Born on the 20th of August 1920 and passed to the Lord on the 5th of May 2006, Nun Benedicta – Zoe Dumitrescu-Bușulenga, a member of the Romanian Academy, was buried, according to her will, at Putna Monastery. Her outstanding scientific achievements were recognized through the Herder Prize (1988), the Adelaide Ristori Prize (1993) and other distinctions, as well as by being elected in various leading scientific and cultural forums. Another great merit of Professor Zoe Dumitrescu-Bușulenga was her devotion to educating the younger generation. In the 1950s-1960s, when communism had eliminated Religion and icons from schools, she introduced the Bible into the bibliography of her students at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Bucharest. In 2002, with the blessing of Patriarch Theoctistus, she was tonsured into monasticism. From the 1970s, she would spend long periods at Văratec Monastery every year.
“Faith and Creation. Acad. Zoe Dumitrescu-Bușulenga – Nun Benedicta” Foundation
“Faith and Creation. Acad. Zoe Dumitrescu-Bușulenga – Nun Benedicta” Foundation
On the 18th of July 2008, academician Dan Hăulică and other important people of the Romanian culture established the “Faith and Creation. Acad. Zoe Dumitrescu-Bușulenga – Nun Benedicta” Foundation at Putna Monastery. Its goal was intended “to promote the model of Christian life along with the Romanian and universal cultural and spiritual values to whom Nun Benedicta had devoted herself”. Since acad. Dan Hăulică (1932–2014) passed away, the foundation has been led by Romanian cultural journalist Teodora Stanciu with Oana Georgiana Enăchescu’s support, while writer Adrian Alui Gheorghe played an important role.
In 2007, the Putna Monastery initiated an annual international symposium dedicated to the great professor who became Nun Benedicta and established the “Putna Papers” journal, where the papers presented during the symposia are published.
We are destined for an eternity in the light – and we pray to remain so. It seems that here, at Putna, we accomplish this vocation of living eternally in the light. (Acad. Dan Hăulică)In 2009, the foundation established “Nicodemus the Calligrapher” Publishing House. Its first editorial project was to publish a complete series of Zoe Dumitrescu-Bușulenga’s writings on Romania’s national poet Mihai Eminescu, whom she especially understood and loved. “Protect Mihai!” she would say on her deathbed. With Professor Dumitru Irimia’s help, the following volumes were published: Eminescu. Viața (“Eminescu. His Life”), Eminescu și romantismul german (“Eminescu and the German Romanticism”), Eminescu. Creație și cultură (“Eminescu. Creation and Culture”), Eminescu. Orizontul cunoașterii (“Eminescu. The Span of His Knowledge”). Other volumes were published as well: two collections of interviews, dialogues and conferences held by Prof. Zoe Dumitrescu-Bușulenga – Să nu pierdem verticala (“Never Abandon Looking Upwards”), coordinated by the monks of the Putna Monastery, and Credințe, mărturisiri, învățăminte (“Beliefs, Confessions, Teachings”), coordinated by writer Grigore Ilisei; a volume of biographical portraits – Contemporanii mei. Portrete (“My Contemporaries. Portraits”); and a volume of recollections about the great professor.
Acad. Dan Hăulică was honored during the 2012 edition of the Putna Colloquia, on his 80th birth anniversary.
Caietele de la Putna
It would have been unfortunate to let into oblivion so many beautiful and true thoughts about Nun Benedicta, Romanian culture and spirituality, humankind, what man creates and the One who created man. That is why many well-balanced judgments and distilled feelings can be found in the cultural and spiritual “construction site” named “The Putna Papers”. The core of this project coincides with Acad. Zoe Dumitrescu-Bușulenga’s preoccupation with understanding humankind and finding the way to a fully accomplished human life.
“The Putna Papers” publishes the presentations and papers held at the annual symposium organized by the “Faith and Creation. Acad. Zoe Dumitrescu-Bușulenga – Nun Benedicta” Foundation.
Other collections of the same publishing house are Crinii țarinii (“The Lilies of the Land”), which includes words of contemporary spiritual fathers; Destin românesc (“Romanian Destiny”), including four volumes about the drama of the Romanians from the Soviet-occupied northern Bukovina and the autobiographical trilogy Pustiirea. Treptele infernului. Fata cu miros de busuioc (“The Desolation. The Circles of Hell. The Girl Who Smelled like Basil") by Ion Moraru; Părinți ai Putnei (“Putna's Fathers”) is another collection initiated for the 90th anniversary of the birth of Father Hyacinth Unciuleac, when the book Părintele Iachint, starețul și duhovnicul (“Hyacinth, Abbot and Spiritual Father”), was published – a documentary film on the former abbot was also made at the time.
All these cultural acts are also ways of serving God. Springing from the search for truth and goodness, they share with man the beauty of God's creation and become a bridge towards our heavenly Father: “The holy relics and artistic wonders of the Putna Monastery are full of teachings; I liken them to those springs from which you can only drink by kneeling”.