diff --git oak-lucene/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/index/lucene/property/RecursiveDelete.java oak-lucene/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/index/lucene/property/RecursiveDelete.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d88104f
--- /dev/null
+++ oak-lucene/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/index/lucene/property/RecursiveDelete.java
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.plugins.index.lucene.property;
+
+import java.util.function.Supplier;
+
+import com.google.common.base.Stopwatch;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.api.CommitFailedException;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.commons.PathUtils;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.commit.CommitHook;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.commit.CommitInfo;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.state.ChildNodeEntry;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.state.NodeBuilder;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.state.NodeState;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.state.NodeStateUtils;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.state.NodeStore;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+public class RecursiveDelete {
+    private final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(getClass());
+    private final NodeStore nodeStore;
+    private final CommitHook commitHook;
+    private final Supplier<CommitInfo> commitInfo;
+    private final String path;
+    private int batchSize = 1024;
+    private int numRemoved = 0;
+    private int mergeCount;
+    private NodeBuilder builder;
+
+    public RecursiveDelete(NodeStore nodeStore, CommitHook commitHook,
+                           Supplier<CommitInfo> commitInfo, String path) {
+        this.nodeStore = nodeStore;
+        this.commitHook = commitHook;
+        this.commitInfo = commitInfo;
+        this.path = path;
+    }
+
+    public void run() throws CommitFailedException {
+        NodeState root = nodeStore.getRoot();
+        builder = root.builder();
+        NodeState node = NodeStateUtils.getNode(root, path);
+        Stopwatch w = Stopwatch.createStarted();
+
+        int currentSize = delete(node, path);
+        save(path, currentSize, true);
+
+        log.debug("Removed subtree under [{}] with {} child nodes " +
+                "in {} ({} saves)", path, numRemoved, w, mergeCount);
+    }
+
+    public int getNumRemoved() {
+        return numRemoved;
+    }
+
+    public int getMergeCount() {
+        return mergeCount;
+    }
+
+    public void setBatchSize(int batchSize) {
+        this.batchSize = batchSize;
+    }
+
+    private int delete(NodeState node, String path) throws CommitFailedException {
+        int currentSize = deleteChildNodes(node, path);
+        child(builder, path).remove();
+        numRemoved++;
+        return currentSize + 1;
+    }
+
+    private int deleteChildNodes(NodeState node, String path) throws CommitFailedException {
+        int currentSize = 0;
+        for (ChildNodeEntry cne : node.getChildNodeEntries()) {
+            String name = cne.getName();
+            String childPath = PathUtils.concat(path, name);
+
+            currentSize += delete(cne.getNodeState(), childPath);
+            if (save(childPath, currentSize, false)) {
+                currentSize = 0;
+            }
+        }
+        return currentSize;
+    }
+
+    private boolean save(String path, int currentSize, boolean force) throws CommitFailedException {
+        if (currentSize >= batchSize || force) {
+            log.debug("Deleting {} nodes on {} ({} removed so far)", currentSize, path, numRemoved);
+            nodeStore.merge(builder, commitHook, commitInfo.get());
+            builder = nodeStore.getRoot().builder();
+            mergeCount++;
+            return true;
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    private static NodeBuilder child(NodeBuilder nb, String path) {
+        for (String name : PathUtils.elements(path)) {
+            nb = nb.getChildNode(name);
+        }
+        return nb;
+    }
+}
diff --git oak-lucene/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/index/lucene/property/RecursiveDeleteTest.java oak-lucene/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/index/lucene/property/RecursiveDeleteTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3d665ba
--- /dev/null
+++ oak-lucene/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/index/lucene/property/RecursiveDeleteTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.plugins.index.lucene.property;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collection;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Random;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
+
+import com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
+import com.google.common.collect.TreeTraverser;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.api.CommitFailedException;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.commons.FixturesHelper;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.fixture.DocumentMemoryFixture;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.fixture.MemoryFixture;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.fixture.NodeStoreFixture;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.plugins.index.lucene.TestUtil;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.commit.CommitInfo;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.commit.EmptyHook;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.state.ChildNodeEntry;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.state.NodeBuilder;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.state.NodeState;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.state.NodeStateUtils;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.state.NodeStore;
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.junit.runners.Parameterized;
+
+import static org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.state.NodeStateUtils.getNode;
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+
+@RunWith(Parameterized.class)
+public class RecursiveDeleteTest {
+    private final NodeStoreFixture fixture;
+    private final NodeStore nodeStore;
+    private String testNodePath =  "/content/testNode";
+    private Random rnd = new Random();
+    private int maxBucketSize = 100;
+    private int maxDepth = 4;
+
+    public RecursiveDeleteTest(NodeStoreFixture fixture) {
+        this.nodeStore = fixture.createNodeStore();
+        this.fixture = fixture;
+    }
+
+    @After
+    public void tearDown(){
+        fixture.dispose(nodeStore);
+    }
+
+    @Parameterized.Parameters(name="{0}")
+    public static Collection<Object[]> fixtures() {
+        Collection<Object[]> result = new ArrayList<Object[]>();
+        result.add(new Object[]{new MemoryFixture()});
+        result.add(new Object[]{new DocumentMemoryFixture()});
+        return result;
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void recursiveDelete() throws Exception{
+        int actualCount = createSubtree(10000);
+        assertEquals(actualCount, getSubtreeCount(getNode(nodeStore.getRoot(), testNodePath)));
+
+        RecursiveDelete rd = new RecursiveDelete(nodeStore, EmptyHook.INSTANCE, () -> CommitInfo.EMPTY, testNodePath);
+        rd.setBatchSize(100);
+        rd.run();
+
+        assertEquals(actualCount, rd.getNumRemoved());
+        assertFalse(getNode(nodeStore.getRoot(), testNodePath).exists());
+
+        System.out.println(rd.getMergeCount());
+        System.out.println(actualCount);
+    }
+
+    private int createSubtree(int maxNodesCount) throws CommitFailedException {
+        NodeBuilder builder = nodeStore.getRoot().builder();
+        NodeBuilder child = TestUtil.child(builder, testNodePath);
+        AtomicInteger maxNodes = new AtomicInteger(maxNodesCount);
+        int actualCount = createChildren(child, maxNodes, 0);
+        nodeStore.merge(builder, EmptyHook.INSTANCE, CommitInfo.EMPTY);
+        return actualCount + 1;
+    }
+
+    private int createChildren(NodeBuilder child, AtomicInteger maxNodes, int depth) {
+        if (maxNodes.get() <= 0 || depth > maxDepth) {
+            return 0;
+        }
+
+        int totalCount = 0;
+        int childCount = rnd.nextInt(maxBucketSize);
+        if (childCount == 0) {
+            childCount = 1;
+        }
+
+        List<NodeBuilder> children = new ArrayList<>();
+        for (int i = 0; i < childCount && maxNodes.get() > 0; i++){
+            maxNodes.decrementAndGet();
+            totalCount++;
+            children.add(child.child("c"+i));
+
+        }
+
+        for (NodeBuilder c : children) {
+            totalCount += createChildren(c, maxNodes, depth + 1);
+        }
+
+        return totalCount;
+    }
+
+    private int getSubtreeCount(NodeState state){
+        TreeTraverser<NodeState> t = new TreeTraverser<NodeState>() {
+            @Override
+            public Iterable<NodeState> children(NodeState root) {
+                return Iterables.transform(root.getChildNodeEntries(), ChildNodeEntry::getNodeState);
+            }
+        };
+        return t.preOrderTraversal(state).size();
+    }
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
