Silvașu de Sus, Hunedoara County, Romania, December 1, 2025
Twenty-eight hierarchs of the Romanian Orthodox Church served the Divine Liturgy on Friday, November 28, at Prislop Monastery in Hunedoara County, followed by the local proclamation of the canonization of St. Arsenie (Boca) of Prislop, one of the most beloved Romanian saints of the past century.
St. Arsenie was one of 16 martyrs, confessors, and ascetics from the 20th century canonized by the Romanian Orthodox Church in July 2024. Their Churchwide glorification was celebrated in February of this year, and each saint is also being honored with a local glorification in the place of their asceticism.
Following the Liturgy, His Grace Bishop Andrei of Covasna and Harghita read the tomos proclaiming the canonization, and the official icon of St. Arsenie of Prislop approved by the Holy Synod was presented, reports the Basilica News Agency.
His Eminence Metropolitan Irineu of Oltenia delivered the homily, speaking about Christ’s words, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, and explaining how St. Arsenie followed Christ. “Truly, St. Arsenie of Prislop followed Christ the Savior, Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. For this, God glorified him and gave him a name that we have in the calendar today, which we honor,” Met. Irineu said.
His Eminence Metropolitan Laurențiu of Transylvania explained that the canonization process begins with popular piety manifested over time and testimonies about miracles. Regarding St. Arsenie, “the miracles have been recorded and are very numerous,” he noted. The greatest miracle “is the fact that we are here today, the fact that something has drawn us like a magnet, the fact that, arriving at this blessed place, we feel the grace of God and we feel the help and support of our protecting father,” he said.
The 16 saints canonized in 2025, the centennial year of the Romanian Patriarchate, are “testimonies that our Church is a living Church, a sanctifying Church that produces saints,” Met. Laurențiu added.
His Grace Bishop Nestor of Deva and Hunedoara, who hosted the event, said the Holy Synod “certified what had been accomplished in the collective memory of the people much earlier, through the special veneration given to St. Arsenie by the multitude of believers.”
Met. Laurențiu thanked the faithful who braved the weather to participate, calling it “an overwhelming atmosphere, that of God’s gift and the joy of fulfillment and of meeting with the one who was called by you—not by priests, by you, the faithful—the saint of Transylvania.”
At the conclusion, the clergy processed to the tomb of St. Arsenie to pay reverent homage. The event was broadcast live by Trinitas TV:
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Elder Arsenie, who reposed in 1989, was one of the great Romanian spiritual fathers of Communist times, and is revered today as a saint. Thousands go on pilgrimage annually to his grave at Prislop Moanstery in Silvașu de Sus, and images of him are seen as a blessing.
At least one such image, bought at Prislop Moanstery, began miraculously weeping in May 2015. A miracle is known to occur at his grave as well: Even though the temperatures there can be extremely low, often reaching -5 degrees, all of the flowers that have grown on his grave neither wither nor freeze and die by the extreme temperatures but instead remain in full blossom. From winter to summer, the elder’s grave remains full with blossomed, multi-colored fragrant flowers.
More about his life can be read in our article, “Elder Arsenie Boca and His Revelation.”
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