The road to a new synthesis concerning the history of the relations between the Romanian Principalities and Mount Athos is almost over. Until then, though, we propose a new project, with the following objectives: the valorisation and editing of the Romanian documents within the archives of the monasteries at Mount Athos and of the documents concerning these connections preserved in the archives of Romania and the Republic of Moldova; the research of manuscripts and other Romanian assets preserved at Mount Athos; the research of the travels of the Athonite monks in Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania and of the Romanian pilgrimages at the Holy Mountain.

Ganze Seite: Text (Widmung in goldener Tinte), Mond, Auerochse und Sonne in Gold, Familienwappen der Fürsten in Blau, Grün und Gold.

From a scientific perspective, the research of the Romanian archives at Mount Athos is of great importance, because the Holy Mountain hosts the largest unpublished documentary deposit for the medieval and modern history of the Romanian Principalities, situated outside the Romanian borders. It is one of the few places de from where new information may be brought concerning the history of Romanians and of the entire Eastern Christendom, as well as the place and role of Romanians in the support of Christians across of the Ottoman Empire. Through this project, we wish to publish integrally the documents within the Romanian archives of the Athonite monasteries of Iviron and Saint Paul, to begin the systematic editing of the immense Romanian archives within the monastery of Vatopedi and to continue the valorisation of the historical records preserved in the library of the Hilandar monastery. The Romanian documents within the archives of the Iviron and Saint Paul monasteries were published as abstracts in Greek by Florin Marinescu, in collaboration with Petronel Zahariuc and with other Romanian researchers. The photocopies of these documents are in the Research Laboratory of the relations between Romanians and Mount Athos, within the Faculty of History in Iaşi. Within this project, we will publish integrally (original text and translation) the most important documents, with relevant historical contents, within these two important Athonite archives, following the model established in Documenta Romaniae Historica (DRH), while the others will be edited as extended abstracts, as per the formula determined in Catalogul documentelor Țării Românești within the Historical archives in Bucharest (CDȚR). Furthermore, we will continue to publish some of the Slavic and Romanian-Cyrillic documents slave of the 16^th-19^th centuries within the archive of the Vatopedi monastery, (an activity begun a couple of years ago) and we will continue the valorisation of the historical treasure of the Hilandar monastery. Besides documents, the treasures of the monasteries at Mount Athos keep an important number of Slavic and Romanian manuscripts, old Romanian books and precious assets (icons, silverware and liturgical attire) of a Romanian origin, which we have discovered after research at the location or thanks to scientific collaborations with historians in Greece; some of them will be published through this project.

At the same time, we wish to publish at the same time Romanian-Athonite documents preserved in the archives and libraries in Romania and the R. of Moldova, in mid-17^th century, where the national collection of domestic documents ended up, DRH (series A and B), until the Organic Regulations (1831-1832), a volume that we consider absolutely necessary in the perspective of elaborating a new history of the relations between Romanians and Mount Athos, which should also comprise the period after 1654, where the outstanding monograph by Petre Ș. Năsturel ends (it was published in 1986). For this volume, we have in view the research of the documentary funds of the submitted and not submitted monasteries within the archives in Iași and Bucharest, of the funds and collections within the State archives in Kishinev and within the county archives (Suceava, Craiova, Neamț, Galați), as well as within the collection “Documente istorice” of the Romanian Academy Library.

We will focus not only on the archives and libraries, but also on the people who made these relations. On one hand, we will analyse the travels of the monks from Mount Athos and of the Constantinople patriarchs, to whom the Holy Mountain was subordinated, to the Romanian Principalities, seeking assistance. Some of them remained in the Athonite metochions north from the Danube and become important characters in the ecclesiastical and cultural life of the region. On the other hand, we will keep on researching the pilgrimages of Romanians – monks and laymen alike – at the Holy Mountain, an ecclesiastic and cultural phenomenon that intensified from the second half of the 17^th century. Hence, we have in view the critical editing of the Romanian translation for Proschinitarul Sfântului Munte, signed by doctor Ioan Comnen and printed in 1701, at the monastery of Snagov, by hieromonk Antim Ivireanul, as well as the Proschinitar al Marii Lavre (the first monastery within the Athonite hierarchy) from the second half of the 18^th century, the author of which is anonymous. In this context, we will also continue to investigate the pilgrimages of Romanians to Jerusalem in the 17^th-19^th centuries.