The relics of St. Gregory Palamas arrived on Monday on the Patriarchate’s Hill for the festivities of St. Demetrius the New, the patron saint of Bucharest. St Gregory’s relics were placed for veneration in an outdoor baldachin next to the other relics usually kept in the Patriarchal Cathedral. “All these saints are calling us to be co-workers with the grace of God,” Patriarch Daniel said.

Procession on the Patriarchate’s Hill

The relics of St. Demetrius the New and St. Gregory Palamas met on the esplanade next to the Patriarchal Cathedral with the relics of Saints Constantine and Helen and St. Nectarios of Aegina after being carried in a procession on the streets next to the Patriarchal Cathedral.

The ceremony was attended by Patriarch Daniel, Hon Metropolitan Nifon of Targoviste, Archbishop Casian of Lower Danube, Bishop Galaction of Alexandria and Teleorman, Bishop Visarion of Tulcea, Bishop Ieronim of Dacia Felix, Bishop Siluan of Hungary, and the Bucharest Archdiocese’s Assistant Bishop Timotei of Prahova.

The delegation of the Orthodox Church of Greece that brought the relics of St. Gregory Palamas to Bucharest is composed of Metropolitan Panteleimon of Veria, Naoussa and Kampania, Archimandrite Nectarios Laskaridis, Archimandrite Sosipatros Pitoulias, Archimandrite Grigorios Mazas, Archdeacon Panteleimon Papaemmanouil and Deacon Kosmas Karagiannis.

The guests from Greece also brought two icons, one depicting St. Gregory Palamas and the other representing members of his family who have been declared saints by the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

Patriarch Daniel’s address

A short ceremony to welcome the relics of St. Gregory Palamas took place at the outdoor altar next to the Patriarchal Cathedral, which included a welcome address by His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel and a message by Metropolitan Panteleimon of Veria, Naoussa and Kampania.

“Today, through the kindness of His Eminence Panteleimon, Metropolitan of Veria, Naoussa and Kampania, whom we thank for his friendship and generosity, we can venerate not only Saint Demetrius the New, Protector of Bucharest, the Holy Emperors Constantine and Helen and St. Nectarios of Aegina, whom we have for permanent veneration in the Patriarchal Cathedral, but also to the relics of St. Gregory Palamas and the icon of his holy family,” the Patriarch of Romania said.

“All these saints call us to be co-workers with God’s grace, through prayer and repentance, humility and mercy, for the sanctification of our lives, and unto the likeness of God. To follow the lives of the saints helps us to seek human perfection and holiness, as St Paul writes to the Hebrews: ‘Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness, no one will see the Lord’ (Hebrews 12:14),” His Beatitude added.

Patriarch Daniel also presented a brief biography of the Greek hierarch. The Metropolitan of Veria repatriated to Thessaloniki the relics of Saint Demetrius the Myrrh-gusher and those of St. David the Dendrite. In addition, he brought a fragment of the relics of St. Paul to Veria and initiated the annual Pavlia Congress dedicated to the Apostle to the Gentiles.

Metropolitan Panteleimon’s address

“We come from the Holy Metropolis of Veria, Naoussa and Kampania, where Saint Gregory Palamas and his holy family lived for a time; from the place, they sanctified by their living, and where they reached the measure of holiness and became Saints in our Church,” Metropolitan Panteleimon of Veria told the pilgrims on October 24.

The Greek Metropolitan appreciated the devotion he noticed in the Romanian people in 2009, the year of the canonization of six members of the family of St. Gregory Palamas, when, at the invitation of the archbishop of Lower Danube, the relics of St. Gregory Palamas were brought to Galati (eastern Romania).

The Metropolitan of Veria thanked Patriarch Daniel for the opportunity to celebrate the three great mystical theologians of the Church, to whom the Romanian Patriarchate has dedicated the current commemorative year.

“I express my heartfelt thanks and gratitude for Your Beatitude’s invitation, and I humbly pray that the grace which flows from the holy relics of St. Gregory Palamas, the preacher of the uncreated and divine light and teacher of the prayer of the mind, may strengthen you in the work and ministry of Your Beatitude, who has many responsibilities, and bless the clergy and the faithful people of Bucharest and the whole of Romania,” His Eminence Metropolitan Panteleimon concluded.

The ceremony ended with the deposition of the relics of St. Gregory Palamas in the Baldachin of the Saints and the veneration of the relics by the participating hierarchs.

The Festivities of Saint Demetrius the New, Protector of Bucharest, are taking place on the Patriarchate’s Hill on October 22-28, 2022.

Photography courtesy of Basilica.ro / Mircea Florescu

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