Abstract
The article briefly presents the life at Putna Monastery during Hieromonk Pimen Zainea’s leadership, 1958–1961, and his activity at Putna in 1957–1961 and 1965–1974, mainly related to his obedience as a guide.
The circumstances of his repeated arrivals at and departures from Putna are presented, as well as the attempts to initiate cultural activities. The article also presents the effects of Decree 410/1959, which forced most of the monks to leave their monasteries and made Putna Monastery go through one of the most difficult times in its history, with only 5 monks left.
In the 1970s, the talks with foreign delegations – including with François Mitterrand, the future president of France, who visited Putna in 1972 – had to be reported to state institutions, to make sure the reputation of the Communist regime was not affected by a sincere talk on Communism during the visits at the monastery.
Keywords
Archbishop Pimen Zainea, Communism in Romania, Decree 410/1959, Orthodox monasticism, Putna Monastery
