Malajnica, Serbia, September 14, 2026
Photo: Basilica News Agency
Romanian and Serbian faithful from the Timok Valley region gathered Sunday at Malajnica Monastery in Serbia to celebrate the local proclamation of the canonization of St. Magdalena of Malajnica.
His Eminence Metropolitan Ioan of Banat led the Divine Liturgy, concelebrating with five other hierarchs of the Romanian Church. Metropolitan Ioan preached the homily, stressing that love for God and neighbor forms the foundation of Christian life, and that every person carries eternal worth rooted in Christ’s love and His victory over death, reports the Basilica News Agency.
His Grace Bishop Ieronim of Dacia Felix read the Synodal tomos proclaiming St. Magdalena’s canonization, recounting her life and work among the communities of the Timok Valley, noting that she was devout by nature and well-versed in the teachings of the faith, and that she put herself in service to the Church, keeping the flame of faith burning.
Photo: Basilica News Agency
Metropolitan Ioan also delivered a message from His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel titled “St. Magdalena of Malajnica — Confessor of the Faith, Wise Counselor and Protector of Romanians (Vlachs) and Serbs.” The Patriarch highlighted her steadfastness in preserving the faith under the communist regime, saying, “St. Magdalena kept the flame of Orthodoxy burning precisely when hostile powers sought with all their might to extinguish it forever.”
He also spoke of her role bridging the two communities: “She patiently interpreted the mysteries of the faith for each in the language they understood best.” He added that her relics are honored equally today by Romanian and Serbian faithful, who consider her the protector of the villages throughout the Timok Valley.
Bishop Ieronim thanked the hierarchs, clergy, authorities and faithful who took part, calling it “truly a moment of communion through which we bore witness to our shared faith and our desire for goodness and flourishing.”
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Photo: Basilica News Agency
St. Magdalena of Malajnica was born on November 22, 1895, in the village of Șciubic in the Timok Valley. Her father, Milenko Ilić, was Serbian, and her mother, Milca, was Romanian, a descendant of the Cătălinici family, who had come from Transylvania.
At 19 she married Miloș, from the village of Malajnica, but was widowed shortly after when her husband died on the front in World War I. During the years of Bulgarian occupation, when many communities were left without priests, she read and sang at the cantor's stand, urged people to remain steadfast in the faith, and fought against practices of sorcery.
St. Magdalena continued this work through the communist regime in the former Yugoslavia, known in her community as “the counselor” to those who sought her guidance. The words she often said to those going through hardship, “God sees,” also inspired the title of a docudrama recently released on the Romanian Church’s Trinitas Film platform.
St. Magdalena of Malajnica reposed on October 15, 1962. Her canonization took place in 2025, along with that of 15 other Romanian holy women.
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