Today, 27 October 2014, it is the celebration day of Saint Dimitrios the New, Protector of Bucharest, whose relics are in the Patriarchal Cathedral. On this occasion, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated by His Beatitude Theophilos III, Patriarch of Jerusalem and by His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of Romania.
The following guest hierarchs celebrated together with the Patriarch of Romania and Patriarch of Jerusalem: His Eminence Aristarh, Archbishop of Constantina, and His Eminence Nectarie, Archbishop of Antidota and Trustee of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem at Constantinople, and on behalf of the host the following hierarchs, members of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church: His Eminence Teofan, Metropolitan of Moldova and Bucovina, His Eminence Laurentiu, Metropolitan of Transylvania, His Eminence Andrei, Metropolitan of Cluj, Maramures and Salaj, His Eminence Irineu, Metropolitan of Oltenia, His Eminence Iosif, Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan of Western and Southern Europe, His Eminence Metropolitan Nifon, Archbishop of Targoviste and Patriarchal Exarch, His Eminence Teodosie, Archbishop of Tomis, His Eminence Irineu, Archbishop of Alba Iulia, His Eminence Varsanufie, Archbishop of Ramnic, His Eminence Calinic, Archbishop of Arges and Muscel, His Eminence Casian, Archbishop of Lower Danube, His Eminence Timotei, Archbishop of Arad, His Eminence Archbishop Ioan, Bishop of Covasna and Harghita, His Grace Lucian, Bishop of Caransebes, His Grace Sofronie, Bishop of Oradea, His Grace Nidodim, Bishop of Severin and Strehaia, His Grace Vincentiu, Bishop of Slobozia and Calarasi, His Grace Ambrozie, Bishop of Giurgiu, His Grace Vsarion, Bishop of Tulcea, His Grace Petroniu, Bishop of Salaj, His Grace Gurie, Bishop of Deva and Hunedoara, His Grace Siluan, Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Hungary, His Grace Siluan, Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Italy, His Grace Macarie, Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Northern Europe, His Grace Mihail, Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Australia and New Zealand, His Grace Varlaam Ploiesteanul, Assistant Bishop to the Patriarch, His Grace Ieronim Sinaitul, Assistant Bishop to the Patriarch, His Grace Andrei Fagarasanul, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Sibiu, His Grace Paisie Lugojeanul, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Timisoara, His Grace Sofian Brasoveanul, Assistant Bishop to the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of Germany, Austria and Luxemburg, His Grace Emilian Lovisteanul, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Ramnic, His Grace Ioachim Bacauanul, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Roman and Bacau, His Grace Iustin Sigheteanul, Hierarch vicar to the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Maramures and Satmar, assisted by a group of priests and deacons.
The Liturgical answers were given by Nicolae Lungu chorus of the Romanian Patriarchate.
Important state and local personalities attended the event, as well as priests and deacons of the Archdiocese of Bucharest, and many faithful and pilgrims who climbed the Patriarchate Hill patiently to pray to the Icon and Holy Relics laid under the canopy specially arranged near the Patriarchal Cathedral.
After reading the Evangelical pericope, the Patriarch of Jerusalem delivered a sermon in which he spoke about the life of Saint Pious Dimitrios the New, Protector of Bucharest, of which we render a fragment below: “We celebrate today Saint Pious Dimitrios the New, Protector of Bucharest, so much loved by the Romanian people, whose relics were brought to Bucharest at the time of metropolitan Grigorie of Wallachia, and then kept as a very precious treasure of our living Orthodox faith, which helped people to pass through the suffering of war. The Romanian Orthodox Church got deep roots because she was wetted, just like a tree, with the blood of the many martyrs during the years of persecution, especially during the decades of persecution against the Church during the totalitarian regime of the time recently ended. Today, “we glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5) as Saint Paul the Apostle says. Now, the Romanian Orthodox Church harvests the crop of the revival of faith in your country. We are the witnesses of this new life and of our assurance by the Lord, as we read in the Gospel according to Matthew, that the gates of hell will not overcome the Church (Matthew 16:18).”
