Daniil Sihastrul

Daniil's cave.

Entrance to Daniil's cave.

Daniil Sihastrul (Romanian for "Daniel the Hesychast"; after 1400 — ca. 1482), a saint of the Romanian Orthodox Church, was born into a peasant family at the beginning of the 15th century in a village near Rădăuţi, and baptised under the name Dumitru. He was given the name David when he entered Bogdana Monastery as a youth. Desiring a more eremitical life, he moved to Saint Laurence Monastery near Vicovu de Sus, where he became Daniil. However, he left for a mountain cave hermitage that he dug in a rock, where many came for confession and spiritual guidance. One of his visitors was the young prince Stephen III of Moldavia, who on Daniil's advice began Putna Monastery nearby in 1466. However, when Stephen wished to make Daniil the metropolitan, the monk withdrew to Voroneţ in 1470. Six years later, when Stephen was about to cede the region to the Turks to avoid more bloodshed after his defeat at Războieni, Daniil prophesied that he would eventually be victorious, which proved to be the case. This visit was the subject of a poem by Dimitrie Bolintineanu. In 1488, after Daniil's death, Stephen built a monastery at Voroneţ in honour of his victory; the monk was buried there. Long venerated locally, the church canonised him formally on 20 July 1992; his feast day is 18 December.

References

• Walsh, Michael. A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West, p. 146. Liturgical Press, 2007, ISBN 081463186X.

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Name	Sihastrul, Daniil
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