| GPS | (47.637046813965; 26.217029571533) |
| district | Suceava |
| region | Şcheia |
| locality | Sf |
| address | |
| category | Religious attractions |
| year | 1488 |
| ethnic | Romanians |
This is a church founded in the year 1488 by the prince Stephen the Greay and is situated 1,5km north-west from Suceava municipality. This church worked has a monastery for hermits until April 29, 1785 when it loses its status because of the Austrians, and the church of the monastery became a parish church. The church contains 3 objectives: the church, the bell tower and the enclosure wall- dating back the XV-XVIIIth centuries. On the place of the today's church, as proven by the archaeological findings, there was a wooden building on a stone foundation which was destroyed, possibly as a result of a fire. The church was repaired and painted in the XVIIth century by the metropolitan Varlaam Moțoc. Some of the hermits living here copied liturgical manuscripts, a copy of the “The Divan or the Wise Man's Quarrel with the World” of Dimitrie Cantemir from 1698, bought by the monastery and where different readers recorded the contemporary events. Among the priors of the monastery can be mentioned Isaia Nacu (around 1702) and Gheorghe Abăza (1715-1721). The foundation of Stepen the Great from Sfântu Ilie worked as monastery for hermits until April 29, 1785 when it loses its status because of the Austrians, and the church of the monastery became a parish church. The Austrian authorities established in 1786, in place of the theological academy of Putna, which loses its status shortly after the occupation of the northern side of Moldavia, a ”clerical school” at „Sf. Ilie” Monastery which was managed by the Serbian deacon Daniil Vlahovici. After he was appointed by the authorities in 1789 as bishop of Bukovina (1789-1822), it seems that the clerical school of ”Sf Ilie” was left in ruins, the cells being demolished, only the church, the bell tower and the enclosure wall still remaining. Over time, different interventions have been performed over the church, and traces of painting in fresco still can be seen only on the southern façade, dating back from the XVIIth century.”The Directory of the metropolitan church of Bukovina for the year 1937” mentions that ”Sf ilie” Curch had a parish house made of brick, a plot of land of 12 ha belonging to the parish, a plot of land of 3 ha belonging to the cantor and a plot of land of the sexton of 1 ha. The parish comprised 557 families with 2150 believers. Sf Ilie church had a triconch shape, wth a tower above the nave, similar with the churches of Pătrăuţi and Voroneţ. The building is small (18m in lenght), at the outside the walls being supported by five counterforts of stone, two for each wall, framing the side apses and a counterfort stand at the sanctuary apse. The apses are decorated with tall alcoves – five on the side apses and seven on the sanctuary apse. On the southern apse, above the alcoves, there are two rows of recesses, the ones from the bottom being bigger and being supported by the key of the big alcoves arches. The north and south walls were covered with cement plaster, on the northern wall still being two recesses under the cornice, and on the wall in the west, the entire superior register. The stands of the alcoves and the entire surface of the recesses on the apses are covered with red bricks; in the upper part of the alcoves there is a polychromous enamelled brick belt of 28x13x5,5 cm. Another belt of enamelled bricks is also in the upper part of the small recesses. At the inside, the church has a narthex, a nave and a sanctuary. The church has small windows with stone rectangular frames, with crossed baguettes. The inside painting of the church, dating back from the times of Stephen the Great, was not kept. In the XVIIth century, it was repainted, color by color, in compliance with the iconographic order. The narthex has paintings from the Saints synaxarium, as well as scenes from the life of St. Prooroclie. It is possible that the external painting to have been made during the time of Petru Rareş (1527-1538, 1541-1545), but the remaining painting dates from the XVIIth century, during the time of Varlaam Moţoc (1632-1653), whose face is also painted. The outside walls have been plasterd, the recesses on the facade being covered. In the yard of the church, near the wall, there are several burial stones which are very deteriorated.
