Staring with the 16th century, Romanian clergymen, voivodes and pilgrims made generous donations for the Holy Lands. More than 30 monasteries in the Romanian territories were dedicated to the Patriarchy of Jerusalem. The idea of Romanian religious settlements in the Holy Land started once with the making of the Romanian Cloister on the Mount of Tabor (185901862), erected due to Archimandrite Irinah Rosetti and his appretince Nectarie Banu. The archimandrite's desire and struggle passed on to his successors as a true will. In the 19th century the Romanian Orthodox Church considered the idea of building religious settlements for the Christians coming from Romanian. In 1914, a new organization committee, headed by Queen Elizabeth of Romania, sent the letter written by Bishop Konon to Patriarch Damianos of Jerusalem, who consented that the Romanian Settlement be built. But the building was never completed because of the war. In 1927, Patriarch Miron Cristea visited the Holy Lands in Palestine and ordered two churches be erected, one in Jerusalem and another one by the Jordan River. Architects Ioan Berechet and Andony Baramki reached Jerusalem in 1933 to draw the plans. In March 28, 1935, they laid the foundations of the Settlement in Jerusalem and the mission was accomplished in 1938, when Patriarch Miron was head of the Romanian Orthodox Church and Patriarch Timotei was the Patriarch of Jerusalem. In the same year the Romanian Orthodox Church blessed the departure of 150 Romanian pilgrims to attend the Resurrection mass in Jerusalem. In 1939-1945 the operation was at a standstill because of WW II. The Romanian Settlement in Jerusalem plays the patriarchal representation of the Romanian Orthodox Church to the Holy Country, the only settlement of the kind in the world.

Victor RONCEA, Tesu SOLOMOVICI