75,000 pilgrims participated in the Nicula Monastery patronal feast last week, according to the police forces.
Many of the faithful came a few days before the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, to honour the Nicula Wonderworking Icon of the Mother of God and to participate in the services officiated at the summer altar.
The events began on the eve of the feast with the traditional 5 mile-pilgrimage from Gherla that recalls when the monastery icon wept for 3 weeks in 1699. The procession was led by Metropolitan Andrei of Cluj and Metropolitan Iosif of Western and Southern Europe.
One of the stops was at the “Holy 40 Martyrs” Monastery – Gherla Memorial, located on Brickworks Hill, next to the cemetery with mass graves where the political prisoners of the communist period were buried. Hierarchs and pilgrims prayed for the eternal rest of those who suffered in communist prisons.
After the Vigil was officiated on the evening before the feast, the Nicula Icon of the Mother of God was processed through the monastery.
30,000 de faithful participated in the Divine Liturgy celebrated on August 15.
Hundreds of gendarmes from the Cluj-Napoca Mobile Gendarmerie Group, together with policemen and firemen, acted to ensure public order during the pilgrimage and on the feast days at the monastery.
Photo credit: Metropolis of Cluj / Darius Echim
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