{"id":577990,"date":"2026-06-26T14:56:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T11:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=577990"},"modified":"2026-06-26T14:56:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T11:56:53","slug":"search-relics-st-anastasia-saguna-budapest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/search-relics-st-anastasia-saguna-budapest\/","title":{"rendered":"Romanian and Hungarian experts search for St Anastasia \u0218aguna&#8217;s relics at Budapest cemetery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Romanian and Hungarian specialists took part on Monday in investigations at Kerepesi Cemetery in Budapest as part of efforts to identify the relics of <a href=\"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/orthodox-calendar-december-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">St Anastasia \u0218aguna<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/holy-synod-approves-canonization-of-16-saintly-women\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">canonised<\/a> by the Romanian Orthodox Church in 2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The investigation began with the opening of the Grabovsky family vault at Kerepesi Cemetery, where the remains believed to be those of the mother of St Andrew \u0218aguna and of her two children, Evreta and Ecaterina, are thought to have been interred.<\/p>\n<p>Participating in the investigation were His Grace Bishop Siluan of Hungary, representatives of the Archdiocese of Sibiu, the <a href=\"https:\/\/inml-mm.eu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mina Minovici<\/a> National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Bucharest and the National Heritage Institute of Hungary (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.nori.gov.hu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">N\u00d6RI<\/a>).<\/p>\n<h2>Initial Findings<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_577428\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-577428\" style=\"width: 890px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-577428 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/sf.-anastasia-saguna-ungaria-descoperire-oseminte-1-890x501.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"890\" height=\"501\" srcset=\"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/sf.-anastasia-saguna-ungaria-descoperire-oseminte-1-890x501.jpg 890w, https:\/\/basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/sf.-anastasia-saguna-ungaria-descoperire-oseminte-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/sf.-anastasia-saguna-ungaria-descoperire-oseminte-1-360x203.jpg 360w, https:\/\/basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/sf.-anastasia-saguna-ungaria-descoperire-oseminte-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/sf.-anastasia-saguna-ungaria-descoperire-oseminte-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/sf.-anastasia-saguna-ungaria-descoperire-oseminte-1.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 440px, (max-width: 768px) 354px, 890px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-577428\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bishop Siluan participated in the research activity. Photo credit: Diocese of Hungary<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Following the opening of the vault, photographs were taken and preliminary observations carried out. However, no evidence was identified to allow a definitive conclusion.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWe considered today&#8217;s investigation to have been much more superficial than we had expected. A few photographs were taken, after which, although we insisted and repeatedly requested permission to examine some of the more relevant evidence on site, this was not possible,\u201d Bishop Siluan told Trinitas TV.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Bishop of Hungary noted that there are elements within the vault warranting further investigation.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThere are still grounds for continuing this research at a higher professional level. We believe there is still an opportunity to continue these investigations, and our anthropologists, with the support of the Metropolis of Transylvania, remain available to carry out this work.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Hope for Further Investigation<\/h2>\n<p>Although the present procedure concluded without a definitive result, His Grace expressed hope that institutional dialogue between the parties would enable the investigation to be resumed.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWe hope that, through discussions between the two countries, the research can be resumed at a much higher professional standard. Then we may receive a more certain answer as to whether the relics of St Anastasia can indeed be discovered.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Bishop Siluan concluded by underlining the spiritual importance of the mother of St Andrew \u0218aguna, regardless of the outcome of the investigation.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cShe remains in our lives, in our hearts and in the history of the Romanian Orthodox Church as a great saint and as the mother of a great saint of Transylvania.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Photo: Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Hungary<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BasilicaNews\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-495171\" src=\"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/banner-x-en-889x148.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"889\" height=\"148\" srcset=\"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/banner-x-en-889x148.gif 889w, https:\/\/basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/banner-x-en-1024x171.gif 1024w, https:\/\/basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/banner-x-en-1536x256.gif 1536w, https:\/\/basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/banner-x-en-2048x341.gif 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 440px, (max-width: 768px) 354px, 890px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Romanian and Hungarian specialists took part on Monday in investigations at Kerepesi Cemetery in Budapest as part of efforts to identify the relics of St Anastasia \u0218aguna, canonised by the Romanian Orthodox Church in 2025. The investigation began with the opening of the Grabovsky family vault at Kerepesi Cemetery, where the remains believed to be&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":577409,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[37824,32500,33545,32787,37823,37825,31896,37822],"class_list":["post-577990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dioceses","tag-anthropological-investigation","tag-bishop-siluan-of-hungary","tag-commemorative-year-2026","tag-holy-women","tag-relics-search","tag-romanian-hungarian-cooperation","tag-romanians-in-hungary","tag-saint-anastasia-saguna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577990","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=577990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}