Prislop Monastery

Prislop Monastery is an Orthodox monastic complex located in the village of Silvașu de Sus, Hunedoara County, at an altitude of about 650 m, near Prislop Pass and the Streiu Valley. The complex is one of the oldest monastic centers in Transylvania, with a documented history spanning more than six centuries. The first record of a monastic settlement at Prislop dates from the 14th century, and local tradition links it to Saint Nicodim of Tismana, said to have founded the monastery before 1400. The main church, built of stone on a triconch plan with a tower over the nave, was rebuilt from the foundations by Princess Zamfira, daughter of Moise Vodă of Wallachia, in 1564. In 1762, as part of Austrian general Nicolaus Adolf von Bukow's campaign to suppress Orthodox resistance in Transylvania and impose Greek Catholicism, the monastery was burned on his orders, and its original painting was almost entirely destroyed — only a few scenes from the "Akathist to the Mother of God" survived. The complex was held by Greek Catholics from 1762 to 1948, when it returned to the Romanian Orthodox Church. In the 20th century, the monastery gained further prominence through its association with Father Arsenie Boca, a spiritual guide and icon painter, brought here in November 1948 by Metropolitan Nicolae Bălan of Transylvania to restore the complex, which was in an advanced state of disrepair. Arsenie Boca served at Prislop until 1959, when the communists disbanded the monastic community. He died on 28 November 1989, in Sinaia, and was buried, according to his own wish, on 4 December 1989, in the grounds of Prislop Monastery — his grave draws tens of thousands of pilgrims each year. In 2025, the Romanian Orthodox Church's Synod canonized him under the name Saint Confessor Arsenie of Prislop. Worth visiting for its medieval historical value, its partially preserved original murals, and its documentary significance within Transylvanian Orthodox monasticism.