Preparations Underway for the Canonization of Two Romanian Athonite Elders

The Synod of the Metropolis of Muntenia and Dobrudja met on Wednesday, September 28, 2022, in a working session, in the Synodal Hall of the Patriarchal Residence in Bucharest. Hierarchs from the suffragan dioceses of this metropolis participated in the meeting chaired by Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The agenda included the presentation of some liturgical texts that will accompany canonization proposals, as well as administrative topics that fall under the attributions of this ecclesiastical forum.

Patriarch Daniel presented the agenda, which included the presentation of the liturgical texts that will accompany the proposal for the canonization of Venerables Dionisie Ignat and Petroniu Tănase.

When Bulgarian Soldiers Tried to Steal the Relics of Saint Demetrius the New of Basarabov from the Cathedral of Bucharest During World War I

Saint Demetrius the New, commemorated on October 27th, was born in the village of Basarabov in northeastern Bulgaria. His relics came to Bucharest in the second half of the 18th century, in the context of the Russian-Turkish War of 1768-1774, brought by Russian general Pyotr Saltykov. According to tradition, the general intended to take the relics to Russia, but at the request of a Romanian, Hagi-Dimitri, the relics were given to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Bucharest. Thus, in the last decades of the 18th century, Saint Demetrius the New of Basarabov became the patron saint of Bucharest.

During World War I, on 17 February 1918, when Bucharest was occupied by the Germans, about 20 Bulgarian soldiers, allies of the Germans, broke down the entrance to the Cathedral of Saints Constantine and Helen and snatched the relic of the patron saint of Bucharest, Saint Demetrius the New of Basarabov, to transport it to their country. They hid it in a car and at night set off for the Danube River. But the Saint, not wanting to leave Romania, caused such confusion in the streets that the thieves could not find a way out, so they found themselves outside the Cathedral again. As soon as it dawned, they managed to find the public exit road, but on their way the car broke down several times and they were arrested by the German occupying forces. Thus the holy relic was returned to its place in the midst of a glorious reception by the Metropolitan himself and thousands of people.

Miracles of Saint Joseph the New of Partos on His Journey to Timisoara

Saint Joseph the New of Partos lived as a monk at Vatopaidi Monastery on the Holy Mountain for 62 years (1588-1650) when he was elected to be the Metropolitan of Timisoara, which is a city in Romania at that time under Turkish occupation. At 82 years of age, Saint Joseph had already become well known for his virtues and holiness.

Ecumenical Patriarch Parthenios (1644-1646, 1648-1651) ordained him Metropolitan in Constantinople, and from there he left for Timisoara with the permission of the Patriarchate, to whose jurisdiction the Holy Mountain belonged and still belongs today.

On the journey to Timisoara, when he arrived with his carriage to cross the Danube by ferry to Palanka, the horses were frightened and did not want to do the crossing.

Then his deacon Damaskinos, who was with the Saint, took the horses by the bridle and tried to make them cross the Danube. This was in vain, for the horses trembled and foamed at the mouth and the coachman began to curse them.

Then Saint Joseph got out of the carriage and rebuked the caochman for his curse words, then he took the reins from the hands of Damaskinos.

He spoke calmly to the horses, who immediately boarded the ferry and remained calm until they passed to the opposite side. All who were present marveled and knelt before the Saint and kissed his cassock, because they knew that he was chosen by God, since the beasts also submitted to him.

From there they set out to go to Banat, but when they got there it got dark and a windstorm began that darkened the sky so much that they could not see anything.

Then a heavy rain started and the two coachmen lost their way and did not find Banat. Saint Joseph and his entourage slept all the way and when the windstorm stopped and dawned they found themselves in a village.

When they entered the village, a gang of Turkish cavalry came out in front of them and stopped them. The Saint stuck his head out of the carriage and the chief on horseback asked him who the great infidel priest was.

To this question all his entourage were afraid but the Saint answered that he was.

