Iași, Romania, October 14, 2022
Today marks the feast of St. Parascheva, whose relics lie in the cathedral in Iași, one of the most important events of the ecclesiastical year for the Romanian Orthodox Church.
A week-long pilgrimage is held ever year, which draws hundreds of thousands of Orthodox faithful and hierarchs from around the Orthodox world. 20,000 participated in a procession with the relics of both St. Parascheva and St. Paisius (Velichkovsky) earlier this week, and more than 145,000 have come to Iași so far to venerate the relics.
The feast of St. Parascheva itself began with an All-Night Vigil and nighttime Liturgy in the Metropolitan Cathedral in Iași last night, which ended around 2 AM:
The main Liturgy for the feast was held this morning on the square outside the cathedral, with 26 hierarchs from 5 Local Churches concelebrating, and tens of thousands of faithful in prayerful attendance.
The service was presided over by His Eminence Metropolitan Teofan of Iași, and joining him were, in addition to a host of Romanian hierarchs, His Eminence Metropolitan Naum of Ruse of the Bulgarian Church, His Eminence Metropolitan Giorgios of Kitros, Katerini, and Platamon of the Greek Church, His Grace Bishop Agathonikos of Arusha and Central Tanzania of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, and His Grace Bishop Qais of Erzurum of the Patriarchate of Antioch.
Following the service, Met. Teofan awarded the Cross of St. Joseph the Merciful to a number of priests and laymen involved in helping Ukrainian refugees in Romania.
The St. Parascheva pilgrimage continues through tomorrow.
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