Bezdin Monastery

Bezdin Monastery (Mănăstirea Bezdin; Манастир Бездин / Manastir Bezdin) is a monastery of the Serbian community, located near the village of Secusigiu in Arad County, https://www.google.ca/books/edition/The_Serbs/2Wc-DWRzoeIC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Bezdin+Monastery&pg=PA303&printsec=frontcoveron the right bank of the Mureș River. Bezdin Monastery is one of the few remaining List of Serbian Orthodox monasteries in Romania, located 36 kilometers west of Arad. The monastery was constructed in 1539 and is dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, celebrated on August 28 according to the Old Style and New Style dates.
==History==
In the beginning, Bezdin Monastery was hidden in the dense and towering forest that surrounds it, today the forest retreats towards Mures, occupying only the space between the defensive dam behind the monastery and the bank of Mures. Architecturally it proved to be an excellent locationhttp://www.jauh.ro/index.php/JAUH/article/view/51
The name of the monastery comes from the Bezdin stream which forms a series of swamps with a lot of reeds in its western part, creating at the same time a very picturesque landscape.
The construction of the Holy Bezdin Monastery began in 1539 with the zeal of Jakšić noble family from Nadlac who later lived there. However, there is an older mention still concerning Bezdin Monastery in the inscription on Psalter by Božidar Vuković printed in Venice in 1520 https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Serbian_Literary_Magazine/y_QXAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22Bezdin+Monastery%22+-wikipedia&dq=%22Bezdin+Monastery%22+-wikipedia&printsec=frontcoverhttps://www.google.ca/books/edition/Romanian_Scientific_Abstracts/Ev0bAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Bezdin+Monatery&dq=Bezdin+Monatery&printsec=frontcover. It happened during the time of Archimandrite Ioasaf Milutinovici, and the construction was done with the help of Serbian Orthodox faithful and their co-religionists the Orthodox Vlahs. This information is recorded on a Psalter tab (now in Vršac) by Leontie Bogojevici, a hieromonk.
The monastery was set on fire by the Turks during the Ottoman occupation of Banat but was not abandoned by the monks, who built a wooden church in which they served until the construction of the current one. The brick church was built after 1690, in Byzantine style in the shape of a club with three apses.
The existence of the Bezdin monastery meant an important moment in the history of the Serbian community in this province of the Austrian Empire, around the holy place keeping alive the faith and the cohesion of brotherhood of this ethnic group.
After 1740 follows a period of development of the monastery, during the abbot Teodosie Veselinovici who comes here from the Vincia Monastery in Serbia together with the community, from where they were persecuted by the Turks.
Among the many valuable objects of worship, they also brought the miracle-working Icon https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Balcanica/YCUXAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Bezdin+monastery&dq=Bezdin+monastery&printsec=frontcoverof the Mother of God from Mount Athos.
In 1753, the well-known painter from Arad, Stefan Tenecki, painted the iconostasis of the church. In 1755 the carpentry was executed and the holy marble table was donated. In 1771 the mansion of the monastery already had important dimensions, having more than 52 rooms, chapel, hall, refectory. An inventory of the library was taken in 1783 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zoran-Marcov/publication/330015479_Vojska_Kralevine_Srbije_u_seoskim_opstinama_Tamis-Torontalske_zupanije_rumunskog_dela_Banata_1918-1919_Podaci_iz_muzejsko-istorijskog_fonda_Nikolaje_Ilijesiu/links/5c2a221c458515a4c7037e84/Vojska-Kralevine-Srbije-u-seoskim-opstinama-Tamis-Torontalske-zupanije-rumunskog-dela-Banata-1918-1919-Podaci-iz-muzejsko-istorijskog-fonda-Nikolaje-Ilijesiu.pdfand at that time, 16 monks lived there.
In 1802 the academic painter Jakov Orfelin painted a completely new iconostasis,http://www.ejst.tuiasi.ro/Files/38/13_Petrovici.pdfand in 1833 important repair works were carried out. Between 1912-1922 the great Serbian painter Stevan Aleksić worked there, who executed great pictorial compositions found today at the Serbian Orthodox Church|Serbian Orthodox Vicariate in Timisoarahttp://www.ejst.tuiasi.ro/Files/38/13_Petrovici.pdffor better preservation. Also at the Vicariate of Timisoara, there is part of the painting of the iconostasis (removable parts), as well as most of the rich monastery library. Furthermore, a school was established at Bezdin in 1921.https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Monasticism_in_Eastern_Europe_and_the_Fo/rtZzCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Bezdin+monastery&pg=PA202&printsec=frontcover
Once a true treasure of Orthodoxy, today this towering monastery is in a situation of trembling sadness, almost empty - being lived by a single nun at the age of old, struggling with all possible shortcomings, especially financial ones, but with his terrible loneliness.
==Direction==
Bezdin Monastery can be reached by walking on the Arad-Periam road, on a road that branches to the right at the entrance to the village of Munnar, a road that leads to the forest on the banks of the Mures River. 5 kilometers away from the village of Munar is the Holy Monastery Bezdin.