Mt. Athos, July 12, 2019
Photo: basilica.ro
After four years of construction, a new Church of St. Paisios the Athonite is set to be consecrated on Mt. Athos at the end of this month.
Construction on the church at the Annunciation Kellia of the Romanian Lacu Skete began in 2015, with the painting of the iconography beginning in 2017, reports the Basilica News Agency.
The consecration will be celebrated by His Eminence Metropolitan Paul of Drama on July 25.
Photo: basilica.ro
St. Paisios was not chosen as the patron of the new church by chance, Fr. Paisie of the Annunciation Kellia commented. “The patron saint of the church was established especially because, in a spiritual line, we are the grandchildren of St. Paisios the Athonite. The abbot of the kellia, Hieromonk Ștefan Nuţescu is the spiritual son of the holy father Isaac of Lebanon, one of the closest disciples of St. Paisios,” he explained.
The brotherhood of the Romanian cell is responsible for making the life and teachings of the great Athonite saint known to the Romanian public through the translation of about 20 volumes from Greek.
The church will have the Prophet and King David as its secondary patron.
Photo: basilica.ro
St. Paisios was canonized by the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople on January 13, 2015, after which churches in his honor began to appear throughout the Orthodox world. The first Church of St. Paisios in Romania was built in the village of Săvădisla, Cluj County.
“This is, as far as we know, the third church erected on Mt. Athos in honor of St. Paisios the Athonite,” Fr. Paisie told the Basilica News Agency. The first church on Mt. Athos was consecrated earlier this year in the Kapsala area by His Eminence Metropolitan Panteleimon of Xanthi.
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