Approximately 4,000 young people from Târgoviște took part last Thursday in the opening ceremony of the celebrations of St. Niphon, Patriarch of Constantinople and Metropolitan of Wallachia.
Thursday evening began with the Vespers service and continued with an award ceremony for the 19 students who obtained first place at the county stage of the National Religion Olympiad and the National Interdisciplinary Olympiad “Romanian Culture and Spirituality”. The local Archbishop, Metropolitan Nifon, offered the awards.
The Youth Procession started in front of the Cathedral and continued through the historical centre of Târgoviște, stopping at Stelea Monastery and in front of the statue of the Brâncoveanu Holy Martyrs near the City Hall.
His Eminence Metropolitan Nifon evoked the complex personality of Saint Niphon, who mentored many young people of his era, the most famous of whom is Saint Neagoe Basarab, prince of Wallachia.
The Archbishop urged the young people to put at the foundation of their lives the imperishable values of the Gospel of Christ, to place God in everything they do and live, but, above all, always to overcome evil with good, ugliness with spiritual beauty and darkness with the light.
The Youth Procession was attended by young people from various parishes, students from the city schools, the Târgoviște Faculty of Theology and Educational Sciences, and members of the Romanian Orthodox Christian Students Association (ASCOR).
The relics of St. Niphon are kept at the Cathedral of Târgoviște. Saint Niphon of Constantinople is celebrated on August 11.
Photography courtesy of the Târgoviște Archdiocese
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