1.  History of the place of Maglavit

An old Oltenian place, the commune of Maglavit is situated close to the Danube River, near Calafat, the closest town in the region.

The history of the place has its origins in the oldest times. During the research carried out on these banks of the Danube several objects were found, stating the fact that this place was inhabited with approximately 1500 B.C. The settlement is attested in the documents of the 14th century under the name of Toporna, during the rule of Dan Vodă Basarab, as a small village of socmen. The name of Maglavit appears in the 16th century, under the reign of Mihnea Vodă Turcitul, in a document from April, 15th 1590.  Maglavit  is mentioned again in 1613, as the village is divided among the sons of the boyar Ioan Comisul. In time the land became the property of the church Madona Dudu from Craiova.

2. History of the Maglavit Monastery 

The history of the monastery is connected to the events that impressed the whole country through its main founder Petrache Lupu, the visionary shepherd.

In 1935 God decided to appear under the shape of “an old man”three Fridays in a row in front of a simple shepherd, deaf and mute,  in order to change the bad habits that stroke roots among the people.

He will give Petrache Lupu the mission of being His messenger, telling him to go “to the people, to the priest, to the town hall and to the church, so that if people do not stop, do not respect the religious celebrations, do not leave the bad habits, do not come to church, do not come close, then it will be fire, then the pains will break us”.

The events spread in the media of those times, inside and outside the country, and the wonders done in Maglavit through Petrache Lupu attracted tens of thousands of people from the whole country, as well as letters from whole Europe and beyond.

As the place was attracting crowds like a magnet , it was only natural to be marked through a church. The head stone was put on the day of the „Ascension of the Holy Cross” 1935 by the bishop Vartolomeu, at this ceremony being present more than one hundred thousand faithful people.

The original project showed the holy place as a real masterpiece „measuring 37,80 m long, 18,50 m wide and 32 m high, with 7 steeples”.

The land necessary for the construction at the „holy place” is obtained through Royal Decree from the settlement of the church Madona Dudu in Craiova. The future monastery had been supposed to have the festivals God the Father and The Holy Virgin Mary. For collecting and managing funds a committee is set up, consisting of inhabitants of the commune and personalities, like the Dolj senator Toma Vălăreanu, under the High Patronage of His Highness The King Carol the 2nd   and of the Patriarch Miron Cristea.

The architecture of the church today represents the neo-byzantine style, with a typical aspect for Christian-Orthodox churches, on a base in form of a cross, having two steeples, one on the nave and the other one on the narthex, being planned with 16 windows and having at its base level 4 pendentives, which are supported by 4 arches. The Church is planned with a chapel in the underground. The walls of the church match the byzantine style, being made up from bricks, and the resistance structure from ferro-concrete. The roof is made of copper sheet. 

The painting of the church was made in the fresco technique and was finalised in the springtime of 2017 by the painters Daniel Poteraşu and Cristian Panţu, together with their team of young painters.

The abbots of the monastery until its closing down by the communist regime are known from the documents of the time. Until 1938 the Hieromonk Arsenie Sintion is mentioned as abbot. Starting with 1938 the community of the monastery is made of Hieromonk Fotie Petrescu – abbot, Protosinghel Arsenie Mănăilescu, Hieromonk Ilarion and the monks Calinic Stoian and Emilian Avimov. In 1940 the documents of the monastery were signed by the abbot Gheorghe Moisescu, and next year by the abbot Arhim. N. Dănciulescu. From this moment until the chasing of the monks from the monastery it is not known if the abbot was changed again or not.

3. The present profile of the monastery

After the fall of the communist regime the place resurrected under the care of the Metropolitan Bishop of Oltenia from that time, Nestor Vornicescu, being re-established as a monastery for monks. The settlement was under the rule of Hieromonk Policarp Sidor until 1998. The next abbot was Protos. Vladimir Dănângă. During this time the building of the church on the old foundations was finalised, having as festivals The Spring of Healing and The Nativity of the Mother of God.

Starting with 2010, under the guidance of the Metropolitan Bishop of Oltenia Irineu Popa, the place became a monastery for nuns, having the nun Maria Mărgineanu as abbess. At present a small monastic community exerts itself for the daily religious services and the maintenance works of the monastery.

Bibliography

1. Dr. CS Nicolăescu Plopşor „Maglavit, acts and documents”, Ed. Ramuri, Craiova 1935

2. Prof. Dumitru Gelu „Maglavit 1935 – God talks to the people through Petrache Lupu”, Ed. MJM, Craiova 2017

3. Pr. Nicolae Bobin „The miracles from Maglavit of the shepherd Petrache Lupu from the commune of Maglavit - Dolj” 1935

4. Diacon Alexandru Vanciu „The Monograph of the Maglavit Monastery”, Craiova 2014

Monastery of Maglavit, Petrache Lupu St., No 33, com. Maglavit, jud. Dolj (12 km to Calafat, 70 km to Craiova, 85 km to Drobeta Turnu-Severin) www.manastireamaglavit.ro