Crișan-Vaca Monastery — Attraction in Ribița

The icon of Holy Mother with... three hands.

The Crișan Monastery is a new monastery, rebuilt in year 1992 on the site of the former old monastery called Vaca (Vaca means "Cow" in romanian language.

The monastery is located between 2 hills and there are two roads from the main road to the monastery: the first is closed to traffic, it is only for pilgrims and ends in 100 stairs before the monastery and the second, about 100 meters further down from the first, it is newly paved and has some very steep and quite dangerous sections.

The monastery parking lot is large, and can accommodate about 100 cars and a few coaches. The monastery complex consists of 4 buildings: the first building, next to the parking lot, I assume is intended for monks - so it is a monastery of monks as you find out just now - , the second building contains the dining room where they can feed about 80 mouths at once and has rooms, on the first floor, probably also for pilgrims; the third building is the church of the monastery and the fourth building is the bell tower, the belfry, at the base of which is the shop with holy things for sale and the place to put diptyches and light candles.

We got there on an autumn Sunday morning, quite chilly, but the monastery courtyard was full of parishioners listening to the service. At first, I thought they were staying outside intentionally and I went in, I mean we wanted to enter the church. Although, from the outside, the church seems quite big, inside it cannot "crowde" more than 200 souls, if they stick to each other, like fish in a can.

It was the same when we tried to enter: the people were sitting in the small church, soul to soul, not body to body, and when we opened the door to enter, we were greeted by several angry faces that we were going to crowd them in even more. But we were lucky that 3 "believers" came out and so we managed to get 5 "sinners" in.

The church is very nicely painted, in typical Orthodox style, using dark colors which makes it not too bright. There is a box in the church with 40 relics, arranged in groups of 4 on a small disc, the size of a coat button, from old style, visible to senior parishioners only with the help of glasses. But the main thing is to worship and believe, it doesn't matter how big or small the relics are, in my opinion.

The icon with the Holy Mother is on the right side in the church, and the third hand in the icon is painted at the bottom. This is the hand of a believer, saint John Damascene, who was punished for his faith by cutting off his hand and the legend says that the Holy Mother put her hand on him back. That's the reason why that 3-rd hand appears in the painting.

In the front of the church is a lake with many water lilies. The recommendation is not to jump into the lake, even if you see that the water is turbid, because you will not escape alive from diseases or sins, but maybe fate will be against you and the end will be unhappy gor you. It is by no means a wonderful or healing lake, although it is quite beautiful, full of water lilies and surrounded by flowers.

The souvenir shop is quite big and the holy ones displayed are much less than the available space but you can find almost everything you want, from books to bracelets and myrrh. Next to the gift shop is where the candles are lit, mislabeled DEADS instead of SLEEPINGS as if judgment has already been done.

Behind the church there are some of the ruins of the old monastery and the toilets wich are - very clean. Also there is the alley with the many stairs that lead to the main entrance of the monastery, to the main road. The landscape is beautiful and if it is sunny, the church of the monastery may resemble a bride, painted in bright white bathed by the sun's rays.

Almost every Sunday pilgrims come by coach or coaches and that is why, that days it is very crowded. If you want to visit the monastery in peace, to meditate on the holy things in the silence of the place, which is very beautiful, avoid visiting the monastery on Sunday mornings or on holidays.

Have...

Mănăstirea Crișan datează din jurul anului 1450, fiind singura mănăstire din Țara Zarandului cu atestare documentară. A fost numită de-a lungul timpului „Vaca”, după numele satului din apropiere în care s-a născut căpitanul Gheorghe Crișan, unul dintre cei trei eroi ai răscoalei țărănești din anul 1784, condusă de Horea, Cloșca și Crișan. Moții fiind români foarte patrioți și mari luptători pentru drepturi sociale și naționale, au pictat și în biserica de aici pe cei trei conducători ai Răscoalei de la 1784, Horea, Cloșca și Crișan, dar și pe Crăișorul Munților, Avram Iancu. Biserica, ridicată din piatră și cărămidă, trecând de-a lungul vremii prin mai multe faze de distrugere, la ultima menționare a mănăstirii, din anul 1772, e amintită doar ca ruina. Ieromonahul Visarion Neag, născut pe aceste meleaguri, a luat inițiativa reînființării mănăstirii, reluând după o întrerupere de peste două secole, viața monahală a...

Nu sunt poate cel mai mare credincios insa experienta mea ca și om fata de acest loc mie personal mia lăsat de dorit.

Pe scurt: Am ajuns în același timp cu un grup care venise cu autocarul acolo și sa nimerit sa mergem în același timp (într-o duminica)... ce nu mia plăcut a fost interacțiunea cu oameni... adică cei 2 preoți sau ce or fi fost ei în loc sa ne spună și noua câteva cuvinte despre loc, mănăstire și asa mai departe sau dus direct în căsuța cu suveniruri și pomelnice unde ne așteptau ca pe niște vaci care merg în ciurda. Ma așteptăm la altceva din partea lor... totuși ca și loc, peisaj, îngrijire arata foarte bine. Recomand ca și peisaj cât despre interacțiunea cu oameni... am impresia ca am fost doar niște donatori.

Repet... am fost în același timp cu un grup care a coborât dintr-un autocar nu am fost doar 5-10 persoane.

Meritam și noi putina atenție nu sa fim doar plătitori de pomelnic...