His Grace Bishop Benedict of Sălaj on Tuesday joined a group of Orthodox faithful on a 20-km pilgrimage on foot from Valcău de Jos, Sălaj County, to Nicula Monastery, Cluj County, where they will take part in celebrations for the Dormition of the Mother of God.
Before their departure, the bishop highlighted the spiritual meaning of pilgrimage, saying that “effort brings joy”.
“What you are beginning today, as you make your way to Nicula Monastery, is a special undertaking. We are entering into a succession of experience, because generation after generation, for decades, perhaps even hundreds of years, people have done the same thing. This continuity of faith, but also of experience, is very important, showing our faith to be something living, something very much alive.”
Referring to the considerable physical effort involved in the pilgrimage, the Bishop of Sălaj stressed that this exertion gives the experience particular value.
“An essential component of pilgrimage is the willingness to make an effort, confirming once again what has already become an established principle: true joys are attained only through effort,” His Grace said.
Prayer that sanctifies the journey
His Grace Bishop Benedict explained that pilgrimage does not mean merely travelling to a place of worship, but also transforming the journey itself into a space of prayer: “Wherever you go, you make God, the Mother of God and the saints whom you commemorate present.”
“In this way, a cross is traced along the length and breadth of the places through which you pass, revealing God as sovereign over His creation and wondrous in His saints, whom you honour in a special way. The world is sanctified together with the path you travel.”
The Bishop of Sălaj also highlighted the communal character of the pilgrimage: “You are a group; you reveal yourselves as one body, as a living community, and not merely in the physical sense.”
“You reveal yourselves as a community that carries in your hearts all those who have remained at home or are in various other places. For you do not pray only for yourselves, but for your families, the communities from which you come, our region, our country and the whole world.”
“You are going to the house of the Mother of God for her feast. And when you arrive there, you know how many joys, and how intense those joys are, when, after the arduous journey, you stand face to face with the icon,” the bishop told the pilgrims.
Pilgrimages in honour of the Mother of God
After the prayer, His Grace Bishop Benedict set out with the pilgrims towards Stârciu, where they joined the local priest and community members in prayer.
The participants are expected to arrive on Friday and Saturday to attend the services on the eve of the feast and the monastery’s patronal celebrations.
At the same time, another group of pilgrims from the Diocese of Sălaj is making its way towards Strâmba Monastery, which houses a wonderworking icon of the Mother of God painted by Father Luca of Iclod, the same iconographer to whom the icon of the Mother of God at Nicula Monastery is also attributed.
The pilgrimage from Valcău de Jos dates back more than a century. Every year, faithful of different ages set out for Nicula Monastery in Cluj County, with people from communities along the route joining them as they proceed.
Photo: Diocese of Sălaj
