Believers from all over the country are coming in increasing numbers to the Metropolitanate of Moldova and Bucovina in Iasi, to worship the relics of Saint Pious Parascheva, before the reliquary is placed in a specially arranged canopy in the Cathedral courtyard, reports on Friday, in a on-site reporting, agency Agerpres.
Procession with the relics of Saint Pious Parascheva in IasiPhoto: Agerpres
Tanti Maria from Şişcani has long passed the age of 70, but she prefers to be among the first to wait for the moment when the casket with the relics of Saint Pious Parascheva will be removed from the Metropolitan Cathedral and deposited in the specially arranged canopy.
“I came faster. If not, I was standing in line for a long time. So tomorrow, when they take the Blessed One out of the Metropolis, who will they put in front? Us, how else?”, she says.
“I come earlier because it’s hard later. You have to stand for a long time,” adds the old woman.
He arrived in Iasi almost 24 hours before. I found her sitting on a chair brought from home, precisely from Şişcani, Vrancea county, while she supported her back, bent by the burden of years, against the fence wall of the Metropolitanate of Moldavia and Bucovina. It has been doing so for decades. He comes to Iasi a day earlier than the removal of the relics of Saint Parascheva from the Metropolitan Cathedral.
“I’m not just sitting here. I still go to church. I have clothes, blankets”, says aunt Maria, while showing us the bags from which we can see the things she brought with her from the village near Adjud.
He tells us that to get to Iaşi he had to leave home in the middle of the night.
“I left my village at 4:00 am. Then, from Adjud, I boarded the train and came to Iaşi”, the old woman reveals to us full of pride and joy.
“How many times have you been the first in line?”, the old woman is asked.
“Well, I haven’t been many times, but I’ve been for about 3 years. Before, another grandmother came before me, a woman from Neamţ, Suceava. He was older than me. A taller one, like that. I haven’t seen her before”, answers the old woman and a shadow of concern begins to appear in her eyes.
We try to dispel his bad thoughts with a joke and laugh. He tells us about the miracles of the Saint and how he “conjured” the communists so that they could worship the reliquary.
“I’ve been coming for a long time. From the time of Ceausescu. Other times, not like now. Then it was not allowed. Then you were sitting like that? Aoleu, they were piling you up, tearing down the fences with you. May it still be about 40 years. Only when I was sick, I didn’t get to Preacuvioasa”, says the old woman.
We ask her why she has been coming on pilgrimage to Iasi for so many years. He answers us simply – to pray. “May God give us health! To everyone, not only us”, says aunt Maria from Şişcani.
“The saint gives us strength, strengthens and eases us”
Constantina also comes to pray at the Blessed Parascheva. He did not come empty-handed.
“I came with basil, I brought food to eat, the rest…clothing, the chair, so we can sit, because there are so many hours until tomorrow. We came to be among the first, to relieve our souls of our sins, of our hardships, to go home sooner. We go to Cuvioasa, to Saint Parascheva, touch her and go home. The saint gives us strength, strengthens and relieves us. We are glad that we arrived here, that we were healthy. We rejoice and pray not only for our children or our families. We pray for everyone, to be well and to be well and healthy”, says Constantina, Mrs. Tina, as she asks us to call her, from Adjudul Vechi, Vrancea county.
While the grandmothers dig up memories to pass their time more easily, a few tens of meters away, next to the walls of the Metropolis, an impressive line of people has already formed. There are several thousand people who patiently wait their turn to enter the Cathedral of the Metropolis and Bucovina, where the casket with the relics of Saint Pious Parascheva will be deposited in a year.
Some of them are from Iași who wanted to worship Saint Paraskeva before the celebration of the patron saint, to make room for the pilgrims.
“I heard that tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. they will take out the Saint’s reliquary from the Metropolis and put it in the Court. Many will come on pilgrimage, they will stay for hours, for days. So we decided to come earlier to leave them a place to worship. We can come not only for the feast of the Saint, but every day of the year”, said several believers from Iasi.
Others came from Galati, Brăila, Constanța counties, on specially organized trips. “I came by bus. Today we stay in Iasi, pray and worship at Preacuvioasa, after which we go to the monasteries in Neamţ. We will also sleep there”, said a group of believers from Brăila.
One of the largest religious events in Romania
Every year, around October 14, Iasi becomes the biggest pilgrimage center in the country. Believers of both the Orthodox and Catholic rites come from the country and abroad to worship the relics of Saint Pious Parascheva.
According to tradition, the casket with the relics of Saint Parascheva is taken out of the Metropolitan Cathedral a few days before the celebration of its patron saint, October 14. This year, the reliquary will be taken out on October 7, around 06.00, and placed for worship in the specially arranged canopy on the esplanade of the Metropolitan Cathedral. The reliquary will remain here until October 15, until all the pilgrims worship.
