Sfânta Ana Hermitage

The Sfânta Ana (St Anne) Hermitage stands at Cota 1400, above the town of Sinaia, Prahova County, in the Bucegi Mountains, on the old road linking the resort with Cota 1400. It was founded by the hieromonk Ioanichie Șoncuteanu, a former monk of Sinaia Monastery, who began building it in the late twentieth century. According to him, believers from the Sinaia area had already asked the Archdiocese of Bucharest in 1946 to found a hermitage here, without success at the time. Until 2005-2006 the hermitage had a very small church with its altar facing south. With the help of donations, the church was enlarged, the altar was turned to face east and the precinct was extended. The interior painting was completed in 2008, and the church was consecrated on 6 August 2008, the feast of the Transfiguration, in the presence of Patriarch Daniel. Father Ioanichie, the hermitage's abbot and founder, died in February 2012. The hermitage has three patron feasts: St Justin Martyr and Philosopher (1 June), the Holy Ancestors Joachim and Anne (9 September) and St Ioannicius the Great (4 November). In 2024 the monastic settlement was undergoing renovation and consolidation.