Ephraim of Voronet

Ephraim was a hieroschemamonk and abbot of Voroneț Monastery after 1480, a close disciple of Saint Daniel the Hermit. He passed to the Lord in the first years of the sixteenth century. He is named in the Romanian Paterikon and venerated by the faithful, without synodal canonization; the sources available to us give no day of commemoration.

He was formed spiritually beside Daniel's cell at Putna, where he laboured in his youth. He then settled in the hermitage of Voroneț, received priesthood and served the Church with zeal. In the community he was loved for his humility and obedience to Daniel, from whose word he never departed and whom he accompanied with blessing in everything.

After 1480 Abbot Misael withdrew to stillness and entrusted the community to Ephraim. For almost ten years he guided the hermitage with skill, helping, counselling and setting an example of patience. He developed the monastery's school of calligraphers and took special care of Daniel, who lived as a hermit near the monastery. He was a counsellor of Stephen the Great, a teacher and confessor of many, and he lived to see in 1488 the new stone church of Voroneț, raised by the prince in honour of the Holy Great Martyr George.

Later, by common agreement with the community, Daniel was appointed abbot at Voroneț, and Ephraim stayed obedient to him in everything until Daniel's repose. Ephraim lived a few more years and fell asleep in the first years of the sixteenth century, leaving more than sixty monks at Voroneț.