Bucharest, July 14, 2026
Photo: basilica.ro
Some 7,000 akathists of St. Dimitrie the New were distributed to inmates and staff at prisons within the Bucharest Archdiocese on July 13–14, as part of an initiative organized in collaboration with the National Prison Administration.
A vestment that had covered the relics of St. Dimitrie the New was also brought on pilgrimage to the prisons, allowing inmates and employees to venerate it. The activity was timed to coincide with the 252nd anniversary of the translation of the saint’s relics to Bucharest, whose feast was celebrated Monday at the Patriarchal Cathedral, reports the Basilica News Agency.
On Monday and Tuesday, the pilgrimage visited several facilities in and around the capital.
Photo: basilica.ro
Fr. Ciprian Ioniță, a Patriarchal adviser at the Social-Philanthropic Sector of the Patriarchal Administration and coordinator of the activity, said the initiative was intended to bring a moment of joy to people who are “rarely visited.”
“Persons deprived of liberty are in a delicate situation. They don’t have access to information, they don’t have access to freedom, and so any opportunity to come to church, to pray, to communicate with God through prayer, is a blessing for them,” Fr. Ciprian said.
Fr. Cristian Antonescu, coordinator of chaplains within the National Prison Administration, said the events help show inmates that “the saints are their friends.” He added that most of those he spoke with expressed great joy and said they had placed “a burning desire” before St. Dimitrie, along with good thoughts for their families at home.
The director of Jilava Prison, Chief Commissioner Claudiu Românu, noted that those who came to venerate the vestment in the prison chapel were predominantly inmates with medical conditions.
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