our spiritual son, Mr Costache Ștefanopol”, informing him that he would send, via the monk Elisei, the necessary documents to be submitted to the Court, Section I Ilfov, where “the case is under investigation”. We learn from the text that the matter concerned a forest, regarding which two Greeks had lodged a complaint, and the monastery was compelled to defend its rights. BAR, Manuscripts – Rare Books, Historical Documents, MMVI/16.
- 6
In that will, drawn up on 4 January 1838 in the presence of the witness Elisei the monk, Gheorghe Știrbei stated: ‘Being somewhat unwell, but of sound mind, I have considered and resolved to draw up my will, since I have neither parents, nor brothers, nor heirs; of my own free will, under no compulsion from anyone, and moved by the Holy Spirit, I have appointed the Holy Trinity as my heir, who is venerated at the Pasărea hermitage, and Saint Nicholas the Hierarch and Saint George the Martyr, who are venerated at the holy monastery of Cernica, to all my movable and immovable property, after my death—for which I pray, on bended knee and with a humble heart, to Father Archimandrite and Abbot Calinic, to all the fathers of the community, to Mother Abbess Meletina, and to all the nuns at the Pasărea Hermitage, that they may deign to undertake the task of holding memorial services for me for seven years, in accordance with the Church’s order, and that after seven years they may be obliged to commemorate both me and my parents.” Gheorghe Știrbei also bequeathed 500 lei each to his uncle Costache Alexandri and his cousin, Catinca Grădișteanca. See Athanasie Mironescu, The History of Cernica Monastery, Cernica Holy Monastery Press, 1930, p. LXXIII.
- 7a7b
Library of the Holy Synod, Document dated 14 May 1842.
- 8
In a letter dated 22 July 1841, addressed by Saint Calinic to Alexandru Vilara, a high-ranking agha, the problems caused to Cernica Monastery by the steward Costache Alexandri are recounted, as he laid claim to the Pupăza estate, which had been repurchased by the local magistrate Gheorghe Știrbei and bequeathed to the monastery by will. See the document published by Archimandrite Dr Policarp Chițulescu, ‘Unpublished Donations and Several New Documents from Saint Calinic of Cernica’, in The Spiritual and Cultural Work of Saint Calinic of Cernica, Bishop of Râmnic, ed. Rev. Dr Ștefan Zară…, pp. 19–21.
- 9
BAR, Manuscripts – Rare Books, Historical Documents, MMII/108.
- 10a10b
BAR, Manuscripts – Rare Books, Historical Documents, MMVI/15.
- 11
BAR, Manuscripts – Rare Books, Historical Documents, MMV/14.
- 12
The Register of the Deceased of Cernica Monastery, on folio 36, notes: 24 December 1849: Father Ghelasie, a monk, a Romanian, aged about 40, head of the infirmary of the Cernica monastic community, passed away; he was also a cantor at the church. It is possible that Ghelasie, mentioned in the 1846 document as the caretaker of the sick, is the same person who passed away in 1849.
- 13
Oana-Mădălina Popescu, Romanian Hesychast Saints and Philokalia Manuscripts. Documentary Additions, Râmnicu-Vâlcea, Praxis Publishing House of the Archdiocese of Râmnic, 2022, pp. 166–169.
- 14
Cernica Monastery, Register of the Deceased, p. 19. The term ‘jidovi’, which carries no pejorative connotation, is an archaism frequently used at the time to refer to Jews, both as an ethnic group and as adherents of the Mosaic faith.
- 15
Cernica Monastery, Register of the Deceased, p. 26.
- 16
Cernica Monastery, Register of the Deceased, p. 31.
- 17
Cernica Monastery, Register of the Deceased, pp. 43–44, 46.
- 18
We would like to point out that, although the items are referred to as ‘seals’ in the inscription on the exergue, we have preferred to use the term ‘seals’ for practical reasons, to avoid confusion with hanging seals (hanging seals, imprinted in wax and preserved in wax or metal capsules, tied with a cord to documents, rather than those applied in ink or soot, or stamped).
- 19
They are regarded as hagiographic seals and are small in size (with a diameter of between 3–4 1/2 cm). Marcel-Dumitru Ciucă, The Auxiliary Sciences of History, Bucharest, University of Bucharest Press, 2008, p. 84.
