When one says Engraved Rock, one thinks of a stone with an inscription. In fact, the monastery named Piatra Scrisă has an icon engraved in stone. One cannot travel by car from Caransebes to Armenis and miss a small opening in the stone, where people made a church. The place hosting the icon is right near the road. From the intense traffic of a national road, one miraculously walks into the peacefulness of a small monastery located just a few meters from the road’s hassle.
Legend says that when the railroad was built there a stone tunnel was made and the Holy Trinity icon was discovered. Believers living in that area opposed that the tunnel be continued, being convinced of the spiritual value of the icon. Given that situation, the engineer in charge of the works had to deviate the tunnel exit to Armenis, 4-5 m away from the icon.
The question everybody asks is connected to the person that painted the Holy Trinity on the cave walls. Folk tales have several versions; the most surprising is that the icon was not manmade and that it brings blessings on the people living in that area. Others say a Christian ruler followed by Ottomans fell from the hill in Timis River with his horse. Grateful for having survived, he ordered that the Holy Trinity icon be painted on that stone.
The place housing the Holy Trinity painting is a small chapel where people can come and pray. After 1990, above the place where the icon stone is located, a bigger monastery was built on the hill nearby. In All Saints’ Sunday, the entire community gathers there for attending the church sermons.
Reference and photograph:
Priest Cristan-Matei Vulpeș, Armeniș, istorie și spiritualitate (Armenis, history and spirituality), Lugoj, Nagard Publishing House, 2012, p.124;
”Living Heritage-An Unlimited Resource for Tourism Development” Archives; http://www.primariadudestiinoi.ro/evenimente/dudestiul-in-strai-de-sarbatoare-ruga-de-sfantul-dumitru-356.html
E.P.
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