The holy relics of Saint Petronius the Prodromite and Saint Dionysius of Vatopedi will be preserved on Mount Athos in gilded silver reliquaries donated by the Romanian Patriarchate.
The reliquaries will be delivered to the Cell of Saint George at Colciu and to the Romanian Skete of the Honourable Forerunner (Prodromos Skete) by Athonite monks invited to attend the consecration of the National Cathedral’s mosaic icons, announced His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel on Saturday during the meeting of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
Patriarch Daniel explained that the reliquaries “will be blessed after the consecration of the National Cathedral’s iconography and symbolically offered to His Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch, who will then present them to the two Athonite monasteries where Romanian monks live.”
Four Athonite saints of Romanian origin were canonised this year by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, including:
- Saint Dionysius of Vatopedi from Colciu Cell,
- Saint Petronius the Prodromite,
- Saint Niphon the Prodromite, founder of the Romanian Skete of the Honourable Forerunner, and
- Saint Nectarius the Protopsaltis, also from the Prodromos skete.
The latter two were canonised at the proposal of the Metropolis of Muntenia and Dobruja, and on Saturday, the Holy Synod discussed including all four saints in the liturgical calendar of the Romanian Orthodox Church, following the recent decision to add the first two.
The Athonite delegation attending Sunday’s consecration of the National Cathedral’s mosaic iconography includes monks closely connected to Saint Dionysius of Vatopedi from Colciu and Saint Petronius of Prodromos Skete, among them Archimandrite Athanasie Floroiu, abbot of the Romanian Skete of the Honourable Forerunner, and several disciples of Saint Dionysius of Colciu.
Photo: Lumina Newspaper / Luigi Ivanciu
