Romanian ambassador visits Lawrence County monastery

WAYNE TWP. ― His Excellency Andrei Muraru, Romanian ambassador to the United States, visited the Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration Monday.

In an email announcing his visit, Silvia-Magdalena Florescu-Ciobotaru, minister-counselor, wrote, "The Transfiguration Monastery is an iconic place, with a special symbolism in Romanian contemporary history, which the ambassador wanted to visit in his capacity of ambassador of Romania, but also as a professor specialized in the history of Romanian Communism."

After welcoming the ambassador and his entourage, Abbess Mother Christophora and Mother Paula took the guests on a tour of the monastery.

The focus of Muraru's visit was to learn more about Mother Alexandra, the founder of the Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration, the first English-speaking monastery, and her role in fighting communism.

Mother Alexandra was born Princess Ileana of Romania, she was the great-granddaughter of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and Queen Victoria of England. She married, had children and lived the royal life until she had to flee Romania due to the communist takeover.

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From 1950-61, she lectured against communism. In 1961, she became an Orthodox nun, and in 1967 she came to the Ellwood City area and founded the monastery.

"She is a great story. People who know little about Romania know about Mother Alexandra," Muraru said.

On their tour of the monastery, Muraru and his entourage looked at the pictures and artifacts, took photos and asked questions and also visited Mother Alexandra's grave site at the monastery cemetery.

When Muraru became ambassador to the United States in September 2021 he said he was on a mission to visit all 50 states.

"My mission was '50 States One Community' and I've been to 20 so far," Muraru said.

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He spoke briefly about the war in Ukraine, their neighbor to the north.

"We have taken in 6 million refugees from the Ukraine and now they come and go about 10,000 a day. There is a saying 'A friend in need is a friend in deed,' so we do what friends do. We help," Muraru said.

Accompanying Muraru was Silvia-Magdalena Florescu-Ciobotaru, minister-counselor; Marius Florescu-Ciobotaru, diplomatic counselor; the Rev. Gheorghe Neagu, pastor at St. Andrew Church in Pittsburgh; and Mihaela Năstac of Pittsburgh.

Muraru has a doctorate in history and MA and BA from the University of Alexandru Ioan Cuza in Iași. His extensive government experience includes working at the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile., holding different offices from expert researcher to executive president.

Between 2006 and 2009, Muraru acted as a counselor within the chancellery of the prime minister and also personal advisor to the general director of the National Archives of Romania. In 2014, he was a member of the administrative board of the Romanian Television and was personal advisor to the president of the National Liberal Party, Klaus Iohannis. Muraru became senior advisor to the president of Romania, also Iohannis, serving as head of the Department of Relationship with Public Authorities and Civil Society.

A university lecturer at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Muraru is a scientific researcher at The Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Transfiguration Monastery in Ellwood area welcomes Romanian ambassador