4th century - Constantine the Great named Christianity to be the official religion in the East Roman Empire, and after this, there were 7 congresses that put the
basis of the Church.

The Christian world, unfortunately, has been divided in 1054,
when the great “schizma” took place, and because of political reasons the Christian
Church has been divided in the so-called, Catholic and Orthodox Church. Since
then, things have evolved to a deeper division, mostly in the western part of the
Christianity. Both Churches claim they are the original and the true one. In each
of them one nation, became the leader (or wanted to become the leader). In the
Catholic Church was first the Roman Empire and later France, Spain, etc and on
the other hand in the Orthodox world - the Greeks and later the Russians became
leaders.
If we look closer to the situation we can find some regional, and language
patterns. For example one can say that all western Christians speak a Latin based
language and whatever has to do with Eastern culture and Byzant is orthodox.
There is ONE IMPORTANT EXCEPTION – THE ROMANIANS

Just think about the following statements:
• The Romanians are the only Orthodox people who are speaking a Latin
language.
• The Romanians are the only Latin speaking people who are not Catholic.
• We do the link between Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox.
• We do the link between Orthodox world and the Catholic one through the
“United Church with Rome” in Transylvania
• It is Romania where the Pope chose to come for the first time since 1054 in
order to visit an orthodox country.
Therefore our Romanian Orthodox church is unique.

So come to Romania to look and feel the orthodox world in conjunction with other
Christian Churches (Catholics, Greek Catholic Church, Russian Orthodox Church,
Lutheran Church, etc).

You will also have the chance to visit two countries in one trip, 2 countries that
were one, not so much time ago, Romania and the actual Republic of Moldavia.

Day 1: Arrival in Sibiu, the Cultural Capital of Europe in 2007,transfer to the 4* Hotel downtown, and
after check in, walking city tour. We will visit the old city, the Lutheran cathedral, the interesting orthodox cathedral - a small copy of the famous Hagia Sophia from Constantinople. We will have our first meeting with 3 different Christian churches (Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran). Special dinner in a farmer house next to the city.

Day 2: After breakfast departure to Cluj via Blaj (so we have the chance to understand an interesting Christian Church who is mixing elements from Catholic and orthodox worlds), have lunch in Alba Iulia - the heart of the catholic church in Romania, visit the Vauban citadel, and continue to Cluj, the Trasylvanian capital. Accommodation in a 5* Hotel and special dinner in an old medieval house.

Day 3: We leave now towards Maramures, where we will stay 2 days and visit the famous wooden
churches from the area. We shall encounter the Greek-Catholic Church again (remember the Greek
Catholic Cathedral from Blaj) and also Romanian Orthodox through the different wooden churches that we will see. Dinner and accommodation in Vadu Izei in a location which reminds you about Paradise.

Day 4: Being Sunday we can take part at the Sunday ceremony to a local Church, where we will see people wearing traditional costumes. Today we will make a tour of Maramures area with lunch in a local house, visit monasteries, the happy cemetery from Sapinta, the communist prison from Sighet, see how the traditional plum brandy is done, visit local artists and manufactures, and at dinner you will enjoy the local music and dance

Day 5: The highlight of our trip. We enter now in Bucovina and the next two days visit the UNESCO
patrimony churches, having outside paintings. We will pass the East Carpathians over Prislop Pass, have lunch on the way and afternoon if time permits we will visit Voronet, the most beautiful of them. Dinner and accommodation in Gura Humorului

Day 6: Departure to Iasi, the actual capital of Moldavia. In the morning we will visit Moldovita and Sucevita, not before watching a demonstration how the Easter eggs are painted. Lunch will be in Moldovita monastery. We will arrive in Iasi late afternoon, dinner and check in.

Day 7: Day dedicated to Iasi. After breakfast we will visit the city with its beautiful churches and
monasteries (Metropolitan church, 3 Hierarchs, St. Nicolas Church), have lunch in a monk monastery famous as the best winemaker Monastery in Moldavia, and then you will enjoy your first free afternoon, and free dinner.

Day 8: Day trip to Republic of Moldavia. Here we will meet the so called old orthodox church, the main difference being the calendar they use (the Julian one) which gives them a 2 weeks delay between the fix dates churches celebrations (such as Christmas, Mary’s Assumption, etc). We will depart early in the morning, and visit the Old Orhei Cave Monastery, have lunch with a local family, may be visit the village church. We drive further to visit the Curchi Monastery, and return to Iasi where a special dinner in a beautiful monastery will be served.

Day 9: Departure home.