The Romanian Settlement in Jerusalem has offered Chozeva Monastery an icon of St John Jacob of Neamț, whom Patriarch Daniel has described as “the Romanian saint of the Holy Land”.
The gesture reflects the spiritual bond between Romania and the Holy Land. This connection is closely associated with the life and ministry of St John Jacob, whose relics rest in the church of Chozeva Monastery, located along the Wadi Qelt (the biblical Brook Cherith), where the Holy Prophet Elijah once lived.
“Through this icon we bring back, to the place of his sanctity, the image of the one who continually intercedes for us,” said Archimandrite Ioan Meiu, superior of the Romanian Settlements in the Holy Land.
St John Jacob the New Chozebite
Originally from Neamț County in Romania, St John Jacob entered monastic life and received the name of St John the Baptist.
In 1936 he arrived in the Holy Land, where he remained until the summer of 1947 at the Monastery of St Sabbas.
That same year he was ordained a priest on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and was appointed abbot of the Romanian Skete of St John the Baptist on the Jordan River.
Seven years later he joined the brotherhood of St George the Chozebite Monastery. A few months afterwards, in the summer of 1953, he settled in the cave of St Anne in the valley of the Cherith stream.
St John Jacob reposed on the eve of the Feast of the Transfiguration, on 5 August 1960, and was buried in the cave where he had spent the final years of his life.
The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church canonised him in 1992, with his feast day set for 5 August. In 2016, St John Jacob the New Chozebite became the first Romanian saint included in the Synaxarion of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
Regarding the relics of St John Jacob, the Patriarch of Jerusalem said they represent “the undeniable testimony of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and our living hope”.
St John Jacob and Romania’s National Cathedral
The saint whom Patriarch Daniel called “the Romanian saint of the Holy Land” also has a profound connection with Romania’s National Cathedral. The chapel in the cathedral’s lower level will have St John Jacob as one of its patrons, together with St Daniel the Hesychast.
Moreover, the name of the saint’s father, Maxim, who died as a hero in the First World War, has been placed in the foot of the Holy Table of the cathedral’s altar.
Last year, the Patriarch of Romania said that “St John Jacob the Cozebite is a radiant model for our times, a spiritual father and confessor of the twentieth century who chose the path of solitude and unceasing prayer”.
“His life teaches us that regardless of the times in which we live, and the difficulties and trials we face, the call to holiness remains the same. He shows us that humility, prayer of the heart, fasting and detachment from passions lead to full communion with God.”
Photo: Romanian Orthodox Church Jerusalim / Facebook
