On Thursday, Nov. 29, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem and All Palestine was officially welcomed at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest by the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
The Tronos Byzantine Choir chanted the polychronion for the two Orthodox Patriarchs.
‘Welcome to our country and our Church,’ Patriarch Daniel said addressing the Patriarch of Jerusalem.
He recalled the visit paid by Patriarch Theophilos to Bucharest four years ago adding that the current visit is occasioned by the first celebration of the patronal feast of the newly-consecrated National Cathedral ‘as testimony and occasion of holy communion and missionary cooperation between our Churches.’
Patriarch Theophilos said he is happy to attend the feast of Saint Andrew inside ‘the architectural adornment of the city of Bucharest and of entire Romania,’ the newly-consecrated National Cathedral, which is ‘a fruit of the devotion of the Romanian people.’
A precious gift for the National Cathedral
His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos announced that the delegation of the Jerusalem Patriarchate brought a fragment of the holy relics and an epitrachelion of Saint John Jacob the New Chosebite for the Romanian People’s Salvation Cathedral.
The two relics were enshrined in the National Cathedral’s Chapel to be venerated by believers.
Patriarch Daniel said that these relics of ‘the Romanian Saint from the Holy Land’ will be placed in one of the future chapels at the basement of the National Cathedral which will be dedicated to Saint John Jacob.
The Patriarch of Jerusalem arrived in Romania Thursday morning to lead the celebrations of the first patronal feast of the National Cathedral.
On Saturday, Patriarch Theophilos will also attend the ceremonies in Alba Iulia marking Romania’s National Day and the 1918 Great Union Centennial.
Photography courtesy of Basilica.ro
