Urban Shamanism

There are fifteen wooden Romanian Orthodox temples in the world, and only two of them are outside Romania. The Church of Saint Constantine and Saint Elena is one of those. It was built as a replica of the Church of the Archangels Saint Michael and Saint Gabriel in Șurdești, Maramureș County; its construction was finished in 1999 and it was inaugurated that same year by Teoctist Arăpașu, the then Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Following traditional Romanian building techniques, the structure is made entirely with wood joinery, no nails or metal were used and the material itself comes from Romania.

This church had fascinated me since I first heard about it two years ago. A friend of mine lives near its location, so I got a couple of peeks, but I couldn't properly visit it until last December, when another friend invited me to take a walk at night and we made it there as if guided by the building itself. I did what I could with my DSLR but I'll have to go there some other time in the evening to get better images. About two weeks ago, my friend and I visited again, this time during the day, and we managed to meet the woman who takes care of the place. I got her number and will contact her soon so I can enter the actual building.

My experience regarding this place has been filled with mystical power. Aside from its eerie countenance, the whole area surrounding it is steeped in a form of density that I've scarcely felt anywhere else. It's a dark place, but not in a harmful or cruel way; it feels older than its years and portal to some secret plain filled with knowledge. During our first visit at night, we encountered the largest spider I've seen in person thus far, weaving her web under the streetlight. The Spider is one of my sacred animals, so I took this as a profound omen and later integrated it through meditation. I've known for a while that I have to visit Eastern Europe to do some important work and the connection with this church further confirmed my feelings. Its age is also quite significant to me, because it's been standing there as long as the chavista regime has been in power here in my country.

As soon as I get the chance, I'll do a proper tour through the grounds and within the temple, and I'll share a second part to this post, but for now, I hope you find this at least as fascinating as I have. Thank you for reading!