Saint patron day: Saint Paraschiva (October 14th)
Year of foundation: 1994
Mother Superior: Dimitria Joseph
Cenobitic life: monastery of nuns (56)
Accommodation: 8 people
The Nera Monastery, located at 20 km from Oraviţa, is the place where the intense monastic life intertwines with the clear hobbies in the workshops of painting, lithography, psalmody, wood sculpture and apiculture in the monastery’s apiary. The natural healing products made by nuns are becoming more and more popular.
After the second day of pilgrimage, you can stay overnight at Căuniţa Guesthouse, on the Danube.
On the morning of the third day, you will resume your journey on the national road DN 57 to New Moldova. The serpentines ascend to the White Stone in the Locva Mountains, and then descend to Naidas and from there to Oraviţa.
The third day of pilgrimage:
The Nera Monastery – The Călugăra Monastery – The Vasiova Monastery – The Brebu Monastery
The Nera Monastery is one of the Banat monasteries that follow the “right faith” of the ancient hermits around Oraviţa, which existed between the 11th and 14th centuries: Ilidia and Vărădia. Situated in the middle of nature, on the left bank of the Nera River, near the village of Slatina Nera, the Nera Monastery is the largest in Banat, with nearly 60 nuns living according to the order of full union and closeness to God: much labour, continuous prayer and little food.
The founding stone of the monastery was placed on the 14th October of 1994 by Bishop Emmanuel Birdaş, having as its founder Dr Chirilă Ioan, a native from Slatina Nera, and the Association Cristiana of Bucharest.
The church of the monastery dedicated to “Saint Paraschiva” is built in Moldavian style, “braided” from wood by craftsmen from Piatra Neamț.
The Nera Monastery is more and more known not only for its intense monastic life, but also for the “natural remedies” made by nuns through labour and prayer for treatment, but also for consumption.
Collected from the spontaneous flora of Nera – Beușnița National Park, the plants are all ecologically grown far from any source of pollution. Each flower is picked and checked separately with much care and patience by the nuns. Then, in the cellars of the monastery, using he traditional religious recipes, truly healing products are prepared, from the cranberry jam and apple vinegar with honey, to comfrey ointment and plantain syrup. Having Father Teofan as their confessor, the nuns with their souls full of joy, with serene faces and always with the smile on their lips are like some transparent “angels” passing through the air around the monastery and emanating a scent of wild flowers and myrrh. In a short while, next to the monastery, there will be an “oncology clinic” with “Holly doctors without silver coins” and treatments with natural products from the “green pharmacy” of the monastery, for healing both the body and the soul of people.