Moinești, Bacău County, Romania, September 9, 2026
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More than 4,000 faithful took part in a procession in Moinești, Romania, on Friday, September 4, carrying a piece of the Belt of the Theotokos, brought from Kato-Xenia Monastery in Greece.
His Eminence Archbishop Ioachim of Roman and Bacău and His Grace Bishop Teofil of Trotuș, vicar bishop of the same eparchy, joined the crowd for the event. The relic, kept in a silver reliquary made in the 18th century in Wallachia, was carried to St. Nicholas Square near the Nativity of the Theotokos and St. Nicholas the Hierarch Church in Moinești, where the hierarchs greeted it, reports Basilica News Agency.
On an outdoor platform, the hierarchs served the Akathist to the Protection of the Theotokos. Bishop Teofil then led a service blessing the start of the school year, and Archbishop Ioachim offered a message to school children.
The procession, called the Way of the Saints, was part of a broader series of events called the Cultural-Spiritual Days of the Moinești Deanery. This marked the second time the Belt of the Theotokos from Kato Xenia has been brought to the Moinești deanery for veneration; the relic was carried in pilgrimage to several parish churches throughout the deanery.
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Ana Maria Macarie, a representative of the Voice of Life Association of Iași, coordinated by Fr. Dan Damaschin, presented the organization’s mission, noting that 16,000 children are helped at the start of the school year.
During the event, 297 middle school students from the Moinești deanery who earned a perfect grade average last school year received excellence diplomas with medals and a small financial gift from the hierarchs. Another 267 children from socially vulnerable families received gifts as part of the “Shoeing Barefoot Romania!” project.
In the context of the 2026 commemorative year of pastoral care for the Christian family, eight families married more than 60 years and eight young families with more than seven children from the Moinești deanery were honored.
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