Hyacinth Unciuleac of Putna

Iachint Unciuleac, born in 1924 at Mănăstirea, in Iași county, was an archimandrite, confessor and abbot of Putna Monastery between 1973 and 1993, after having lived forty-⁠two years in this monastery. He fell asleep on 23 June 1998, in the confessional chair. He is named in the Romanian Paterikon and venerated by the faithful, without synodal canonization.

After the School of Church Cantors in Roman, in 1951 he embraced monastic life at Sihăstria and attended, until 1955, the Monastic Seminary at Neamț, being ordained hierodeacon. In the spring of 1956 a group of sixteen monks from Sihăstria, led by Archimandrite Dosoftei Murariu, were transferred to Putna, to renew its spiritual life, among them Iachint. A gentle, quiet, God-⁠fearing soul, he was loved and sought by all, especially after in 1959 he was ordained priest and became confessor of Putna and of the believers of northern Moldavia. For many years he was also sacristan and guide at the monastery museum, with the gift of speech and spiritual counsel.

In 1973, while attending theology in Bucharest, he was appointed abbot of Putna, which he guided twenty years, contributing much to its material and spiritual renewal. In 1992, after the canonization of Saint Daniel the Hermit and of the pious Prince Stephen the Great and Holy, he withdrew from the abbacy and, until the end, occupied himself only with confession and counselling close disciples. Though gravely ill, he did not cease to hear confessions.

On the morning of 23 June 1998, after hearing the confession of a few disciples, he remained alone in the confessional chair, praying. Toward evening he gave up his spirit into Christ's hands, in the same chair, without falling, where he had confessed and guided many thousands of monks and believers. At the funeral he was covered with earth by his disciples' hands, at the urging of the priests, who said to cover with hands the one who with his hands had loosed them from sins.

The Paterikon keeps a few of his words: to speak of virtues without living them is folly; the spiritual ascent cannot be accomplished except under the guidance of a skilled confessor, in an art not learned on school benches but in the struggle with life; those who turn from sin but doubt that God has forgiven them must trust the word of the Lord: Come to Me, all who labour and are heavy laden.