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Bruce Ross

Caldarusani Monastery

This Eastern Orthodox monastery somewhere outside of Bucharest is noted for its painting. It sits by itself in the outskirts of a small village and down a long winding dirt road. An utter sense of peacefulness surrounds the place. In one of its gardens a cat is fast asleep in the autumn leaves. Inside the church a very young couple in blue jeans, the girl with a kerchief over her head, are writing on one of the provided small squares of white paper their wishes or quandaries about their life together now and into the future, then will pass it on to the resident monk on duty before he consults with them. The relative remoteness of the place did not explain this deepest stillness pervading the monastery.

martyrs icon
against the devil or Romans
the same raised arms