| GPS | (47.609977722168; 26.041582107544) |
| district | Suceava |
| region | Ilişeşti |
| locality | Ilişeşti |
| address | |
| category | Religious attractions |
| year | 1428 |
| ethnic | Romanians |
The first evidence of the existence of a church at Ilișești is that from July11, 1428, by which the prince Alexander the Good (1400-1432) gave to Bistrița Monastery a number of 50 churches from the ”province of Suceava”, which were built by the community or by its princes. Among the 50 churches, there is ”the church of Ilișești”. After setting up the Episcopacy of Rădăuți, Stephen the Great (1457-1504) attributed, by a document issued on March 15, 1490, a number of 50 churches with priests, of which 44 churches in the province of Suceava and 6 from the province of Chernivtsi, among which the ”church of Iliasinți (Ilișești) with the priest”. The church was destroyed every time the village was burned or devastated by the Polish, Turks, Tatars or Cossacks. Some written evidence says that the old church of the village was in Săliște, where just few old semi-burnt oak beams were recovered in the XIXth century and which were afterwards used for the construction of two roadside crosses, which today are missing. In the year 1709, at Ilișești started the construction of a monastery. From the group of monasteries, only the church and the tower bell are still being kept today. The church has an inscription with the following text written in Romanian, with Cyrillic characters: ”With God’s will and the help of His Son and with the completion of the Holy Spirit, this Holy and Life Giving Monastery was built , by he, Ionașco Isăcescul biv vel medelnicer with his wife Alicsandra va dni lo Niculai Alexandru Voivode, year 7222 June 20”. The founder was Ionașcu Isăcescu who bought Bălăceana estate for 60 lei, estate, which he donated to the monastery. The church was rebuilt around 1778 by the archimandrite Meletie. Ilișești Monastery was destroyed by the Austrians in 1783, and the church of the monastery became parish church. The icons on the iconostasis were painted in 1867 by the famous painter Epaminonda Bucevschi, newly graduate of Theology. In the yard of the church there is a gate tower, having a bell tower at the first floor. In the year 1924, the church was painted once again. In the year 1986, the old Lutheran church of the village became part of Ilișești Parish heritage. This church was rehabilitated and then canonised in 1990 with the patron al feast day on ”The Assumption day”. After 1990, the supporting structure of the church was strongly affected by the infrastructure works for the road which links Suceava and Gura Humorului, and the place of worship started to ruin. Hence, the church was closed due to the threat of wall collapse, and the orthodox priest from that locality started to keep the sermons in the old evangelic church (built in 1901 by the German community of Ilișești). The church is a Moldavian architectonic monument, a rarity among the churches of the Moldavian area, by adapting the Muntenian type of building, with two towers on the narthex, to the characteristic traditional Moldavian architectural style. The church was made of massive stone and burned brick at the upper side or where additions were made. The church of the old monastery of Ilișești has a shape of a triconch and three towers: one tower above the nave and two towers above the narthex. The two towers situated above the narthex are very close to each other and share the same roof. This is the only place of worship in Romania bearing the zodiac signs carved on the tower.
