{"id":558890,"date":"2026-02-07T09:44:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T07:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=558890"},"modified":"2026-02-07T09:44:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T07:44:54","slug":"last-memorial-service-16-romanian-holy-women-holiness-open-every-christian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/last-memorial-service-16-romanian-holy-women-holiness-open-every-christian\/","title":{"rendered":"Last memorial service for 16 Romanian Holy Women: Holiness is open to every Christian, Bishop says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Patriarchal Auxiliary Bishop Varlaam of Ploiesti on Thursday evening officiated the final memorial service for the 16 newly canonised Romanian holy women<\/a>, stressing that \u201choliness is accessible to every Christian who desires it and seeks it at any time\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The service was held at the Patriarchal Cathedral and was preceded by Great Vespers. Bishop Varlaam said that the year 2026\u2014dedicated to the pastoral care of the Christian family and to the holy women of the Church calendar (myrrh-bearing women, martyrs, monastics, wives and mothers)\u2014marks a new and significant moment of spiritual fulfilment in the life of the Romanian Orthodox Church.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese 16 Romanian holy women each strove, in their own way, to attain salvation and union with God, which is the supreme purpose of human life,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Diversity of the saints<\/h2>\n

Bishop Varlaam underlined the diversity of these holy lives. \u201cFrom a social point of view, we find an impressive diversity, from simple women to the wives of rulers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He presented, in chronological order, the lives of the Romanian holy women, which span more than five centuries\u2014from Saint Platonida of Arge\u0219, born in the 15th century, to Saint Elizabeth of Pas\u0103rea<\/a>, who reposed in the Lord in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must strengthen ourselves in faith, fill ourselves with the zeal they showed so fruitfully, and allow ourselves to be lifted up by the divine longing that carried them from earthly life to heavenly life,\u201d the bishop said.<\/p>\n

Cultivating holiness within the family<\/h2>\n

Bishop Varlaam added that the general proclamation of the canonisation of the 16 Romanian holy women<\/a> represents \u201ca catechesis meant to transmit, with the full power of example, the teaching of our Church about the family and about cultivating holiness within the family\u2014capable of bringing forth saints\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us reflect on how important the family was in their lives and in their spiritual formation,\u201d he urged.<\/p>\n

The general proclamation of the canonisation of the 16 Romanian holy women took place on Friday at the Patriarchal Cathedral, following the celebration of the Divine Liturgy.<\/p>\n

For more pictures, please visit our Photo Gallery section<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Photo: Basilica.ro \/ Mircea Florescu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Patriarchal Auxiliary Bishop Varlaam of Ploiesti on Thursday evening officiated the final memorial service for the 16 newly canonised Romanian holy women, stressing that \u201choliness is accessible to every Christian who desires it and seeks it at any time\u201d. The service was held at the Patriarchal Cathedral and was preceded by Great Vespers. Bishop Varlaam…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":558412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[34736,3933,33545,549,3939,33544],"class_list":["post-558890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-romanian-patriarchate","tag-2026-holy-women","tag-bishop-varlaam-of-ploiesti","tag-commemorative-year-2026","tag-memorial-service","tag-romanian-saints","tag-solemn-year-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}