Bucharest, October 25, 2024
Photo: basilica.ro
The Romanian Orthodox Church held 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, yesterday.
Every year, there is a week-long celebration in honor of St. Demetrius, with pilgrims coming to the Patriarchal Cathedral to venerate his holy relics. His actual feast will be marked on Sunday.
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. Lazarus, the Friend of the Lord, whose precious head was brought by Archbishop Georgios, the primate of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus. The Cypriot delegation was received on the Hill of the Patriarchate following the procession.
“We’ve come to receive the blessing of the Romanian saints: of St. Andrew the Apostle, the First-Called, of St. Demetrius the New, the Protector of Bucharest, of St. Parascheva, of St. John Jacob the New Chozevite,” said Abp. Georgios, who will serve together with His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel on Sunday, on the feast of St. Demetrius the New.
In his address to the pilgrims, Pat. Daniel said that St. Demetrius the New and St. Lazarus are “living examples of compassion, spiritual healing and victory over suffering and death, so necessary for the faithful in these times increasingly laden with suffering.”
Photo: basilica.ro
The precious head of St. Lazarus was placed in the saints’ canopy near the Patriarchal Cathedral, alongside the relics of St. Demetrius the New, St. Demetrius the Myrrh-streaming, Sts. Constantine and Helen, and St. Nectarios of Aegina.
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