In the northern part of Romania, near the city of Suceava, there is a holy sanctuary, carved from stone more than 500 years ago. Situated only one mile away from another historic landmark (Putna Monastery), this place of solitude and prayer was built by a single man, a Romanian monk that used nothing but a chisel in his quest of being as close to God as possible.
Daniil Sihastrul (Romanian for “Daniel the Hesychast”), was born at the beginning of the fifteenth century, in a peasant family, in a village near the town of Radauti. At the age of 16 he became a monk at the Saint Nicholas Monastery where he later was ordained a priest and became a famous confessor. After a while, he went to the St. Lawrence monastery near the village of Upper Vicovu.
As time went by, word got out of him being a great spiritual father, and became assaulted by crowds of people seeking for spiritual guidance and help on various issues. Wanting to pray silently, he retired as a recluse (hermit) in a hidden and inaccessible area, towards the mountains, near the river of Vitau.
According to tradition, he dug a chapel in a high cliff, and below it, another place, which served him both as a resting place and as a hermit cell. The legend tells that Daniil lived in these places more than 20 years, in unremitting silence and prayer. Long venerated locally, the church canonized him in 1992; his feast day is on the 18th of December.
Nowadays, the place has been included on the list of historical monuments in the county of Suceava.
