Simeon of Pângărați

Venerable Simeon of Pângărați was the founder and first abbot of Pângărați Monastery in Moldavia. He is commemorated on 7 September (new style), together with Saint Amphilochius.

He was born in the early fifteenth century in a village near the city of Piatra Neamț, in the time of Alexander the Good. From youth he chose monasticism and entered the community of Bistrița Monastery, where he grew through obedience. Longing for stillness, he took his abbot's blessing and, in 1432, left with two disciples for a place at the foot of Mount Paru, five kilometres from the monastery, where he made a cell of fir logs. The place was known for twenty-⁠nine years as “Simeon's Hermitage”, and he became a teacher of the prayer of the heart and received the gifts of healing and foresight.

In 1461 Stephen the Great helped him raise a wooden church, dedicated to the Great Martyr Demetrius the Myrrh-⁠streamer. It was consecrated on 26 October by Metropolitan Theoctist I, who also ordained Simeon a priest, so that he became the first abbot of the settlement, called “Simeon's Skete” until 1508. The prince often asked his advice and his prayers for the country. Because of the Ottoman invasion he went to Transylvania and stayed at Casiva Monastery until his death.