- 20
St George’s Church was built between 1831 and 1832 by Saint Calinic, the abbot of the monastery, with the assistance of Bishop Ioanichie Stratonichias. It was severely damaged by the earthquake of 1838 and rebuilt; the repair work was completed in 1842, as attested by the inscription above the doors of the narthex, transcribed by Athanasie Mironescu, The History of Cernica Monastery, Cernica Holy Monastery Press, 1930, p. 225: ‘By the power and with the help of the Most High and Triune God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This holy and divine monastery was built from the ground up in honour and glory of the Transfiguration of the Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ, and in commemoration of Saint Nicholas of Myra and Saint Great Martyr George (Harbour of Salvation for sinners), by the humble bishop Ioanichie Stratonichia and the Most Venerable Archimandrite Kir Calinic, abbot of the Cernica community, at their own expense and through their own labour, for eternal remembrance. This monastery they have dedicated to Almighty God, Who reigns over all, and which is subject to no person, but may remain forever free, a monastery of the Fathers, with a communal way of life. Both islands are governed by a single abbot. Just as the late Archimandrite George, the first abbot of Cernica, had established. As for the monks who shall dwell here on these islands, they shall share all necessities in common; and this holy abode was completed in every respect—both the church and all the surrounding cells—without any flaw, during the reign of the faithful and Christ-loving Lord Alexandru Dimitrie Ghica Vodă, whilst His Eminence, Metropolitan D. D. Neofit, was shepherding the Church, on 6 August 1842.”
- 21
Nicolae Stoicescu, Bibliography of Feudal Settlements and Monuments in Romania, vol. 1, published by the Metropolitan See of Oltenia, 1970, p. 151.
- 22
BAR, Manuscripts – Rare Books, CRV 271, f. 3r: A compendium of prayers from the Psalter / Σύνοψις εὐχῶν ἐκ τοῦ Ψαλτηρίου.
- 23
BAR, Manuscripts – Rare Books, CRV 368, Duplicate 2, f. 3: Ἐκλογὴ τοῦ Ψαλτηρίου παντός.
- 24
Cernica Monastery, Register of the Deceased, p. 41: 26 July 1854, Monday evening, at two o’clock in the night, Archimandrite Nicandru, the abbot of this monastery, having served as abbot from 1 November 1850 until the aforementioned day, when he passed away, of earthly birth, aged 53.
- 25
BAR, Manuscripts – Rare Books, Historical Documents, MMV/24.
- 26
Athanasie Mironescu, The History of Cernica Monastery…, p. 232.
- 27
Minei, January, Râmnicu-Vâlcea, 1862.
- 28a28b
BAR, Manuscripts – Rare Books, Historical Documents, MMVI/54.
- 29
Those in the text.
- 30
Văhodul.
- 31
Those.
- 32
Ecaret/acaret – buildings, outbuildings. Augustin Scriban, Dictionary of the Romanian Language…, p. 62.
- 33
BAR, Manuscripts – Rare Books, Historical Documents, MMVI/37. The letter was written before 11 March 1858, when it arrived in Cernica.
- 34
BAR, Manuscripts – Rare Books, Historical Documents, MMVI/39.
- 35
“Românul”, Year III, No. 27, Thursday, 5/17 March 1859, p. 107. The article states that the doctors who were called had confirmed her death, but the family acted hastily and did not wait the customary period between death and burial, taking the woman to the cemetery of a monastery near Bucharest. A witness reportedly said that he heard noises coming from the grave, but by the time the grave was exhumed, the woman had died, according to press reports, which cast doubt on the authenticity of the events. No names are given, and the woman is referred to as Mrs X.
- 36
BAR, Manuscripts – Rare Books, Historical Documents, MMVI/43.
- 37
Abbot Diomid was removed from office on 17 March 1864 because he opposed the law on the secularisation of monastic property. Athanasie Mironescu, The History of Cernica Monastery…, p. 188.
- 38
For further information on these matters, see the recent work by Archimandrite Policarp Chițulescu, Monastic Life in Wallachia in the Mid-19th Century, Bucharest, Cuvântul Vieții Publishers, 2022.
- 39
For the meaning of these words and their etymology, see the Dictionary of the Romanian Language, Bucharest, published by the Romanian Academy, 2010, all volumes A–Z.
- 40
BAR, Manuscripts – Rare Books, Correspondence of Nicolae Iorga, vol. 312, p. II, p.
- 41
See the correspondence between Saint Calinic and Dimitrie Papazoglu, in Oana-Mădălina Popescu, Romanian Hesychast Saints and Philokalic Manuscripts. Documentary Additions, Râmnicu-Vâlcea, Praxis Publishing House of the Archdiocese of Râmnic, 2022, pp. 202–208, 228–232.