Preparing the canopy where the casket with the relics of Saint Parascheva will be placed (Photo: Agerpres)
Also known as Holy Friday, the Pious Parascheva was born in the town of Epivat, today Cape Kaliakra in Thrace, on the shore of the Sea of Marmara, in the first half of the 11th century. Tradition says that she shared her clothes and food with the poor, although she was scolded by her parents. After their death, Parascheva renounced his wealth and left his parental home to enter monasticism at a monastery near Constantinople. From here he went to Jerusalem, then retired to the desert of Jordan, in a nunnery, where he remained until the age of 25, after which he returned to his native village, Epivat, where he lived for another two years, in fasting and prayer.
The relics of the Pious were kept for almost 200 years in a church in Epivat, then in Târnovo, and in the 16th century they were taken to Constantinople. In 1641, on June 13, voivode Vasile Lupu managed to bring them to Iaşi, placing them in the church of the “Sfinții Trei Hierarhi” Monastery.
The reliquary of St. Parascheva was moved to the Metropolitan Cathedral at the end of the 19th century, in 1888, after the relics escaped untouched from the fire at the “Three Hierarchs” Church. Since then, the relics of Pious Parascheva are at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Iasi.
She is considered the protector of Moldova, but also of the afflicted.
The canonization of Reverend Parascheva was decided by the members of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1955. It was also then that the date of Saint Parascheva’s celebration was established – October 14.
300,000 people are expected in the coming days for the pilgrimage to the relics of Saint Pious Parascheva
The authorities announce that they are taking additional measures to ensure public order, because it is estimated that approximately 300,000 people from the country and abroad will come to Iasi in the coming days, to take part in the pilgrimage organized on the occasion of the celebration of the patron saint of the Pious Saint Parascheva, considered to be the patron Moldova and the needy.
“According to the organizer’s estimates, but also from our data from previous years, even before the pandemic, we expect around 300,000 people who will worship the Holy Relics, but also people who will participate in the other activities specific to the pilgrimage. During the entire period of the religious manifestations from the Metropolitanate of Moldova and Bucovina, dialogue teams of the Gendarmerie will be present in the areas where the pilgrims travel and will be at the disposal of those who will need support and guidance”, he declared on Friday, during a press conferences, the commander of the Bacău Mobile Gendarmerie Group, Col. Ioan Sandu, quotes Agerpres.
The local authorities will receive, until October 16, the support of the “Alexandru cel Bun” Bacău Mobile Gendarme Group for ensuring order and public safety for one of the largest Orthodox religious events in Romania, the pilgrimage to the reliquary with the Relics of Saint Pious Parascheva, which will take place at the Metropolitanate of Moldavia and Bucovina in the city of Iaşi, between October 7 and 16.
The pilgrimage to the relics of Saint Pious Parascheva (Photo: Agerpres)
“Together with the Iasi County Gendarmerie Inspectorate, the Iasi County Police Inspectorate, the Iasi County Emergency Situations Inspectorate and the Iasi Local Police, we will be on duty 24 hours a day in order to ensure a safe climate for all people present during these days of pilgrimage holiday, preventing any incidents that may disrupt the smooth running of religious events, providing support to people who will need medical assistance, as well as the safe movement of all people in the areas adjacent to the Metropolitanate of Moldavia and Bucovina, without blocking the roads road communication”, announced the prefect of Iasi county, Bogdan Cojocaru, in the press conference.
In order to avoid traffic jams, as has been the case for several years, a unique access corridor for pilgrims will be created on the streets around the Metropolitan Cathedral of Moldova and Bucovina, on the route Catedrala Metropolitana – str Arhitect GM Cantacuzino – str Iordache Lozonschi – str Cloşca – Petru Movilă str – Uzinei str – Morilor str – Alexandru Ipsilanti Vodă str – Sfântul Andrei str – Iancu Bacalu str – Blvd King Ferdinand I of Romania.
In order to avoid the occurrence of unwanted events, the head of the Bacău Mobile Gendarmerie Group recommends those who come on the pilgrimage to show patience and understanding towards the measures taken by the organizers regarding the rules of access to the areas intended for pilgrims and to respect the instructions of the law enforcement agencies.
Also, the gendarmes and police recommend that in the next period special attention be paid to children and elderly people who come on pilgrimage to Iaşi, as well as to personal belongings.
For people who have serious health problems and who want to pray to the relics of Saint Pious Parascheva and who are in constant need of medical care, the Iasi authorities recommend that they do not travel unaccompanied and that they inform themselves before starting the pilgrimage about the degree of request of the emergency medical services in the city of Iasi.
“We assure you that the safe conduct of religious events during this period is our priority, and in case of need, contact with confidence the nearest representative of the law enforcement in the area where you are or call the emergency number 112” , declared Col. Ionuţ Grădinaru, chief inspector of ISU Iasi.
