Cernica Monastery has recently acquired a new canopy for the reliquary containing the relics of St Dumitru Stăniloae the Confessor.
Beside it stands an icon depicting the saint, who the Romanian Orthodox Church canonised in 2024. Made in white, red and gold, the new decorative structure features carved columns, floral motifs and a prominent pediment.
The canopy was acquired for the feast of St Dumitru Stăniloae, which was celebrated at Cernica Monastery on Sunday.
The liturgical celebrations began on Saturday, 3 October, with a Vigil service.
The programme continued on Sunday, 4 October, with the Akathist to St Dumitru Stăniloae and the Divine Liturgy, celebrated by Fr Ștefan Buchiu, Professor Emeritus and Honorary Diocesan Vicar of the Archdiocese of Bucharest, as the delegate of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel.
St Dumitru Stăniloae the Confessor
St Dumitru Stăniloae was born on 16 November 1903 in Vlădeni, Brașov County. He studied at Andrei Șaguna High School in Brașov and the Faculty of Theology in Chernivtsi, and completed his studies in Athens.
In 1929, he became a professor at the Andreian Theological Academy in Sibiu, and in 1932 he was ordained to the priesthood. Between 1936 and 1946, he headed the theological institution. In 1947, he was transferred to the Faculty of Theology in Bucharest, where he taught Asceticism and Mysticism and later Dogmatic Theology.
He participated in meetings of the Burning Bush movement at Antim Monastery. On 4 September 1958, he was arrested by the communist authorities because of his connections with members of the group. He spent five years in Jilava and Aiud prisons.
Following his release on 15 January 1963, he gradually resumed his theological work, and from 1965 he again served as a professor at the Theological Institute.
St Dumitru Stăniloae reposed in the Lord on 4 October 1993 and was buried at Cernica Monastery.
Photo: Cernica Monastery
