Iași, Romania, April 30, 2026
Copou Monastery in Iași, Romania, celebrated 25 years since its revival this week with a special Liturgy marking both the anniversary and the monastery’s second feast day, the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women.
The holy habitation was originally founded in the 17th century but was dissolved in 1863 following the Law on the Secularization of Church Property. It remained a parish church for over a century before being reopened as a monastic settlement in 2001, reports Doxologia.ro.
On April 29, 2001, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church, then Metropolitan of Moldavia and Bukovina, celebrated the Divine Liturgy that marked the monastery’s revival. Three nuns initially came from Galata Monastery. The community has since grown to 20 members under the leadership of Abbess Maria-Magdalena Vrânceanu. The nuns maintain a prayer rule and work in embroidery, tailoring, and church painting workshops.
This year’s anniversary celebration featured a Liturgy celebrated by His Grace Bishop Nichifor of Botoșani, vicar of the Archdiocese of Iași, together with abbots and professors from the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Iași. The church was packed with worshippers from the city.
In his sermon, Bp. Nichifor explained the significance of honoring the Myrrh-bearing Women: “The Myrrh-bearing Women were the first who hoped in the power of God and in the resurrection, going to the tomb with this seed of hope in their soul,” he said. “They went to the tomb carrying those things of love, those of gratitude, those of courage, because the myrrh symbolizes this perseverance.”
According to tradition, the monastery’s site has royal origins. During a Tatar invasion, Lady Tudosca (Theodosia), wife of Prince Vasile Lupu, hid in a hollow tree on the estate. When the prince found her safe, he decided to build a monastery in gratitude. In 1638, Vasile Lupu founded a stone church on the site, which was consecrated by Patriarch Cyril Lukaris of Constantinople on April 30 of that year.
Last May, the Romanian Church also celebrated the 35th anniversary of the resumption of monastic life at Hadâmbu Monastery in Iași County.
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