Oneiric Authentication of a Miraculous Shrine. Case Study from a Dobruja Monastery, Romania

Abstract

An interesting phenomenon of incubation ritual was attested in open air in southwest Dobruja at the very beginning of the 20th century, at a healing stone cross that, two decades later, was enclosed by an Orthodox Christian monastery. The article focuses on the narrative strategy that asserts Christian authority over the site. The strategy includes a corpus of legends that associate the origin of the cross with the local martyrdom past, its miraculous finding, and a modern hagiography whose main character is a thaumaturgic monk. The dream as a realm for divine communication, represents a theme that coagulates the entire narrative corpus and contributes greatly to the construction of a sanctuary. Over the last decades, energy and spiritual healing practitioners have enriched the group of visitors to the monastery.