Bixad - The Ortodox Monastery of “St. Peter and Paul”

The monastery, dedicated to the Apostles St Peter and Paul, is located above the village of Bixad, on the terrace of the Oaş Mountains, surrounded by a beautiful landscape. The settlement was famous for its baths. According to written documents, the monk Isaia, who came from Mount Athos, founded the monastery in 1700. The monk was killed after a conflict with the local aristocracy and the priests in 1701. Greek Catholic monks belonging to the Basilitan Order refounded the monastery, in 1702, being consecrated on 12th of June. The monks built a new stone church. Four stonemasons, one of whom was Jacobus Simmeth, the son of the master from Mukacevo, carried on the construction work. The church of the monastery has a nave with spherical vault, enlarged with two side rooms for the choir, and a tower on the northern side. According to an inscription, the edifice was consecrated in 1771. The porch with a tympanum at the entrance, the staircase near the tower, and the vestry from the eastern side of the nave, were built in a later period. The buildings of the monastery were damaged in a fire, at the end of the 19th century. The abbot, Arcadiu Pásztory, built the new building with an “L” shape, and an upper level. The church was restored too, and a new roof was built for the tower. The icon of the Holy Virgin from the iconostasis, from the former wooden church was reused for the baroque iconostasis of the new church and was set above the Main Door. Three pilgrimages are organized in each year: on the feast of St Peter and Paul (29th of June), The Assumption of the Holy Virgin (15th of August), and The Birth of the Holy Virgin (8th of September). The monastery had a printing press also. The communist regime dissolved the monastery in 1948. The orthodox monks repopulated the monastery in the period between 1981 and 1989. They restored the church, changed the furniture and repainted the interior. The new iconostasis was made by József Ady, and in front of the iconostasis was set the copy of the old icon. (TSz).

References:
Rus, Emanuil, Mănăstirea Bixad, Oradea, 1995.
Haiduc Vămeanul, Gheorghe, Monografia Mănăstirii Bixad din Ţara-Oaşului, Cluj Napoca, 2005.
Terdik Szilveszter, A bikszádi monostor kegyképének eredete (Originea icoanei de la Mănăstirea din Bixad), in Végsheö Tamás szerk., „Rómából Hungáriába”, Nyíregyháza, 2007.