Sârbi Susani church
The wooden church from Sârbi Susani, was dendrochronologically dated from the winter of 1638–1639, i.e., from the moment the timbers were felled; thus the construction might have taken place during 1639 or very soon after that.
His devotion for this sacred building can be further read in the warm way he softened the plain timber walls with the rope moulding all around, with the small cuts in the frame of the southern window and even of the precinct gate, which, although fragmentary, is probably the oldest one surviving in Maramureș.
The noble founders of this modest house of worship might have been either poor or conservative, if they couldn't afford or did not wanted bells for a tower, iron for the hinges of the doors, carved stones for the altar table or glasses for the windows.
[citation needed] The best-preserved portal in Maramureș, which entirely displays the high professional grade of a church carpenter, is in Sârbi Susani.
The distinctive features that immediately attract attention are the moulding rope inclosing an elaborate composition of triple crosses and rosettes of various patterns and sizes.
The upper corners are covered by large sun rosettes while at the sill the straight mouldings turn round inwards closing the work.
Indeed, the Octoechos period is particularly individualized on the left jamb by the 8 lateral small rosettes representing the characteristic 8 modes in which the hymns of the offices are sung.
Once the three parts of the portal are identified with the three periods of the Easter cycle, the expected significance of the triple crosses in the middle fields should be the main feasts commemorating the life and the activity of the Christ.
The presence of all the major feasts and offices along the entire Byzantine ecclesiastic year gives the impression to call the worshipers to plainly participate in them.
This is a strong invitation to improve through faith in Christ and participation in the life of the Church, in a true Byzantine monastic tradition.
We stand here in front of a rich and refined language of vernacular and Christian symbols, aimed to lift our souls, hearts and minds beyond the limits of our earthly existence.
There is an imperative need to document the hundreds of surviving portals left by the church carpenters in the Carpathians, go beyond their decorative beauty and recover their enigmatic language.