Then Aga Ishmael, as the horseman was called, dismounted from his horse and calmly begged the Saint in the name of Allah and Jesus to return to Banat, because his first female chambermaid had been in labor for three days and an angel appeared to her, who she said that until the carriage with the great priest - who is going to Timisoara - passes in front of the door of the harem, Allah will not give her relief.

The angel foretold this to her, that the Aga would go at dawn to the village of Zama and wait for the Metropolitan, where he found him, and return him to Banat.

Aga Ishmael asked the Saint to come back with him and he would offer as much as he asked for.

Saint Joseph ordered the horsemen to return and told Aga that he was going not for worldly goods, but to fulfill the will of God. Then, the priest Haralambos who was in the escort checked the Metropolitan if it is right what he is going to do, that is, to listen to the request of a pagan and to satisfy his will?

The Saint rebuked him for his words.

The Saint, afterwards, did not say another word but immersed himself in prayer.

When the carriage passed in front of the entrance of the harem, the female chambermaid immediately was able to give birth to a boy. Aga Ishmael ran behind the carriage, stopped it and kissed the right hand of Saint Joseph, weeping like a child.

Before the Saint arrived in Timisoara, he was preceded by fifty Turkish cavalry sent by Pasha Fasli of Timisoara, to accompany him to the city, because he heard about the miracle that the Saint performed in Banat. 

"How the Holy Hierarch Dionisie of Suruceni Healed My Little Boy"

Below is the testimony of a mother from Romania whose little boy was healed of an inability to walk or speak after receiving Holy Communion and venerating the relics of the recently canonized Saint Dionisie Erhan (commemorated on September 17). This miracle took place in October 2020.

Today, I want to let you know about the miracle that happened at the Suruceni Monastery with Mihai, who upon touching the relics of the Holy Hierarch Dionisie, began to speak.

My name is Maria. I'm from Orhei. Mihai was born healthy. At one year and a month he started walking, he spoke well. After receiving the last MMR vaccine at the age of 2, he stopped walking and stopped talking.

I hastened, first, to all kinds of doctors in the country, but to no avail. Then, staying in the United States and studying there, I took my child to good doctors in the states. One treatment after another treatment. At certain periods he was analyzed, etc.

All attempts to save my child proved futile.

Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Nasaud in Romania: Athanasius Todoran, Basil Dumitru, Gregory Manu and Basil Oichi (+ 1763)

 

Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Nasaud (Feast Day - November 12)

Holy Martyr Athanasius Todoran was born in Bichigiu village of the Sălăuţa valley in the Năsăud region of Transylvania, to a family of devout Orthodox Christians. Few things are known about his childhood; it is only known that he was an outstanding person in his community, an educated person, who had been administrator and tax collector in Bichigiu and Sălăuţa valley.

 

As a virtuous and courageous man, he was a member of a military regiment of the empire from Vienna ever since his youth. Hence, as his retirement was postponed, he left the army of his masters, who were Catholics, and went back home. Followed by the people of the empire, he took refuge in the Ţibleş Mountains, in the land of Maramureş and Chioaru. While in this exile, he always prayed to God for himself and for his fellow people who were suffering all kinds of humiliations.

 

Five Miracles of Saint Demetrius the New of Basarabov

 

 

The miracles of Saint Demetrios are mainly related to the treatment of the sick and the immediate help to various needs of the faithful. Most were forgotten because no one was interested in writing them. From these few below we realize the great miraculous gift of the Saint.

1) Two sisters from a village of Constanta, after building a new church in honor of the Dormition of the Theotokos, came to venerate the Saint and take a piece of his relic for their own church. They venerated the Saint and at the same time secretly cut a piece of his relic and ran to their carriage. The oxen, however, did not move from their place. Then they realized their sin. They returned the stolen item and then the animals took off and they returned to their home in peace.

Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Romania Persecuted by Roman Catholics: Bessarion, Sophronius, Oprea, Moses and John

 

Sts. Bessarion, Sophronius, Oprea, Moses and John of Romania (Feast Day - October 21)

Venerable Bessarion Sarai the Confessor

Saint Bessarion (Sarai) was a Serb who was born in Madian of Bosnia in 1714. At Baptism he was given the name Nicholas. Longing for the monastic life, he went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land at eighteen, and was tonsured at the Monastery of Saint Savvas in the Holy Land in 1738 with the name Bessarion. 

 

After traveling to Mount Athos on his way home, he entered the Monastery of Pakrou in Slavonia. There he served as a Deacon for seven years, then he was ordained a Priest. After another pilgrimage to the Holy Land he returned again to his homeland to bear witness for his Orthodox Christian faith.

About this time there was a great deal of unrest in the regions of the Banat and Transylvania because many Romanian Orthodox Christians had been forced into union with Rome. At Karlovits around 1742, Patriarch Arsenius had heard of Saint Bessarion’s holy and ascetical life and his reputation as a preacher, and asked to see him. He sent him to defend the Orthodox faith northwest of the Carpathian Mountains and to restore the Orthodox people from Uniatism.

Saint Leontie, Bishop of Radauti (+ 1432)

St. Lentie of Radauti (Feast Day - July 1)

Saint Leontie (Leontius) was born in Radauti, Moldavia in the fourteenth century to pious parents who raised him to be a faithful Orthodox Christian. From an early age he loved church services as well as prayer. In the years 1359-1365, when Bogdan I, the first ruler of Moldavia, founded the Bogdana Monastery in Radauti, dedicated to Saint Nicholas, Leontie entered the monastic life in this monastery. He was named Lavrentie (Laurence) when he received the monastic tonsure. In time he was found worthy of ordination to the holy priesthood.

Statement of the Holy Monastery of Saint John the New in Suceava, Romania in Light of the Case of Coronavirus

The Holy Monastery of Saint John the New in Suceava, Romania contains the sacred relics of the Holy New Martyr John the New of Suceava, which are highly honored for being the source of many miracles. Even the primary local hospital of the area is named after the Saint, the Saint John the New Hospital.

The 90-year-old Archbishop Pimen of Suceava and Radauti recently was tested positive with the coronavirus. His Archdiocese and where he lives is located in the Monastery of Saint John the New in Suceava. He began feeling symptoms at the beginning of Holy Week. This past Easter and on Bright Monday, Archbishop Pimen served the Divine Liturgy as well as other Services throughout the week and communed from the same cup as all the other clergy and monks. However, on Bright Monday, April 20, he became seriously ill and was admitted to Saint John the New Hospital. Because he had a severe case, he was flown that night to Bucharest and admitted to the Matei Balș Institute for Infectious Diseases, after being tested positive with the new coronavirus. Saint John the New Monastery immediately went under lockdown, and an epidemiological investigation was initiated.

Father Petru Focsaneanu, Tortured to Death for Celebrating the Resurrection Service in his Prison Cell (+ 1953)

Hieromartyr Petru Focsaneanu was born on April 18, 1914 in the Podu Turcului commune of Bacau County, Romania. He attended primary school in the village, then the Theological Seminary in Galati, and continued his studies for two years at the School of Theology in Bucharest. He interrupted his studies however due to his precarious financial situation. He was ordained a priest in 1935 and served in the newly-constructed Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in the village of Tipletesti of the Alexandreni commune in Balti County. The construction of the church was carried out with great difficulty due to the lack of financial means, until 1938. Due to the insistence of the parish priest and the parish council, at the meeting of the Diocesan Council on April 1, 1938, the request to grant aid for the completion of the construction of the church was approved from the diocesan budget. The church was completed in the autumn of the same year.

