MONASTERY OF VARZAREȘTI

The monastery of Varzareşti is the oldest in Bessarabia and appears in the royal charter of Alexander the Good on April 25, 1420. The founder is a squire named Stan Varzari. Between 1538 and 1770, Mongols and Tatars turned it into an area of theft and looting and regularly took turns to control it. Many books and manuscripts were burned or looted. The monastery was rebuilt in 1796. There was a wooden church dedicated to St. Dimitru. From 1863 to 1868, a stone church was built on the foundations of the previous one, with a cruciform plan, 27 m long and 11 m wide. In 1904 a school for girls opened on the site and in 1918 more than 135 people were present in the monastery. In 1926, the site has two churches (that of Saint Dimitru and that of the Virgin Mary), a farm, weaving workshops. In the spring of 1959, representatives of the authorities, led by Fiodor Scofari (the mayor of the village) looted all religious items, icons, books, objects of worship, archives. The sisters resisted and tried to defend their property. The church of Saint-Dimitru was transformed into a warehouse and then into a house of culture. In 1990 repairs began. You can admire the icon of Our Lady from Varzareşti, relics of saints, and also a piece of wood of the Holy Cross, making it an important place of pilgrimage. The places, now peaceful and flowery, are marked by a strong and symbolic history. There are about 40 sisters on the site.