His Grace Vincenţiu, Bishop of Slobozia and Călăraşi, is currently undertaking a pilgrimage in the Holy Land, together with a group of 15 priests and several faithful, the official website of the diocese informs.
On the third Sunday of Great Lent, 3 April 2016, the pilgrims participated in the Hierarchal Divine Liturgy officiated at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
His Grace, together with the pilgrim priests, concelebrated on the Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross with His Beatitude Theophilos, Patriarch of Jerusalem and All Palestine, who presided the Divine Liturgy.
On the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, a procession took place around the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of Resurrection, during which a fragment of the Holy Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ was carried by the Patriarch of Jerusalem and the other hierarchs. This special procession takes place only on the third Sunday of Great Lent and on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. On this occasion, this fragment of the Holy Cross of the Lord is taken out from the treasure of the Holy Sepulchre, as reported by Archimandrite Teofil Anăstăsoaie, superior of the Romanian Settlements in the Holy Land.
On the conclusion of the procession, the present faithful had the opportunity to kiss the fragment of the Holy Cross of the Saviour.
The Bishop of Slobozia and Călăraşi, together with the group of pilgrims, visited Monday, 4 April, the Representation of the Romanian Patriarchate to Jerusalem. Here, V. Rev. Archimandrite Teofil welcomed them.
His Grace Bishop Vincenţiu was the Superior of the Romanian Settlements in the Holy Land, during 1990-1994. The hierarch expressed his gladness to see once again this places and find the Romanian environment in the City of Jerusalem that comforts all the Romanian pilgrims.