Saint Gabriel (Banulescu-Bodoni), Archbishop of Chisinau and Hotin (+ 1821)

St. Gabriel Banulescu-Bodoni (Feast Day - March 30)

Born in 1746 at Bistrita, Transylvania to a family originating from Campulung in Moldavia, Banulescu studied at the Kiev Theological Academy (1771–1773), then at the Greek-language academy on the Island of Patmos, Smyrna and the Athonite Academy in Vatopaidi (1773–1786). At Patmos, he befriended Nikephoros Theotokis, a Greek cleric and enlightenment figure, with whom he taught at the Princely Academy of Iasi in 1776.

Saint Germanus of Dobrogea

St. Germanus of Dobrogea (Feast Day - February 29)

Saint Germanus the Daco-Roman was born in the mid-fourth century, probably on the borders of Cassian and the Caves in the diocese of Tomis (in what is now Romania), and was related to Saint John Cassian. Saint Germanus, who was older than Saint John, was tonsured at one of the local monasteries when he was still a young man. The holy bishop Saint Theotimus I (Apr. 20) may have been his spiritual father.

Saint Kyriakos of Bisericani (+ 1660)

St. Kyriakos of Bisericani (Feast Day - October 1 and December 31)

Venerable Kyriakos of Bisericani is one of Romania’s greatest ascetics, and in his life he was like the great Fathers of the Egyptian desert.

He lived in the Bisericani Monastery in Neamt at the beginning of the seventeenth century, which then had more than a hundred monks. Longing for a life of solitude, Saint Kyriakos went to live in a cave at Mount Simon and remained there for sixty years.

Holy Hieromartyr Evangelos, Bishop of Tomis

St. Evangelos of Tomi (Feast Day - July 7)

Verses

Divine Evangelos met his end by a sword,
Having as good news the divine crown.

The Holy Hieromartyr Evangelos (Evangelicus) lived during the reign of Emperor Diocletian (284-305). He is the first known Bishop of Tomis (Constanța) in Dacia Pontica (Lesser Scythia, or Dobrogea), which was evangelized by the Apostle Andrew. Bishop Evangelos converted many pagans of Dacia Pontica to Christianity. He is mentioned in the account of the martyrdom of Saints Epictetus and Astion, both martyred on July 8 in Halmyris (modern Dunavăţ), where he is described as the founder of churches in the province. The parents of these holy martyrs were baptized fourteen days later in Halmyris by Saint Evangelos after being converted by the priest Bonosus. He received the crown of martyrdom after being beheaded.

Venerable Philothea the Virgin-Martyr

Venerable Philothea the Virgin-Martyr (Feast Day - May 28)

The Venerable Virgin-Martyr Philothea was born in Molyvoto in Pamphylia of Asia Minor. Her parents, the Patrician John and his wife Irene, gave her a Christian upbringing, but they died when Philothea was still young. From her youth she was interested in the ascetic life. When she was fourteen years old she was obliged to marry a seventeen year old named Constantine, however she was able to convince him that they should preserve their virginity, and not know each other, following the example of Venerable Ammoun of Egypt (Oct. 4) and his wife.

Philothea became an orphan at a young age. She lost her mother when she was three, and her father shortly after her marriage. Her husband became a priest but died six years later. Philothea then liberated her servants and sold all the family wealth, giving the proceeds to the poor, to churches, and to monasteries, and she withdrew to an island in the middle of a lake, near Molyvoto. There she practiced fasting, prayer, and all-night vigils, and her asceticism became well-known in the region, and God blessed her as a Wonderworker.

Saint Irodion, Abbot of Lainici Monastery in Romania (+ 1900)

St. Irodion of Lainici (Feast Day - May 3)

Saint Irodion (Herodion) is one of the newest proclaimed saints of Romania, a monk who lived in the 19th century and was abbot of a monastery in the mountains, Lainici Monastery, near the border between the provinces Oltenia and Transylvania.

