Cocoș Monastery

Cocoș Monastery lies in Niculițel commune, Tulcea County, about 5 km north-west of Niculițel village and 6 km south of Isaccea, in a clearing surrounded by forest. It is an Orthodox monastery for monks, dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God, and takes its name from the nearby Cocoș Hill ("Rooster Hill"). The monastery was founded in 1833 by the archimandrite Visarion, from the Făgăraș area, who had returned after seven years on Mount Athos, together with his disciples Gherontie and Isaia. They bought the land from a Muslim owner and, helped by the local Romanians and by Transylvanian shepherds who came here with their flocks on transhumance, built a church; the Ottoman authorities approved the monastery in 1841. The old church was demolished in 1910, and the present church was built between 1911 and 1913 to plans by the architect Toma Dobrescu. The monastery was plundered during the 1916-1918 occupation, damaged by the earthquake of 10 November 1940, and a fire on 27 July 1946 destroyed the bell tower and melted the bells; the church and the bell tower were restored in 1954-1955. In 1973 the relics of the martyrs Zoticus, Attalus, Kamasis and Philippus, discovered in the crypt of the early Christian basilica at Niculițel, were brought here. Today the ensemble includes the "Dormition of the Mother of God" church (1911-1913), the chapel, the abbot's house (1905), the arcaded cells (1910-1911 and 1926-1929) and the bell tower (1864-1883), through which visitors enter the precinct. The church interior has painting on a gold background and a carved, gilded iconostasis. The monastery is reached by car from Niculițel or from Isaccea, on a road that climbs through the forest; visitors should dress appropriately for a place of worship. The early Christian basilica at Niculițel, where the relics come from, is about 5 km away. The Cocoș Monastery ensemble is a category A historic monument, LMI code TL-II-a-A-06005 (dated 1911-1929; moved from class B to class A by order no. 2,434 of 20 August 2012), with these components: the church, the chapel, the abbot's house, the cells and the bell tower. Did you know that in 1956 the Greek Catholic metropolitan Alexandru Rusu was held here under house arrest, after his release from Sighet prison? At the end of that year he was taken from the monastery, sentenced to 25 years in prison and taken to Gherla, where he died in 1963. In 2019 he was beatified by Pope Francis in Blaj, together with six other Greek Catholic bishops who died under the communist regime.