Pantocrator Monastery in Teleorman County, southern Romania, will again mark its patronal feast in a special way this year, as the honourable skull of the Great Martyr George the Trophy-Bearer will be brought from the Athonite Xenophontos Monastery.
The holy relic will be displayed at the Romanian monastery from April 22 to April 28, 2026, and will be brought by an Athonite delegation led by Archimandrite Alexios, abbot of Xenophontos Monastery.
In addition, on April 26, Metropolitan Panteleimon of Veria, Naoussa, and Kampania was invited to officiate at the Pantocrator Monastery, which belongs to the Diocese of Alexandria and Teleorman.
“Every year, on the Sunday of the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women, Pantocrator Monastery honours in a special way the first witness of the Resurrection, the Holy Myrrh-Bearer and Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene,” Archimandrite Serafim Baciu, vicar of the Diocese of Alexandria and Teleorman, told Basilica.ro.
A pilgrimage that has become a tradition
The diocesan vicar recalled that the pilgrimage held at Pantocrator Monastery on the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women has become an 11-year tradition, attracting thousands of pilgrims from across the country, who come to venerate both the relics kept permanently at the monastery and relics brought from throughout the Christian world.
“In the Diocese of Alexandria and Teleorman, it is well known that Pantocrator Monastery has become a pilgrimage site, and the faithful eagerly await this Sunday of the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women,” Archimandrite Serafim Baciu said.
Patron saint of the army
Pantocrator Monastery chose to bring the relics of this saint on pilgrimage because his feast falls close to the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women, when the monastery honours Saint Mary Magdalene.
“Saint George is known as the defender and protector of the Romanian army, but he is not only a military symbol. He is a model of the economy of salvation through personal sacrifice. He is a saint known throughout the Christian world and especially venerated, including in our country,” Archimandrite Serafim Baciu explained.
Symposium dedicated to the Christian woman
“In the context in which this year was proclaimed by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church as the Solemn Year of the pastoral care of the Christian family and the Commemorative Year of the holy women in the calendar – myrrh-bearers, martyrs, venerable women, wives and mothers – we decided at diocesan level, since Pantocrator Monastery also preserves a fragment of the holy relics of Saint Mary Magdalene, Equal to the Apostles, to organise several cultural and religious events. Among them will be a theological symposium entitled Saint Mary Magdalene, Myrrh-Bearer and Equal to the Apostles – a model of service for the Christian woman,” the diocesan vicar announced.
Later this week, representatives of the monastery and the Diocese of Alexandria and Teleorman will travel to Xenophontos Monastery to finalise the pilgrimage details involving the saint’s relics. The Athonite Xenophontos Monastery is dedicated to the Holy Great Martyr George.
Photo: Basilica.ro Files