Saint Elias Iorest the Confessor, Metropolitan of Transylvania (+ 1678)

St. Iorest the Confessor of Transylvania (Feast Day - April 24)

Saint Iorest the Confessor was born in 1600 into a peasant family of Transylvania (Ardeal), and received the name Elias in Baptism.

At an early age he entered the Puta Monastery and was tonsured with the name Iorest. He made great progress in the spiritual life, and was also a calligrapher and an iconographer. Because of his virtuous life, the abbot of the monastery recommended him to be ordained to the holy priesthood. Saint Iorest served in the altar with great compunction and fear of God, edifying others by his sermons.

In 1640, Prince Basil Lupu of Moldavia proposed Saint Iorest to succeed Metropolitan Gennadius of Transylvania, who had reposed. By God’s will, Saint Iorest was chosen to lead the Church in Transylvania, and was installed as Metropolitan in 1641.

Saint Theotimos, Bishop of Tomi in Scythia (+ 410)

St. Theotimos of Tomi (Feast Day - April 20)

Saint Theotimos was a native of Dacia Pontica, and was part Roman. He is believed to have been the teacher of Saint John Cassian (Feb. 29) and Saint Germanos, because he was once living in the same monastery as they were.

Some time between 385-390, Theotimos succeeded Saint Germanos as Bishop of Tomis. Saint Jerome mentions him in his book On Illustrious Men (164), where he writes: "Theotimos, Bishop of Tomi, in Scythia, has published brief and epigrammatical treatises, in the form of dialogues, and in olden style. I hear that he is now writing other works."

In his writings, Saint Theotimos speaks of the role of the nous and the heart in prayer. Perhaps because of this he is considered to be the Father of the Romanian Philokalia.

Saint Nicodemus of Tismana (+ 1406)

St. Nicodemus of Tismana (Feast Day - December 26)

Even today, Saint Nicodemus (Nikodim) of Tismana is a very prominent and respected Saint among Serbs and especially Romanians. He is best known as the founder of the Vodita and Tismana monasteries, but he was also a well-known copyist and translator, which made him one of the forefathers of literacy and literature in the Middle Danube region. Nicodemus was also one of the most prominent followers of the monastic learning and tradition known as hesychasm, which spread from the Roman/Byzantine Empire to other Orthodox counties and regions in the 14th century. According to Dimitri Obolensky, Nicodemus of Tismana was a lively example of a cosmopolitan culture centered in Byzantium that was solidified by hesychasm, and had both permeated and connected the Eastern European Orthodox lands. Saint Nicodemus was also a very important figure for Serbian medieval history as well, both as a conveyor of hesychastic monastic traditions, and as a member of an important diplomatic and ecclesiastical mission to Constantinople in 1375, and has thus been held in high regard in Serbian Orthodox tradition throughout the centuries.

Saint George of Cernica (+ 1806)

St. George of Cernica (Feast Day - December 3)

Venerable George was born in 1730 to pious Orthodox parents in Săliște Sibiu of Romania. From his youth he desired to pursue the monastic life. However, at that time the Roman Catholic Austrian rulers of Transylvania suppressed Orthodoxy, especially Orthodox monasticism, inclining the believers to union. Therefore, at the age of nineteen, the young man went to Wallachia and came to the Greek Metropolitan Rosca, who at that time was in Bucharest. He became the Saint's spiritual father.

Shortly thereafter, in 1750, he went with his spiritual father to Constantinople, and then to Holy Mount Athos. Here he settled in the Vatopaidi Monastery, and was tonsured a monk and ordained as a deacon. After the death of his mentor, he became a disciple of Saint Paisius Velichkovsky in the Prophet Elias Skete. There, in 1752, he was tonsured into the Great Schema by the Saint Paisius, and in 1754 he was made a presbyter. During his stay on Mount Athos with great zeal and great spiritual benefit, he advanced along the ladder of spiritual perfection, comprehending the joy of living in Christ.