Vision

The CommunityOur community, The Monastic Community of the Most Holy Trinity lives after the rich tradition of the Byzantine rite and lies at Giroc, a village in the Timiş District, in a beautiful forest scenery. At this moment the community consists of two hieromonks – father Atanasie, from Italy (our hegumen) and father Isaac from the USA – and two monks, Ieremia and Anastasie, both Romanians (recently tonsured on the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity – 20th of June 2016).

father Atanasie and Isaac with Bishop Alexandru_x950The brothers of this community follow the Byzantine tradition and spirituality without being prisoners of the past and they try to embody the living tradition of the Fathers in a prophetic spirit, following the signs of the times. After almost 13 years of earnest judgment, much spiritual guidance, reorientations and study, our community was officially recognized on July 20, 2005 by the local bishop, His Grace Alexandru Mesian, who then, on December 6 2012 raised it to the rank of a sui iuris monastery of eparchial right.

Our Community feels the call to follow the monastic votes – poverty, chastity, obedience – in a radical manner; it is a calling born in the participation, through Baptism to the Paschal mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Christ. Being bearers of the cross (stavrophoroi) opens us to being bearers of the Spirit (pneumatophoroi), thus becoming confessors/witnesses of the merciful and redeeming presence of God in the world.

The style of monastic life as well as the study of the very sources of the Eastern tradition (especially those from the period of the Holy Fathers) allow this Community to become a bridge for the reciprocal recognition of the spiritual inheritance, an aspect which was underlined by the words of the Nicene Creed of Constantinople “one holy, catholic and apostolic Church.”

A moment of Koinonia with Latin Rite Nuns from Lugoj_x950The aim of the Community is to promote the desire of Pope John Paul II regarding the necessity for the Church to breathe with its both lungs, the Eastern and the Western ones. The monks of this Community are in a privileged position because their charisma places them in a point of intersection where the spiritual traditions previously mentioned can meet each other for an open and sincere dialogue. Our Orthodox brothers can come into contact with a monastic lifestyle which is very similar to theirs and, at the same time they can deepen a theology that has matured itself both in the Eastern and Western workshops. As for the Roman Catholics, they can go deeper into the Byzantine spirituality, in this way getting a much better vision on Catholicism in the manner of the early Christianity (unity in diversity, a vision proposed by the Second Vatican Council). In this way, the Roman Catholics would learn to appreciate the spiritual richness of the Eastern tradition.

monastic community with Metr Fulop of Hungary on Feast_x950Recently, our Monastery has also attracted brothers and sisters belonging to Christian communities of different confessions. Knowing all the deepest of the Holy Scriptures and of the Fathers of the Church, especially of the Fathers of the Desert, offers them the opportunity to rediscover the depth of the Christian spirituality of the Early undivided Church. These meetings are helping us to understand and better know each other, to go beyond our fears and prejudices, the false conceptions and the illusions, thus being able to see in the other one a beloved brother and sister in Christ, opening our hearts for a better understanding of the wound of division and to desire to work for the full Christian unity as envisioned by Jesus Christ himself when he asked the Father at the Last Supper: “that all may be one, even as you, Father are in me and I in you.”(Jn 17, 21).