Silvanus of Rasca

Silvanus was a hieromonk and the first abbot of Rașca Monastery, from 1542 to 1548, a disciple of Bishop Macarius of Roman. He passed to the Lord in 1579. He is named in the Romanian Paterikon and venerated by the faithful, without synodal canonization.

He had taken his vows at Bogdănești Monastery near Suceava. When it was abandoned and Bogdan the One-⁠Eyed (1512-1517) built a new monastery nearby, the monks moved there, and Silvanus settled in the new princely foundation. He was obedient and zealous. He loved stillness and often withdrew into the forests below the mountains, where many hermits lived.

Between 1540 and 1542 the whole monastery was renewed by Peter Rareș and Bishop Macarius of Roman, under the name Rașca, and Silvanus was appointed abbot, being a known confessor advanced in good works. Until the summer of 1542 he oversaw the building of the churches and cells. Then he gathered more than thirty monks and founded a choice community, with good confessors and calligraphers brought from Neamț. The rule was that of the other monasteries of Moldavia: Matins at midnight, daily Liturgy, confession and Communion every three weeks, one meal a day except on feast days, obedience in love and the Jesus Prayer.

He also encouraged the hermit life in the mountains of Rașca, where hermits had struggled centuries earlier. He sent the hermits what they needed, visited them spiritually, and let those who loved stillness withdraw into solitude. In 1548 he withdrew from the abbacy and became a schemamonk, then lived on until 1579, when he passed to eternal life, leaving many spiritual children.