The Monachism in Dobrogea from the 19th century to 1918

Abstract

In Dobrogea, the development of spiritual life soared at the beginning of the 19th century, after having undergone for centuries the Ottoman oppression. As the Ottoman authorities became more and more tolerant in their relations with the needs of their Christian subjects, as a last attempt at keeping the empire united, several churches were built, which are to become spiritual centers of the utmost importance. After Dobrogea was given back to Romanian in 1878, the monasteries and churches on its territory were annexed to the Romanian Orthodox Church and thus begun to soar. The hereby study with monographic accents aims at presenting the historical context of the Dobrogea monachism’s development from the beginning of the 19th century to 1918, identifying and describing the  evolution of religious edifices, among which the most notable are the Cocoş, Saon and Celic Dere monasteries.