After the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel has also delivered a speech entitled The pilgrim faithful feel the merciful love of God in their life.
“The presence of Saint Dimitrios the New at the Joy Hill of Bucharest speaks to today’s world about the grace and blessing the God gives, through His saints, to those who pray to Him with faith. The pilgrimage to the shrine of his holy relics and the wonderful facts occurred to those who prayed to Saint Dimitrios the New, asking for his help in time of sufferance and trial, calls us to a spiritual journey to the Kingdom of heaven, because that is the main purpose of our existence on the earth, as Jesus Christ, our Saviour Himself teaches us: “But seek first His kingdom” (Matthew 6:33). The religious pilgrimage is a search in this world, of what is not from this world, because: “The Kingdom of God is not of this world” (John 18:36). The only time when man was not a pilgrim was in paradise, namely in communion with God whom he did not need to look for, because he was living in His presence and in harmony with Him”, the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church said.
Then, the Patriarch of Romania thanked His Beatitude Theophilos III for his visit to Romania and for having brought the icon with a particle of the Holy Cross Wood embedded and offered him an icon of the Brancovean Saints Martyrs, and then awarded him the Order of the Brancovean Saints Martyrs.
The Patriarch of Jerusalem offered, in his turn, the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church an icon of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and of the Holy Sepulchre, as a present, and a blessing cross too, saying that: “Today’s Divine Liturgy is a confirmation of the fact that we all belong together to the same Church of Jesus Christ, our Lord. We, personally, and the members of our delegation are really grateful to Your Beatitude and to the President of Romania, and certainly, for the distinguished presence of the members of the Romanian Government, which is a sign of our common Christian legacy.”
Then, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel underlined: “We are glad because almost 7000 Romanian Orthodox pilgrims came to the Holy Land this year through the Centre of Pilgrimage of the Romanian Patriarchate and we hope to have 9000 or 10000 pilgrims till the end of the year. All these Romanian Orthodox pilgrims are received with much joy by His Beatitude and by all the servant priests of the Holy Land. This presence of the pilgrims also shows the vocation of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem to receive pilgrims at the Holy Places. His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos told us these days that a lot of people who were at the Holy Place changed their lives, even if they were not very religious. Some of them came as tourists, and then returned as pilgrims. They felt the help of God in their lives too these days of pilgrimage to Saint Pious Parascheva from Iasi, since this year it is 70 years since her relics were brought here. In 1944, Saint Pious Parascheva was brought to Bucharest to protect the shrine of her relics, here, at the Patriarchal Cathedral for the feast of Saint Dimitrios. Then, the shrine of her relics was at the church Monastery of Ciorogarla-Samurcasesti, close to Bucharest, for several weeks. Thus, these days we have seen a lot of faithful both in Iasi and here, in Bucharest, who came in spite of the very cold weather.
The Patriarch of Jerusalem has also spoken about the importance of the pilgrimages to the Holy Land. “I would like to say a simple thing about pilgrimage. Nowadays, pilgrimage is very important because we all know the great difficulties the Christians of the Middle East are faced with. More exactly, the Christians living in the region called Middle East suffer great persecutions. This is why the pilgrimages of those who come from the Orthodox countries are a visible and concrete sign of expressing solidarity and compassion with those who suffer. When we receive pilgrims in the Holy Land, the old city of Jerusalem is full of life, of activity and the people are very glad. When the pilgrims go to the Palestinian areas, especially to Bethlehem, they come to get spiritual food from the Holy Places. They also bring material food, which is an encouragement for the people who live there, especially for Christians. This is why pilgrimages should be encouraged by the leadership of the Church and by the political authorities as well.”
To end with, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel thanked all the hierarchs present and all those involved in the good development of the celebration of the dedication day of the Patriarchal Cathedral: central and local authorities, priests, professors, theological students, seminary students, gendarmes and volunteers from various medical organisations.
