Bucharest, October 25, 2022
After a two-year break, the Romanian Orthodox Church resumed its annual Way of the Saints procession in honor of St. Demetrius the New, the patron saint of Bucharest and one of the most beloved Romanian saints.
The week-long celebration in honor of St. Demetrius began on Saturday, with pilgrims coming to the Patriarchal Cathedral to venerate his holy relics, and continues through Friday. His actual feast will be marked on Thursday.
Yesterday, thousands of Orthodox pilgrims processed through the streets of the capital with the relics of St. Demetrius and other saints, reports the Basilica News Agency.
Traditionally, relics are brought from other Orthodox countries especially for the celebration. This year’s “guest” is St. Gregory Palamas, in honor of the “Commemorative Year of the Hesychast Saints Symeon the New Theologian, Gregory Palamas, and Paisius of Neamț” declared by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Church this year.
Two separate processions—one with the relics of St. Demetrius, the other with relics of Sts. Constantine and Helen and St. Nektarios of Aegina—met at the base of the hill of the Romanian Patriarchate, with the Greek delegation that brought a fragment of the relics of St. Gregory, and together they moved up the hill to the cathedral.
The video below shows extended scenes from the procession:
The relics were received at the outdoor altar by His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania, who greeted the Greek delegation led by Metropolitan Panteleimon of Veria.
From St. Gregory Palamas, we can learn both the power of prayer in solitude and of prayer in the family life, Pat. Daniel said, as six other members of St. Gregory’s family are also canonized saints:
Starting from the exhortation of the holy Apostle Paul: Pray without ceasing! (1 Thess. 5:17), St. Gregory Palamas shows in his writings how, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the prayer: “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” also called “the prayer of the mind,” as well as “the prayer of the heart,” has become the best way to enlighten the soul and sanctify the Christian’s life, either in the solitude of the cell or in the communion of Christian homes…
All these saints call us to work together with the grace of God, through prayer and repentance, through humility and charity, in order to acquire peace of heart and holiness, or likeness to the All-Holy God, as the holy Apostle Paul exhorts us, saying: Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14).
The sacred relics were then placed for veneration on the Patriarchate Hill, where they will remain until Friday.
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