His Grace Bishop Iustin of Maramureș and Sătmar consecrated on Sunday the chapel of the Meeting of the Lord Cell at Lakkoskete on Mount Athos.
Joining the service were clergy accompanying the hierarch on his Athonite pilgrimage, together with the skete’s monastic brotherhood.
“The main reason for our pilgrimage, that of the delegation of the Diocese of Maramureș and Sătmar, consisting of nine persons, is to consecrate the chapel of the Cell of the Meeting of the Lord, part of the monastic community of Lakkoskete, which is under the spiritual jurisdiction of Saint Paul Monastery,” Bishop Iustin told Trinitas TV.
“On the third Sunday after the Feast of the Lord’s Resurrection, at dawn, we began the consecration of the church, the holy altar and its iconography, bringing great joy to the Reverend Father Eftimie, who is from the Maramureș region, from Ieud in historic Maramureș, and who held this holy desire that we should consecrate his foundation.”
Honours Bestowed on Saint Paul Monastery
On the occasion, His Grace awarded the Nicolae Steinhardt Commemorative Medal to Saint Paul Monastery, while Archimandrite Parthenios, abbot of the monastery, received the Archbishop Justinian Cross.
The Meeting of the Lord Cell also was awarded the Archbishop Justinian Commemorative Medal.
Lakkoskete, one of the Romanian Athonite settlements under the protection of Saint Paul Monastery, has long been a place of ascetic struggle and prayer for Romanian monastics on the Holy Mount Athos.
Photo: Diocese of Maramureș and Sătmar / Archdn. Vasile Pop
